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July 2009

July 31, 2009

Help! Someone Stole My Twitter Photo and Bio

Okay, I'm in double trouble on Twitter.

Someone or something is posing as me on Twitter - not once, but twice.

My image and bio can be found on at least two other accounts.

Problem is, some tweets include links to XXXBlackBook, an X-rated site. (My employer isn't going to be happy about that.)

Plus, a typical search on Twitter did not turn up this problem. Someone tipped me off to it instead.

To make matters worse, the tweets include some pretty strange words you'd never hear uttered from my lips.

Though I reported this account, below, and a second offender to www.twitter.com/spam at about 7 a.m. ET today, they were still live 10 hours later.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

How MSFT/YHOO Could Affect Newspaper Consortium

How might the Microsoft/Yahoo search ad pact affect Yahoo's newspaper partners? It's a question I asked aloud Wednesday morning when the deal was officially announced. I contacted consortium watcher and all-around sector analyst/critic, Ken Doctor, to see what he thought. Well, turns out he posted his insights on his Content Bridges site.

He's got some good stuff to think about, and overall seems to believe the pair-up will benefit the paper partners. The reason: Yahoo will be able to focus more on its display ad platform.

"Newspaper companies like being able to sell Yahoo.com inventory, a key part of the consortium deal....So if the deal gets DOJ approval, if it gets done 'early next year,' then, maybe Yahoo will focus more on the business that is key to Yahoo's -- and its newspaper partners' -- future: BT-driven display advertising," writes Doctor. Evidently, the consortium's executive director thinks Yahoo will be able to focus more on the needs of the paper partners now.

Doctor also thinks if the newspapers do transition from Yahoo to using Bing search on their sites, they may score higher ad revenues. However, newspaper sites may not get special treatment in Bing search results as they do with Yahoo's Panama. "No Microsoft preference in this deal," notes Doctor.

Over the past few days I've thought a lot about the deal, particularly the fact that Yahoo will no longer -- we can assume -- be investing in a search ad platform that will effectively be replaced by Bing. In terms of Yahoo's search capabilities and innovation going forward, that doesn't bode well. However, as Doctor suggests, we can expect Yahoo to now be freed up to continue improving its display ad platform.

And think about this: the fact that Yahoo will now handle search ad relationships with agencies and brand advertisers making medium-to-large buys on behalf of Microsoft as well as Yahoo, the company may be able to build client relationships that lead to more display advertising sales.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 29, 2009

Photo: Bartz and Ballmer Seal the Deal

Yahoo just released the above photo, in which Ballmer wields a huge purple pen to sign today's landmark 10-year search deal. Read ClickZ's coverage here.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 28, 2009

Google Sells Its AOL Stake Back to Time Warner

What ClickZ's editors are reading:

Google Sells Its AOL Stake Back to Time Warner (WSJ) The $283 million transaction was processed earlier this month, consolidating full ownership of AOL under time Time Warner in preparation for a spin-off later this year.

Mom Bloggers Debate Ethics Of 'Blog-Ola' (NPR)

Friendster Shopping Itself Around In Asia (TechCrunch)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Alternate Deal Reality: Yahoo, Microsoft Might Create a Joint Venture

Conventional wisdom says the imminent deal between Microsoft and Yahoo will be structured as a search syndication partnership. Yahoo will begin carrying Bing search technology, and Microsoft will sell the bulk of ads against those results. Yahoo would confine its ad sales efforts mainly to display, and would receive payments (and user data) from Microsoft for search activity on its domain.

However other scenarios are still being floated internally at Microsoft. According to one senior Microsoft source outside the negotiations, a joint venture has also been discussed and was rumored to be CEO Steve Ballmer's preferred outcome.

Under such a set-up, the source said, a new company owned by both Microsoft and Yahoo would be in charge of selling search and possibly some display ads for both companies. Bing technology would presumably replace Yahoo Search, since Microooft is so keen on extending its technology.

Interesting notion, but it's hard to imagine such a JV could serve the best interests of both Yahoo and Microsoft equally. It's much easier to imagine this working for search than for display ads, unless both companies migrated their entire sales forces to the joint venture -- almost unfathomable. On the other hand, a joint venture housing only search ad sales would go against the idea of integrated display and search ad planning.

Why would this appeal to Ballmer? According to the source, Ballmer has come to accept Microsoft just isn't very good at sales

"Microsoft doesn't directly sell," he said. "It sells software through its vendor relationships... A joint venture would essentially be just a sales force."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 27, 2009

U.S. Government Calls for Comments on Cookie Policy

The U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy put out a request for comments Friday on proposed changes to its Web tracking policy for government sites. "The goal of this review is to develop a new policy that allows the Federal Government to continue to protect the privacy of people who visit Federal websites while, at the same time, making these websites more user-friendly, providing better customer service, and allowing for enhanced web analytics," stated the office in a blog post.

According to the post, a three-tiered approach is being considered involving single- and multi- session technologies for Web traffic analysis and personal preference settings. So far, the comments are making for a lively, educated conversation. Of course, there are always a few offbeat remarks to be expected. This is my favorite so far:

One thing you should do is monetize this site and save us on tax's. I don't know if that's legal but if it saves us money do it. With The President using a Blackberry you could create a blackberry site like http://blackberrystormsale.com and make enough to give us all a break.

Evidently this commentator hasn't heard about the industry's plummeting CPMs....

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Internet GRP Notion Gains Momentum

What ClickZ's editors are reading:

Internet GRP Notion Gains Momentum (comScore)

IAC, Ben Silverman Partner on Multi-Platform Programming Startup

Aussie Publishers Mull Pulling Google Ad Spend

(Sydney Morning Herald)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 24, 2009

On Twitter, Spammers Perish

How many followers did you lose?

That question was being chirped this morning by scores of people using Twitter after the social network said it's "correcting follower and following counts."

"In particular, those with large followings may see significant changes as we correct for spam accounts and data inconsistencies," according to a post on Twitter's "Status" blog.

People using Twitter reported losing 100 or more followers. Mashable reported that thousands of accounts were killed.

Spam has become an issue that threatened Twitter's popularity.

Twitter's move was taken in stride by most people. "twitter cancelled all my hot friends that wanted to show me there naughty pics from last weekend aka Spammers Perish," tweeted BTtweets, who had 70 followers as of this morning.

So say bye-bye to your fair-weathered, blue-feathered spammy friends.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Yahoo's Bartz: Apt Ad Platform Was 'Over-Promised'

When Yahoo unveiled a new local ad sales relationship with AT&T earlier this week, it made no mention of Apt, even though the display ad platform will be the backbone for the relationship. Why, when it was at the heart of Yahoo's plans for the future less than one year ago? Remember Yahoo's Advertising Week launch party featuring Mad Men star Jon Hamm?

During the company's Q2 earnings call, CEO Carol Bartz explained why Apt appeared to be playing a smaller role in Yahoo's external communications.

"Apt was over-promised," she said in response to an investor's question. "Both the advertisers and our own sales people have to do a lot of steps just to pass the information between...systems."

But she insisted Yahoo is not backing away from the product. "Apt is a large part of making buying easier," she said. "It's got great architecture. It's just got to get through some more releases."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 23, 2009

Google Intros Comics Themes in Honor of Comic-Con

I couldn't resist making note of Google's comic book hero-themed logo today, presumably in honor of the annual Comic-Con fest starting in San Diego today. (I'm painfully aware since my better -- and nerdier -- half traveled all the way from Jersey City to be there this year.)

The logo links to Google's new page introducing Comics themes for Google. They're pretty cool -- especially the one featuring Kim Deitch's always wonderful, fantastical illustrations. (Alt/underground comics fans will not be disappointed).

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 22, 2009

Amazon to Buy Zappos. What Impact on Their Cultures?

Amazon's just-announced deal acquire all of Zappos.com stock in a transaction worth more than $800 million will fuse two enormous Internet companies. But even more fascinating than the deal's size is the huge difference between the companies' cultures and brands.

On the one hand, Amazon is the undisputed leader in online retail sales and a major technology innovator (See: Kindle, cloud services). However, speaking as a journalist, the company is intensely private about its doings. It will rarely comment for a story on the record, and even then often waits hours or days to respond to an inquiry. Customer service is notoriously great on the site. On the phone? Not so much.

Zappos, on the other hand, is among the most transparent companies on the Web. At its core it's employee-driven, having earned consistent recognition for being among the best employers to work for. This policy extends to platforms such as Twitter.

Of course, what's driven success at both companies is their intense focus on the customer experience. That's the fundamental point of the video below, in which Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos talks about the companies' shared passion for providing a good experience. (Both are also major online advertisers.)

Yet there are few clues either in the above video or in Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh's letter to staff today about exactly how they intend to cross-pollinate. Will Amazon, spurred on by Zappos transparent ethic, embrace social media tools? Will Zappos, influenced by Amazon's reclusiveness, think twice before issuing an open RFP to more than 100 agencies on a major trade publication?

While Bezos expresses his plans only generally ("I'm super-excited"), Hsieh goes into a little more detail -- but only a little:

We learned that they truly wanted us to continue to build the Zappos brand and continue to build the Zappos culture in our own unique way. I think "unique" was their way of saying "fun and a little weird." :)

Over the past several months, as we got to know each other better, both sides became more and more excited about the possibilities for leveraging each other's strengths...
Amazon focuses on low prices, vast selection and convenience to make their customers happy, while Zappos does it through developing relationships, creating personal emotional connections, and delivering high touch ("WOW") customer service.

We realized that Amazon's resources, technology, and operational experience had the potential to greatly accelerate our growth so that we could grow the Zappos brand and culture even faster. On the flip side, through the process Amazon realized that it really was the case that our culture is the platform that enables us to deliver the Zappos experience to our customers. Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) made it clear that he had a great deal of respect for our culture and that Amazon would look to protect it.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Has Google's Trademark Shift Caused A Spike In Use?

What ClickZ's editors are reading today:

Has Google's New Trademark Policy Caused A Spike In Use? (Search Engine Land)

Yahoo to Acquire Social E-Mail Firm (BoomTown)

Moving Beyond a Shallow Definition of "Social Media" (Made by Many)

Options Media To Acquire M-Commerce Firm (Direct)

Burger King Relaunches BK.com (Adweek)

Microsoft Shuttering YouTube Rival (CNET)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Facebook Is Confusing Its Advertisers

Ok, this may be a bit of a cheap shot, but take a look at the above litany of complaints posted to Facebook's latest status update directed to its advertisers. While certainly not representative of the collective opinion marketers hold about its ad products, the negativity and disorientation in evidence here does indicate the company has -- at the very least -- a significant communication breakdown with its advertisers. It's also a big reason any online media seller that decides to scrap standard display ad formats and go it alone faces a tough challenge, however well intentioned.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 21, 2009

'Goode Job' Goes To...

The Murphy-Goode Winery social media manager's job -- officially known as a wine country lifestyle correspondent -- goes to Hardy Wallace of Atlanta, GA.

So what does a Southern guy know about wine? He's a Sommelier Guild level I and II and founder of the Dirty South Wine blog, according to the winery. And, more than 2,000 people applied for the six-month position that pays $10,000 a month and is based in Sonoma County, CA.

But a real wine snob wouldn't settle for less than a gig in Rutherford or Oakville. And that's not sour grapes.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

ESPN's Big Market Sports Sites Light on Local Ads

Think ESPN focuses too much on big market teams now? Well, in keeping with its Chicago-centric site, the firm now plans to launch sites dedicated to sports in New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas -- you know, those places where fans already have umpteen choices of media outlets covering their hometown teams.

Dallas comes first, this fall, just in time for Dallas Cowboys football (be prepared for the Jessica Simpson photo hunt game). That will be followed by LA and NY early next year (too bad no one follows the Lakers or Knicks).

"Like ESPNChicago.com, each site will feature an integrated home for ESPN's news and information, online video and digital audio powered by the flagship ESPN Radio station in each market, giving local fans a destination for their sports on-air, online, on-site and on mobile devices," noted the press release.

Perhaps because the Cubs, Bulls, and Bears draw fans from across the country and globe, it makes sense that ads on ESPNChicago.com aren't necessarily targeted to windy city residents. Case in point: the New York-aimed Stub Hub ad I just saw there. Indeed, I'd be surprised if ESPN bothers to sell to local advertisers through these sites. They basically enable more ad inventory for national advertisers and serve to boost SEO for content dedicated to popular teams.

And the least they could do is offer a video featuring Carlos Zambrano attacking the Gatorade cooler in their meager Cubs video section.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

YouTube Challenges Monetization Myths

What ClickZ's editors are reading:

YouTube Challenges Monetization Myths

Social Marketing Study Links Deep Engagement to Financial Performance

Ad Startup Intent Media Raises $9 Million (PEHub)

Best Buy Goes Twitter Crazy With @Twelpforce (TechCrunch)

Twitter Generates $48 Million of Media Coverage in a Month (AdAge)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 20, 2009

ESPN's Local Content Plans Include Web, Mobile

What ClickZ's editors are reading:

ESPN's Local Vision for Web, Mobile and Cable (NYT)

Mapvertising network Lat49 Raises $1.5 Million

Patch Media CEO Heading AOL's Venture Unit (BoomTown)

Facebook Ad: Man Spots Wife in "Hot Singles" Banner (EndoftheWeb)

You Have 12 Seconds to Choose Mountain Dew's New Flavor (Mashable)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 17, 2009

#FreePastryDay @Starbucks

Tuesday, July 21 marks #FreePastryDay @Starbucks.

A coupon, which can be printed out, reads: "Not valid if photocopied, altered, or reproduced."

Really?

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Poor Planning Leads to RNC Web Contest Take Down

It looks like the Republican National Committee didn't exactly do its homework on one of its latest efforts to peg the Obama administration as big spenders. By way of TechPresident (by way of Politico and leftie political site AmericaBlog), the RNC launched an online contest aimed at young Republicans earlier this week, but the committee -- amazingly -- forgot that there are a whole lotta detractors out there ready to pounce.

The "Obama Card" game was a contest aimed at young Republicans. The challenge: see how fast they can reach expenditures totaling "the $3.4 trillion limit set by our current president." The game apparently was integrated with Amazon's database. Contestants could search for products, adding them to their shopping carts in the hopes of amassing the whopping sum.

AmericaBlog's John Aravosis had some fun with it the other day, searching on keywords like "Jew," "bondage," and "anal." The intended results ensued: lots of books with offensive and risque titles and imagery.

Now, after launching Tuesday, according to Politico, they've taken it down. I have a call into the RNC to confirm and find out whether they'll re-launch it.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Palin Still Wants Your Money

It ain't rabbit season or duck season but it's always a political season, at least when it comes to fundraising. So, who wants your money? The soon-to-be former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, for one. Then there's the much lesser known Jesse Kelly. The U.S. Marine is running for Arizona's 8th Congressional District on a "fiscal sanity" platform. (Doesn't he know that's an oxymoron in government?)

Anyway, SarahPAC, Palin's Political Action Committee, and Kelly are running display ads on DrudgeReport (thanks to former RNC online director Cyrus Krohn for posting about the SarahPAC ad on Facebook).

Of course, we all wanna know what Palin plans to do with her PAC money. The committee is "Dedicated to building America's future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation." I guess fresh ideas aren't free. One thing I can assume is that McCain's digital ad consultancy Connell Donatelli is probably handling the campaign.

So, how can a virtually unknown candidate like Kelly afford to run ads on Drudge? Well, his camp could be using the "revenue share" model. The McCain campaign did it themselves in the '08 election when the financing wells were dry. Essentially, they paid a cut of the donations driven through the ads to publishers that ran the ads, like Drudge. So, they didn't have to pay anything up front. Kelly may be doing the same thing.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo, Microsoft Once Again Close to a Deal

What ClickZ editors are reading:

Yahoo, Microsoft Once Again Close to a Deal "Unless there is some major glitch" the two may announce a search and ads partnership within one week, Kara Swisher says.

Advertisers Are Watching Your Every Tweet (NYT)

Entertainment Sector Tops List of Big Advertisers in Mobile (MocoNews)

Ex-AOLer Raises $7 Million for Sports Community and News Startup (BoomTown)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 16, 2009

Comcast Testing Service to Bring Shows, Ads Online (links)

What ClickZ's editors are reading today:

Comcast Testing Service to Bring Shows, Ads Online (WSJ)

Evian's Rollerskating Babies Smash Records With 14 Million Views (AdAge)

Video No Good for Ads? YouTube Should Charge a Fee, Says Analyst (NYT)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our Paper of Record, Brought to You by Shingles and Blistering Rashes

Just when you thought the hideous wave of body shot advertising had reached its gruesome apex, along comes something even worse. On behalf of New York Times lovers everywhere, I say this to the Grey Lady's digital sales execs: Please, please draw a line in the sand now, before it's too late. Because we both know you've already fielded calls from the makers of miracle herpes salves, and the mere thought of how THOSE close-up photos will look plastered into leaderboard ads on your homepage is enough to threaten the very fabric of our democracy.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 15, 2009

IMC2 Sets Up Social Marketing Matching Fund for Clients (links)

What ClickZ's editors are reading:

Digital Shop Sets Up Social-Media Fund for Marketers (AdAge)

AOL Acquires Martial Arts Site

Seven Twitter Spam Techniques (eConsultancy)

TMZ Brings Ad Sales In-House (PaidContent)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How Zappos.com's Calamitous RFP Went Down

Transparency is such an uplifting word, it's easy to forget what a mess it can create. Case in point: Zappos.com's chaotic agency RFP, which began as a fairly simple review of 20 or so shops and then devolved into a free-for-all involving 104 firms, many of whom were evidently all but ignored by the client who's business they sought.

For a digital ad reporter, it's rare indeed to have the veil lifted on an agency review process. Which is why I'm very grateful to El Segundo, Calif.-based agency Ignited, which was disgruntled enough with Zappos' "cattle call" to publish metrics suggesting staffers at the online shoe retailer barely glanced at its proposal.

Here's a rough chronology of how things went down, pieced together from Wolfsohn's post, Zappos's response, news reports, and tweets:

Early June: Zappos puts its account into play, sending an RFP to 20 or so agencies and inviting approximately 16 of them to present.

June 13: Adweek publishes a story describing the review process and publishing the RFP.

June 14: Agencies flood Zappos with requests to join the RFP. Zappos is, for the most part, receptive.

June 14 to early July: Of 170 agencies that requested to participate, fully 104 submit work. In the process Zappos staffers are flooded with a grab bag of freebies, as evidenced by their tweets. Said one: "It's ad agency pitch day at Zappos. We're being showered with pizza, ice cream, Red Bulls, a bowl of airline booze ..."

July 12: Ignited's Mike Wolfsohn publishes his critique of Zappos' "cattle call," including Google Analytics data suggesting the company viewed only 5 of 25 pages on the blog it created for the pitch, with an average page-view time of 14 seconds. He writes, "If Zappos wasn't prepared to evaluate 80+ responses they shouldn't have opened the review beyond the initial 16 agencies they contacted."

July 12 to 14: Many agency reps hail Wolfsohn's salvo on Twitter, blogs and comments. A few blast it.

July 14: Zappos defends itself, saying "It's pretty obvious that no one was forced to participate."

It's hard to say whether the outcry will lead to any soul-searching on the part of clients about how they conduct future reviews. Wolfsohn himself appears to think it won't.

"The red flags were hard to miss," he wrote. "The RFP was posted on Adweek.com (so much for carefully screening the participants) and the brief asked for 'storyboards and mock-ups' to be included in the first-round response (premature to say the least). But the temptation of winning the Zappos account was even harder to resist."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

An Agency Site Encased in YouTube Clips

If you haven't already seen it, the official site of full service agency BooneOakley is worth a look. I'd link to it but that would be redundant, since the entire experience is contained in a string of YouTube hosted videos, beginning with the "home page" visible in the above video frame. Watch and enjoy.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 14, 2009

BBC Worldwide's Digital Sales Up Over 56 Percent

BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm responsible for the monetization of the British broadcaster's international assets, has announced a 56.2 percent increase in digital sales for the year ending March 2009.

According to BBCW's annual review, all areas of its digital business grew throughout the year, with BBC.com itself performing especially well. As a result, a total of £34.2 million was billed for the 2008/2009 period, up from £21.9 million for the previous 12 months. Other BBCW properties include Lonelyplanet.com, TopGear.com and GardenersWorld.com.

BBCW says the BBC.com site now attracts an average of 50 million uniques a month, and has serviced more than 400 advertiser clients including Rolex, Microsoft, Nokia, and British Airways since it launched in November 2007.

However, losses over the course of the year also doubled from £10.9 million to £22.8 million as a result of fruitless investment in project Kangaroo -- the proposed commercial online video tie-up between the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4. The deal was ultimately blocked by the U.K. Competition Commission. Also, the company decided to invest more money into the BBC.com site than the partnership.

The report also references current video content partnerships, such as the one it extended with YouTube earlier this year.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 13, 2009

Microsoft Pitches Razorfish to Five Agency Holding Companies (links)

What ClickZ's editors are reading this morning:

Microsoft Pitches Razorfish to Big Agencies (WSJ)

Twitter Nabs Corporate Counsel From Google (NYT Bits Blog)

AOL Begins Hunt for a Board (BoomTown)

Gawker's Return to Paycheck Journalism (Nieman Journalism Lab)

Rosetta Stone Sues Google Over Trademarks in Ads (Washington Post)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google's 46 (and Counting) Twitter Accounts

It's not uncommon for companies with lots of products to maintain multiple official Twitter accounts. Yahoo has a bunch, including for Buzz, Mail, and delicious. So does Microsoft, not surprisingly given the size of its empire. But Google may take the cake for the largest number of accounts. In a post to its official blog, the company lists all of them -- a whopping 46. They include consumer-facing accounts, such as user tips for Google Calendar and headlines via Google News; product-centric ones; accounts by region; and accounts featuring open jobs and descriptions of Google's culture.

Of course advertiser-centric accounts make up a large chunk of the total. Here are the 13 (at last count) maintained for customers of Google's various ad products:

twitter.com/AdSense - for online publishers
twitter.com/AdWordsHelper - looking out for AdWords questions and tech issues
twitter.com/AdWordsProSarah - Google Guide for AdWords Help Forum
twitter.com/GoogleAnalytics - insights for website effectiveness
twitter.com/GoogleAdBuilder - re building display ads
twitter.com/GoogleRetail - for retail advertisers
twitter.com/TechnologyUK - for U.K. tech advertisers
twitter.com/InsideAdWordsDE - for German AdWords customers
twitter.com/GoogleAgencyDE - for German ad agencies
twitter.com/AdSensePT - info for Portuguese-language publishers
twitter.com/AdWordsRussia - AdWords news & tips in Russian
twitter.com/DentroDeAdWords - Spanish updates from the Inside AdWords blog
twitter.com/AdWordsAPI - AdWords API tips

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

July 9, 2009

ClickZ to Host Social Media & Video Forum with YouTube and Google

Nowhere is the growing cross-pollination of search, video and social media more evident than at Search Engine Strategies, the mother of all search conferences and a sister event to ClickZ. In recent years the speaker line-up has steadily morphed to include experts and executives from production-savvy agencies, social networks and major video sites.

So ClickZ is very pleased to offer a forum dedicated to those subjects at SES in San Jose next month. The event, "Social Media & Video Strategies," will be offered with the sponsorship and participation of Google and YouTube.

The day will kick off with a keynote from "Here Comes Everybody" author Clay Shirky, followed by many sessions on social media and video advertising. As the day wraps up, Robert Scoble will interview with Coldwell Banker Real Estate SVP Michael Fischer on how the company has leveraged social media.

For more information, check out the forum line-up and YouTube's blog post on its involvement. We hope to see you in San Jose.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 8, 2009

Datacratic National Committee

The Obama campaign turned Democratic National Committee grassroots project, Organizing for America, is all about the data. They're advertising to fill a slew of jobs, some of which involve slicing and dicing voter file data.

The Senior Data Analyst, for example "Will work with the DNC Data Team to regularly update VoteBuilder, the DNC's national voter file. Will help support the DNC's targeting team and voter file prospecting program and collaborate with other team members to optimize data processes."

Sure, that data is used for targeting potential voters through all sorts of media, and good-ol-fashioned in-person canvassing. But it is also used for online ad targeting. I describe the process in detail in my recent piece on voter file-based ad targeting. The DNC and RNC have done it and we can expect them to do it again.

When I spoke in May with Natalie Foster, the DNC's New Media Director, she told me she planned to hire additional staff for her department. I'm not sure the data analytics positions are part of that unit, but it's pretty clear the "New Media Analytics Engineer" role is. That person will be "responsible for analyzing past and present user response to the organization's e-mails and web site, optimizing the organization's online presence, and helping to develop analytics reporting tools.

Would the DNC really need to develop its own analytics tools in-house? That would surprise me.

Anyway, one thing to consider is Catalist, the data firm serving progressive campaigns and organizations founded by Clinton White House Deputy Chief of Staff Harold Ickes. Currently, Catalist is essentially the Democratic Party's voter file warehouse. Will that relationship change if the DNC boosts its own data analytics capabilities?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Is Levick's Title the Key to Platform-A's Fate?

ClickZ isn't the only industry trade to notice the absence of Platform-A in today's AOL press release about the appointment of Kate Burns as head of its European Sales. But it's worth noting here.

This has some wondering what the future of Platform-A is. Here's my guess: AOL is phasing out the brand name, after only a couple years since its big unveiling. The biggest hint isn't today's press release. It's Jeff Levick's title. Levick replaced short-lived Platform-A President Greg Coleman earlier this year. Coleman had replaced Lynda Clarizio, who also shared the Platform-A Prez title.

Levick's title? It's AOL Global Advertising and Strategy President. What happened to the Platform-A?

If the company will indeed sweep the brand under the rug, you've gotta wonder why. Is it confusing to media buyers? Has the industry, which had grown accustomed to using the Advertising.com name, simply not embraced it? Does AOL have some sort of re-branding up its sleeve? All that may be made known after CEO Tim Armstrong's first 100 days...the clock is ticking.

All this has me curious about how much money will be down the drain if AOL does ditch the Platform-A brand. How much did the company spend developing the name and logo? That logo (I think it's kinda cool but my colleague Zach Rodgers disagrees.) was revealed not much more than a year ago.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Chrome OS: Validation for Interactive Ad Community

With the announcement last night that it will launch a lightweight OS optimized for Web apps that run on Netbooks, Google has set its sights on a future that's already become reality for many Web professionals. In that future, the browser is the de facto OS, running connected e-mail, productivity apps, and other chores while leaving only odd jobs (albeit important ones) such as security for the system software to handle.

"It's our attempt to re-think what operating systems should be," wrote Google exec Sundar Pichai in a blog post late yesterday.

For the interactive marketing community, the move is a validation of what they've always known. If Chrome OS finds traction with hardware makers, it will bring the universal digital ad platform -- the browser -- to the forefront of the user experience. Of course that shift has by and large already taken place, with the exception perhaps of e-mail, and in particular business-based e-mail. Indeed, one impact of the shift to lightweight, browser-driven computing hinted at by Google's new move is that B2B marketers could find it easier to run messaging campaigns.

But the company has a long road to walk before it can deliver on that promise.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 7, 2009

Will Amazon Patents Bring In-Book Ads to the Kindle?

Will Amazon begin serving ads into book downloads on its Kindle device? Two recent patent applications seem to point in that direction.

Patent applications titled "On-Demand Generating E-Book Content with Advertising" and "Incorporating Advertising in On-Demand Generated Content" describe methods for displaying advertising or other content at a user's request. The practices described include serving ads on pages adjacent to "requested content" as well as serving ads on their own pages.

Not surprisingly, some are reading the worst intentions into these patent applications, assuming Amazon will shortly begin to plunk pitches for Viagra into their $9.99 e-book copies of Wuthering Heights and A-Rod. However, there are several more likely outcomes -- including inserting ads into newspaper content viewed on the device or reducing book prices in exchange for some ads at a user's discretion. Even more probable is that Amazon is merely covering its basis with the patent applications -- protecting a potential market well in advance of its arrival. It's all in the execution, and Amazon knows enough to tread carefully.

Of course, in-book ads have been tried before. Any reader of pulp science fiction and fantasy novels from the '50s through the '70s will recall finding ads for body building products and even packaged food (see above) inserted into books with titles like "Inside the Earth's Core." No doubt whatever Amazon comes up with will be a hundred times more subtle. (photo credit: NYTimes.com)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 6, 2009

ZenithOptimedia Brightens Current Year Outlook for Web Ad Spending

ZenithOptimedia has upgraded its forecast for global Internet ad spending in 2009 as part of a revision to its overall advertising forecast.

The global media agency now believes Web ad expenditures will grow 10.1 percent this year, up slightly from the 8.6 percent growth rate it projected when it issued its last update in April. Most of that growth will come from paid search. In the U.S., spending on search media is expected to climb 20 percent in 2009, compared to just 3 percent for display media and 1.8 percent for classifieds.

Yet even the comparatively slow growth rates expected for display and classifieds are outstanding when compared to the motley crew of other media channels -- all of which are expected to shrink this year. Among those media, spending on cinema, television, and out of home will decline the least, atrophying by 4.8 percent, 7.1 percent, and 7 percent respectively. They're the only categories that will shrink at a slower rate than the market as a whole, which ZenithOptimedia now expects will fall by 8.5 percent this year (up from 6.9 percent in an April revision).

Read ZenithOptimedia's full release.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 2, 2009

SEIU Attacks Governator in Google Surge

There's something that seems especially appropriate about a Google surge campaign focused on the Governator. Starting yesterday and running through Sunday, two union groups are blasting Caleeefohrnians in Sacramento County with ads pushing for state citizens to contact their representatives to push for "common sense solutions to close a $24 billion state budget deficit."

The ad calls Arnie a "corporate special interest doormat" and suggests he should "be a hero for California families."

If you're not familiar with the surge tactic, a.k.a. the Google Network Blast, there's lots more on it here and here.

The Service Employees International Union and the California School Employees want to make sure when state legislators finally pass a now-overdue budget, that schools, healthcare and other services are not cut. The ads link to www.commonsense4ca.org.

Sacramento is, of course, the state capital, and apparently the unions are hoping to hit state legislators with the ads as the budget crisis drags on. Still, one may wonder why they'd expect to reach lawmakers over the Fourth of July weekend. If they were real Americans wouldn't they be heading to their home districts to BBQ and watch fireworks with their families this weekend?

I kid about the 'real American' thing, but c'mon, how many of these people are going to be in Sacramento over the long weekend?

Well, I just got off the phone with an SEIU spokesperson who tells me the target is not only legislators and citizens, put "opinion leaders" living there. That means Sacramento-based media.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 1, 2009

Microsoft Pushes Bing in a Big Way

Microsoft is investing big ad dollars in big splashy display ads for Bing.

In case you didn't notice, Microsoft is the latest advertiser to use a pushdown ad -- a new unit introduced by the Online Publishers Association. The Bing ad appeared on wsj.com today and nytimes.com yesterday and June 8. A similar ad also ran on Msnbc, according to a Microsoft spokesman.

What's more, Microsoft is using creative from the campaign in other placements -- including including interstitials, homepage and channel roadblocks -- on Huffington Post, Slate, and Federated Media, the spokesman said.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Bud Light Sponsors ESPN Online Game

Sporting events and beer go together pretty well. Now ubiquitous sports sponsor Bud Light will sponsor part of ESPN's re-launched casual games destination. In addition to baseball, basketball, air hockey, and bowling games, ESPN Arcade offers a game in which players decipher differences between two seemingly identical photos (like the photo-based game you may have played in your local bar, but in this case, the photo subjects keep their clothes on.)

Bud Light will add its branding to the "ESPN Zoom" game, available both online and in the free mobile app.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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