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September 2009

September 29, 2009

Warner, YouTube Near Deal on Music Videos

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Warner, YouTube Near Deal on Music Videos (AdAge)

CNN's Paid iPhone App Comes With Ads (AP)

Huffington Post CEO: Revenue Must Match Site's Traffic (Beet.tv)

Complaints Rise Against Video Ad Nets (Mediaweek)

Court Dismisses WPP's $13 Million Lawsuit Against Spot Runner (PaidContent)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 28, 2009

Google Australia Tests Ads in Maps Product

Google is set to introduce sponsored location ads on its Maps product in Australia, following successful implementation of the ads on its Japanese site. Reports suggests markets such as the U.S. and the U.K. may follow.

David Egan, general product manager at Google Australia, told the Sydney Morning Herald, "We get one million searches a year for railway stations. We're trying to figure out what things people might want. It could be a coffee shop or it could be a McDonald's."

The ads themselves consist of a simple branded logo placed on map locations in major cities, such as Tokyo (above.) Current advertisers on the Japanese Maps site include KFC, 7-Eleven, and McDonalds, all of which seem logical candidates to be extended to the Australian market.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 24, 2009

Evaluating Agency Performance: Digital Misses Out

Marketers are less likely to formally evaluate the performance of digital agencies than traditional shops, according to a survey of Association of National Advertisers members.

Of 117 marketers who completed ANA's survey, 76 percent said they regularly conduct formal performance evaluations of traditional creative ad agencies and 68 percent said they do so for traditional media ad agencies.

Only 47 percent said they conduct these reviews for digital agencies.

The survey, discussed at today's ANA Agency/Client Forum, did not address the disparity.

When the marketers were asked their reasons for not conducting performance evaluations, 38 percent said the amount of spending was too small; 33 percent didn't get around to it, and 33 percent said they were too busy.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bad Time for Fiorina Camp's Site to Reference The Mamas & The Papas

I'm not exactly sure what the Fiorina senatorial campaign is going for with the new CarlyforCalifornia site, but one thing's for sure: It's definitely not your typical political campaign site. Of course, at this point, it's just a splash page linking to a sign up page and donation page. "Contributions are raised for testing the waters purposes only at this time," states the small print.

There's no info on how the potential candidate stands on the issues. Fiorina is looking to unseat Senator Barbara Boxer.

"It's day & night. It's dogs & cats. It's good & bad. It's Carly vs. Boxer. It's Carlyfornia Dreamin' " reads the site's main graphic.

I guess that makes Carly the dog?

Anyway, it's interesting to see a campaign take a new direction in site look and feel. Whether voters like it is another story. People might not trust the lack of standard red, white, and blue.

Another thing I've gotta wonder: Is Fiorina regretting her Carlyfornia Dreamin' tagline amid the scandalous Mackenzie Phillips revelation?

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 23, 2009

The Trouble with Facebook's Nielsen Pact

Its new relationship with Nielsen is a big deal for Facebook, which plans to use the resulting data to fight the perception its display ads aren't effective.

But for agencies and their clients, the importance of the resulting research is unclear. Kelly Twohig, SVP, strategy director at Starcom Worldwide, noted this yesterday between sessions at Advertising Week.

"They clearly don't feel they're getting their fair share of upper funnel spending," she told me. "The hard part from a media planning standpoint is that it's such a small part of the buy."

Her point is well made. The attitudinal survey data -- which will include ad recall and purchase intent information -- cannot account for ad impressions that occur off Facebook. And there's a necessary distortion in that consumers may not always be able to distinguish their memory of Facebook's ads from similar ad creative they saw on other sites.

John Burbank, CEO of Nielsen Online, acknowledged the issue but brushed it aside: "Nothing's pure and nothing's perfect," he said. "We're confident enough of the scale that we feel that's not an issue."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Nasty Ad Slips Past Google

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Nasty Ad Slips Past Google Search ad for "Firefox - Official Site" actually points to firefox.mozilla-now.com, a site that dishonestly tries to get users to pay up to $2.50/month.

Google Feeling Acquisitive Again Eric Schmidt says the company plans to buy about one small company per month. (Reuters)

Facebook Scores Hit With Kutcher Series

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 22, 2009

Twitter's Biz Stone: No Ads in 2009

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Twitter's Biz Stone: No Ads in 2009 Focus is on getting commercial accounts up and running this year. (Reuters)

Comcast Takes on Hulu With Ad Blitz for Fancast (AdAge)

Bing Gains Again Microsoft's search service added a half point of share in August, achieving nearly 10 percent of the U.S. search market. (Reuters)

Yahoo Trying to Sell Site Hosting Business Yahoo seeking up to $500 mln for its Web hosting services for small businesses. (Reuters)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brightcove CEO: We're Not For Sale

Video content and ad platform Brightcove apparently will not be acquired by Google or anyone else in the near future. In an interview with PaidContent, CEO Jeremy Allaire said "We're not for sale."

The statement puts an end to a rumor that began last week with a tweet by Mark Glaser of PBS MediaShift to the effect that a deal was likely and would be valued at $500 to $700 million. Many speculated an acquisition would help Google gain credibility with major media companies and broaden its video offerings to businesses. Alas, if those are Google's aims it will have to look elsewhere.

Allaire went on to tell PaidContent:

We don't comment on rumor and speculation. All I can say is, we're focused on building a global, independent company, and that's the path that we're on... We're in a fortunate place in that we've got a business that we've shown can be a sustainable business, it's in a market that is growing, we have a lot of cash on our balance sheet. We don't need capital. That puts us in a place to continue to be independent.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 21, 2009

Mad Avenue Blues

If you didn't catch "Mad Avenue Blues" on YouTube when it first appeared a few months ago, it's still worth checking out.

The slideshow, set to the tune of the 1971 song, "American Pie," won over the crowd at the OMMA conference today. It's the work of Terence Kawaja, managing director at GCA Savvian.

So bye, bye those big upfront buys...

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brands Show Off Their Social Side at IAB's MIXX

The Bank of America has turned to Twitter as a channel for customer care.

Betty Crocker's marketing team worked with CafeMom.com, a social network for moms and moms-to-be, to help moms plan birthday parties for children ages 3 to 12.

And Cheetos and its creative agency, Goodby Silverstein & Partners collaborated with Federated Media to develop a sponsorship program called Cheetos Boredom Busters.

The initiatives of Bank of America, General Mills' Betty Crocker, and Frito-Lay's Cheetos were highlighted during the first day of the Interactive Advertising Bureau's MIXX conference on Monday during Advertising Week.

Stephanie Charlesbois, senior communications strategist at Goodby, Silverstein, said publishers in Federated Media's network were tasked to come up with video and other content for their audiences. "We made it clear to brand teams (at Frito-Lay) it was essential that we have to give up creative control. This is a scary thing for the clients," she said.

A 10-month Betty Crocker campaign on CafeMom had several goals including provide moms with cake ideas and inspirations for party themes while establishing Betty Crocker as a source of "holistic birthday solutions," said Laura Fortner, SVP, marketing and insights at CafeMom. Three groups of 50 moms were asked to use Betty Crocker party themes and share their photos and insights on CafeMom.

And Jennifer McDonald, BofA digital marketing executive, discussed the evolution of the bank's social media strategy. Its first initiative back in 2006 amounted to a product promotion on Facebook. Next, the bank sought to build upon its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team, encouraging people to create a cheer and promote it on social network.

"We continued to challenge ourselves to become more relevant in our core day-to-day business," said McDonald.

Its first initiative back in 2006 amounted to a product promotion on Facebook. Next, the bank sought to build upon its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic Team, encouraging people to create a cheer and posting it on a social network.

But Bank of America re-evaluated its social media play again this year. "We continued to challenge ourselves to become more relevant in our core day-to-day business," McDonald said.

So, the Bank of America examined what customers were saying about the brand on social networks. It subsequently set up a Twitter account, @BofA_help, to help customers resolve issues they were having with their checking accounts and other services. The account, manned by David Knapp, now serves 50 to 100 customers a week.

So how did the bank get buy in for the Twitter account from its legal department and other teams? "It's an extension of our customer service team...This is a service channel for us," McDonald said.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Edelman Proposes Bill of Rights for Online Advertisers

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Ben Edelman Proposes Bill of Rights for Online Advertisers Everyone's favorite privacy researcher lays out rights he says advertisers should demand as they place ad buys. (BenEdelman.org)

IAB Releases Final In-Game Advertising Measurement Guidelines Formal document follows release of draft guidelines in June.

Netflix Awards $1 Million Prize and Starts a New Contest Winners were the first to improve on rental giant's in-house movie recommendation software by more than 10 percent. (NYT Bits Blog)

Hulu Already Planning Tech Specs For Subscription Service (BusinessofVideo.com)

WPP Chief Tempers Hopes for Ad Upturn (WSJ)

Microsoft Tests Paid Search Ad Format Trial ads on Bing listings will include favicons and logos. (Mediapost)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2009

In a week when...

I'm settling into my new role at Search Engine Watch, ClickZ and Search Engine Strategies. I'm meeting lots of new people and digging my way out of a lot of paperwork and red tape. In between, the industry has been ticking along and I've hardly had a moment to notice what has been going on. I thought it may be a good idea to have a reflection on a few things that certainly did catch my attention this week.

So, in a week when...

Adobe announced its potential acquisition of Omniture, a seemingly startled industry furrowed its brow and said: "What?"

Generally speaking, most commentary I've seen since the announcement has been based around the fact that, they can't seem to find where the fit is. Obviously, with a $1.8 billion price attached to Omniture, this is less than likely to have been an impulse purchase!

If we saw an announcement saying "Google buys Twitter" there'd hardly be a furrowed brow in sight. Or if we saw "Microsoft buys Google" we'd likely be more interested in the purchase price than, what to many, may be an obvious fit.

There are many reasons why companies get acquired by another larger company. It's not always about the fit. Over the years I've seen many acquisitions where there didn't seem to be an exact fit and yet the outcome has been totally positive and profitable. There's a case quite simply for diversity. Both Adobe and Omniture are recognized technology leaders in their respective markets, for instance. And you know, sometimes a company which simply has better management and a clearer vision of the future can take a company and turn its fortunes around to the advantage of all.

I'm not sure at all what the decisive reason (or combination of reasons) was for them wanting to go ahead and ink such a big deal. But I seem to be less surprised about the deal than most are.

There have always been the inherent problems with Flash and the web. Flash is alien to the browser so it has to be "plugged in." Trying to use analytics to track users in Flash has been very difficult by virtue of the fact that you stream an entire movie (complete with its own navigation) in one go, as opposed to page-by-page. Flash became a notorious search engine optimization enemy because it refused to rely on text and preferred glorious vector graphics. What's a search engine like Google going to index? Loading... Loading... Loading. Or maybe: "Skip movie."

However, for a short while, the use of Flash cookies was a major boon to the analytics industry which was desperately looking for a method to replace HTML cookies which end users have a habit of deleting. But more recently Adobe has graduated Flash from a purely streaming graphics medium to a platform in its own right.

At a time when clients demand much more customized dashboards for presenting the most actionable insights, the more the Flex platform (Adobe AIR, Flex Developer Tools, Flash Media Servers and the ubiquitous Flash Player) has gained popularity (it's all been renamed Flash Platform now BTW).

And Adobe's Dreamweaver product has long been a favored developers tool. What if, for the purpose of better analytics, the tool kicked out pages which were already tagged and ready to go? Who knows?

Heck, there's a lot of conversation about apps and how big they are becoming as marketing tools. Many of these apps quite simply sidestep the browser (mobile apps, for instance). Developing apps and suitable analytics tools is going to be a major part of marketing's future. In fact, just today HP announced a new non-PC device for pulling in stuff from the internet which doesn't need a browser. How do we know who's looking at that thing?

Of course, I'm just thinking aloud, as usual. As we look at HTML and the HTTP protocol and wonder what the next platform is likely to be, many in the developer community have mooted Flash as an alternative. And as we consider an internet which was invented more than 30 years ago, maybe it's time for a shift from the IP protocol to something new. Certainly these guys in Germany are thinking seriously about this.

In fact, there's a whole lot of speculation about what happens next with the web which is fascinating. So maybe, in their secret meetings, Adobe and Omniture realized that the potential for both companies is somewhere way down the line and not necessarily at this precise moment?

The stock market saw a slip in the price of Adobe shares while Omniture soared. I hang a lot with our cousins in the analytics field and heard some time ago that Omniture was being shopped around. And no, I probably would never have guessed at Adobe as a potential purchaser. But hey, if both companies can carry on and grow in the market place together, I don't know that I'm so worried about whether there's a perfect fit at this time.

In a week when...

I spend a lot of time looking at the industry wondering how and where social search is going to emerge as an obvious development and verified search tool. One place where there's a lot of activity is over at Aardvark who just released their own app (it can be downloaded from the iTunes store).

In a week when...

Having hung up my ClickZ columnist hat I was forced to find time to write another final column. Until I find a replacement for myself I have to fill what would have been a lot of empty white digital space. The column is focused on real time search. Because I couldn't squeeze in the tons of stuff I've been looking at recently, I simply highlighted a couple of great living experiments. Certainly one well worth a much deeper look at is the IBM/BBC Sound Index venture.

In a week when...

The SES team pulled together the initial session grid for Chicago. Yes, here's a hint of the flavor of the show coming up in December. And lots more to come.

Wow! It's Friday evening -- I'm outta here!

Posted by mgrehan at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 17, 2009

Facebook Party: An Off-the-Record Event

Journalists planning to attend the Facebook GeneratioNext Wrap Party during next week's Advertising Week just got this advisory: It's going to be an off-the-record event.

Does that mean we're going to have to leave our camera phones at the door? That doesn't seem very social.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Agency: eBay Adopts Google Paid Search Ads

A few stories ClickZ editors are reading:

eBay Adopting Syndicated Google Paid Search Ads, Dropping Yahoo In the last three weeks, paid search agency saw the bulk of clicks on the site shift to Google ads. (Rimm-Kaufman Group)

Over 1,000 Content owners Now Using Content ID Every major U.S. network broadcaster, film studio, and record label now use the program, which allows companies to claim a portion of advertising that appears on content containing their intellectual property. (YouTube Biz Blog)

5to1.com Launches Ad Network with a Twist Start-up -- founded by former FIM execs Ross Levinsohn -- gives publishers a say in the placement, price integrity, and contextual targeting of advertisements.

TargetSpot Launches Analytics Tech for Online Radio Ads Online radio ad network allows Web radio advertisers to track viewer activity after an ad is heard.

Twitter Secures New Investment at $1 Billion Valuation (TechCrunch)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 16, 2009

Rumor: Google in Talks to Acquire Brightcove

Update 9/22: Rumors of a merger are apparently only that. Read more.

Is Google trying to buy Brightcove? Mark Glaser of PBS MediaShift tweeted a rumor to that effect this afternoon, saying a source with knowledge of the negotiations pegged the acquisition at between $500 and $700 million.

Such a transaction might make sense for Google on a number of levels. For one, it could help it convince big media companies to trust it with their premium content. Brightcove's media customers already include many majors, including Fox Entertainment, AOL, The New York Times, and Discovery Communications.

More significantly, it could diversify Google's video offerings to brands beyond the hosting and video ad vehicles already available through YouTube and AdSense. Companies work with Brightcove not only to manage their video content but also to develop and source creative ideas, and integrate content with their Web sites. GM, Obama's '08 campaign, Ticketmaster, Intuit, and HarperCollins have all done so.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Facebook Declares Profitability, Reaches 300 Million Users

Facebook has reached profitability quicker than it expected, according to the social network's founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. Writing on the firm's blog yesterday, Zuckerberg said, "Earlier this year, we said we expected to be cash flow positive sometime in 2010, and I'm pleased to share that we achieved this milestone last quarter."

Facebook has struggled to monetize its platform as easily as it may have hoped, owing in part to reluctance from brands to advertise alongside user generated content, and also to privacy concerns from some users over the way in which their data is being used to target commercial messages.

Regardless, Zuckerberg says the firm is now in a position to sustain itself financially, and "sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term." In addition, he claims the service now serves 300 million people globally.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Navteq Acquires Acuity Mobile to Power Location-based Ads.

Following the launch of its LocationPoint location-based ad product earlier this year, Nokia-owned Navteq has announced it is acquiring U.S.-based Acuity Mobile - the firm that enables the delivery of those ads. As well as targeting, the company offers a range of campaign management, tracking and reporting tools.

Having previously licensed Acuity's technology, and taken a $2.8 million stake in the company last year, an acquisition appears to be a logical progression of that relationship.

The move demonstrates both Navteq and Nokia's commitment to the digital ad-space, and despite the fact few advertisers are currently making use of location-based products, suggests location-based products are at least attracting interest.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 15, 2009

ActBlue Now Running Anti-Joe Wilson Ads...Finally

Well, Democratic online fundraising powerhouse ActBlue is running ads targeted to searches for "you lie" pol Joe Wilson. So is the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, despite the fact that Wilson and his Democratic rival Rob Miller are running for a South Carolina House seat in 2010.

At the height of the hype around the Republican Congressman's outburst during President Obama's healthcare speech last week -- before Kanye West and Serena Williams overtook the rant-of-the-moment rankings -- neither the organization nor Wilson's 2010 election opponent Rob Miller appeared to be running search ads. Wilson's campaign was, however, running Google ads last week in the hopes of garnering donations from those who support his anti-healthcare reform message.

Today, when doing a search for "Joe Wilson," I came across ads from Wilson as well as ActBlue and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

"Stand against Joe Wilson. Rep. Wilson heckled the President. Say "no" to Joe. Make a donation!" says the ActBlue ad. The DSCC is also running ads: "Had Enough of Hecklers? Fight Back Against the Tea Party Express. Contribute $5 Today!"

The fact is, despite the positive impact various Democratic groups and their e-mail pleas are having on Miller's campaign coffers, striking with search advertising while the iron is hot will help bring in even more money.

Wilson's people are still milking his 5-minutes of national fame. The latest is a professionally-produced video featuring the Congressman's wife seen on the homepage of his campaign site.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Plays Nice with Publishers in Trials of Ad-supported "Fast Flip"

Google has faced criticism from a range of publishers over its Google News aggregation product, but it looks like the search giant is at least trying to play nice with trials of a new ad supported -- but revenue sharing -- news aggregation product.

Fast Flip collates news content from a range of third party publishers in an interface it describes as "combining the best elements of print and online articles." Essentially, this means a series of screen grabs of news stories from publisher sites, on which users can click to view original content if they wish.

Each story is accompanied by contextual display ads from Google's network, and the resulting revenue is shared with publishers. Ads on publisher sites are omitted from the screen grabs themselves.

Writing on the Google News Blog today, Krishna Bharat, the creator of Google News, said "The publishing industry faces many challenges today, and there is no magic bullet. However, we believe that encouraging readers to read more news is a necessary part of the solution. We think Fast Flip could be one way to help, and we're looking to find other ways to help as well in the near future."

Publishers have openly criticized Google's news product for monetizing their content through ads without passing on a share of that revenue. However, Google maintains that publishers can opt-out of having their sites indexed by the product -- and waive the benefits of the traffic it may drive to their sites -- if they so wish.

Last month, Italian competition authorities even launched an investigation into allegations Google was abusing its dominant position through its News products, and strangling publishers' ad revenue as a result.

Publishers taking part in trials of the new Fast Flip product include the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, Salon, Fast Company, Newsweek, and BBC Worldwide. A mobile version for Android-powered devices and the iPhone is also available.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 14, 2009

Hyatt and Toyota Among GLAAD Interactive Ad Nominees

Hyatt and Toyota are among the interactive advertiser nominees for The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's upcoming Media Awards in Advertising. GLAAD announced its nominees for traditional and interactive advertising today in preparation for its first ever GLAAD Media Awards in Advertising ceremony, to be held in New York on October 27.

The organization's goal is to ensure that members of the LGBT community are portrayed fairly and accurately in the media. In May, GLAAD announced it would begin monitoring online ads.

Judges nominated online ad campaigns from Rogaine, Toyota Scion, Hyatt Resorts, and Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. All the campaign nominees can be viewed on the GLAAD site

I was among a handful of people from the advertising world -- some agency folks, some ad industry reporters -- who judged the nominees. Our mission was to gauge how well the ads satisfied certain criteria: Did they include a fair and diverse representation of the LGBT community? Did they make an impact or raise LGBT issues outside the community? Were they high-quality?

It was an eye-opening experience, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to be involved in such a ground-breaking initiative.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 11, 2009

More Details on Measurement Consortium (links)

Big U.S. Media Companies Join Up to Study TV Audiences
NBC Universal, CBS, News Corp., Time Warner and others shared details of their nascent cross-media measurement consortium. The Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, as it is called, will use set-top box data to gather more detailed viewer info. It will also seek to better integrate data from mobile and Web platforms. (Reuters)

AT&T Launches Online Video Site New destination takes page from Hulu and Comcast's Fancast. Television and video content will come from big networks plus Bravo, Oxygen, Syfy, The CW, USA Network, and CNBC. (AP)

WPP: No Green Shoots in Ad Industry No, not even in China. (WSJ)

New Discovery Features in YouTube Insight (YouTube blog)

Vegemite's Clueless Linking Policy Kraft brand forbids anyone to link to page. (Boing Boing)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nielsen Online Expands to South Korea

Nielsen has announced it is acquiring South Korean Web measurement firm KoreanClick for an undisclosed sum. Launched in 2000, the firm collects data on Internet usage and user attitudes, including audience measurement for applications such as online gaming and instant messaging. Clients currently include Internet firms, advertisers, and agencies.

Nielsen itself is already active locally in the retail and TV measurement space, but the purchase signifies its first foray into the online measurement market there. Its online arm is, however, already up and running in other Asia-Pacific territories, including China and Japan.

South Korea is widely accepted as one of the "most connected" nations in the world, and Nielsen estimates the user base there at around 40 million.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 5:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 10, 2009

"You Lie" Pol and Opponent Should Be Advertising

By now even if you didn't watch or listen to President Obama's speech on healthcare before Congress, you've probably heard about the "You Lie!" disruption. Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican blurted out, "You Lie!" when the prez said the reforms he is proposing would not apply to illegal immigrants.

Since then, his opponent in the 2010 congressional race, Rob Miller, has "reportedly raised more than $200,000 from thousands of donors since Wilson's outburst," according to Christian Science Monitor's Vote Blog.

Thing is, Miller isn't running search ads, despite the fact that his name is still high in Google's trend rankings. (It's currently the 19th most searched term today). Unless the Miller camp is targeting ads only to South Carolina -- or not in New York where ClickZ News is -- they don't appear to be taking full advantage of this situation. And neither do Wilson's people for that matter. Granted, I realize that doing a few random name related searches on Google and Yahoo does not provide enough data to be entirely sure that neither campaign is running ads, but if they aren't, they're missing a big opportunity to score even more donations in a small window of time.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Shop 'Til You Tweet and Drop

Can merchants, designers - and even a publisher -- get penny-pinching consumers to change their ways despite the economic downturn?

An initiative, Fashion's Night Out 2009, aims to do that and help revive NYC's fashion industry. Taking place in at least 13 cities tonight, including NYC, the campaign taps Twitter and Facebook to develop buzz.

Many of the city's retailers and designers are sponsoring special events. For instance, Gwen Stefani will appear at Bloomingdale's and Third Eye Blind will perform at Nine West Shoes at 53rd and Fifth Avenue, New York. Both appearances were announced on Twitter.

Fashionistas were giddy. Wrote @symonedollface on Twitter: "ughh #FashionNightOut Zac Posen, Patricia Fields, Ms. J, and Pharrell in one night... I MAY LOSE MY MIND"

Vogue magazine's publisher, Condé Nast, is behind the effort in a big way. It registered the URL, www.fashionnightout.com. The site includes a directory of 700 participating merchants and a tool that lets a shopper check off her itinerary.

On vogue.com, the mag publisher is offering a sweepstakes, including eight $5,000 shopping sprees. One hitch: participants must answer 16 questions on whether they'd like to opt in or out of getting special offers and other information from retailers and other event's sponsors. Let's make a deal!

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 1, 2009

Macy's to Launch Clear Channel Mobile/Web Station This Week

As I note today in my piece about Clear Channel's growing integrated media division, the firm has moved far beyond terrestrial radio only. They're busy building out their New York integrated media office, and creating custom work - rich media, video, cross-media DJ-tie-ins, mobile, in-person events - for lots of big name clients like Ford, McDonald's, and Six Flags.

Later this week, Clear Channel plans to launch a new channel in its popular iheartradio platform, a streaming radio Web and mobile offering, on behalf of retailer Macy's. "Red Star Radio" will feature tunes from Black Eyed Peas, Death Cab for Cutie, Kings of Leon, and others. In addition to use for Blackberry devices and Apple iPhone and iTouch, the media firm makes iheartradio available in widget form online for distribution on blogs or social sites.

Anyone else reminded of "I Heart Huckabees"? (Coincidentally, the marketing of a big department store brand served as the backdrop in that flick.)

In conjunction with the campaign, Macy's is also running a "Be a DJ for a Day" contest; the winner will assist in radio programming for a day in NYC, and get $500 to spend at the department store.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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