Back to Main

Advertising

November 3, 2009

Most Brutal Sponsorship Ever

Though they're more prone to drinking beer and Jagermeister, a sneak preview of the return of the members of the world's most brutal metal band, Dethklok, has been brought to us by Coke Zero.

In fact, in addition to "Metalocalypse," which features the animated exploits of Dethklok, the non-caloric soda brand is sponsoring a host of previews of upcoming shows on Cartoon Network's adult-aimed programming block Adult Swim. The main goal appears to be promoting the "Facial Profiler," an application available at CocaColaZero.com that purports to match photos of people with similar facial features.

At this stage, Coke is in the building stage, looking for people to submit their photos to the database by connecting to the app through Facebook.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 27, 2009

Online Advertisers Misbeshavin'

Sadly, most of us have grown accustomed to seeing some pretty nasty images in online ads. Flabby bellies, yellow teeth, dominatrix chickens.

Well, I may have stumbled on the most bizarre, indeed grossest image yet. Today, while doing research on Facebook for a story (believe it or not, I actually do story research there), I stumbled upon a woman shaving.

Not her legs. Not her underarms. Not her...um...Her face!

OK, now unfortunately I've heard about some women doing this, but do I really need the pictorial?

We can thank American Laser Centers for this ad, which links to a lead gen page promoting free laser hair removal.

Oh, and please excuse my headline. I guess I've been inspired by the New York Post.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

October 22, 2009

Which Blogosphere Does This Year's Technorati Report Reflect?

Last year, we reported that around 50 percent of bloggers have ads on their blogs. So, how could that number have dropped to 28 percent this year?

Well, according to Technorati, the publisher of the second-annual "State of the Blogosphere" report, the pool of respondents to this year's survey of bloggers is much bigger than last year, arguably producing findings that are more representative of the blogosphere.

Indeed, last year's survey included just 1,400 participants, while this year's included 2,900, according to Technorati VP of Marketing Jennifer McLean, whom I spoke with earlier today.

I'm sure some scientific statisticians have smoke coming out of their ears right now, but I think it's worth mentioning the disparity between the two reports since we did cover last year's numbers.

"Before we simply had a higher concentration of serious bloggers," McLean told me. This year, lots more so-called "hobbyist" bloggers - the ones who write blogs just for the hell of it and don't collect any ad revenue from them - took the survey. So, essentially, the ad-supported concentration was diluted this time around.

Here are a few other numbers from this year's (arguably) more accurate poll. Of those bloggers running ads:
- Around 40 percent run display and Google AdSense-type text ads (listed in the report as "search" ads).
- 36 percent include affiliate marketing links.
- 8 percent feature rich media ads or paid blog posts.
- The mean annual amount of ad revenue generated is around $42,500.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 3:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 16, 2009

Anti-Dobbs Ad Money Raised Online Won't Go to CNN

Last month, I reported on a campaign targeting Capitol Hill staffers, CNN employees, and staff members of other media companies on Facebook. An immigration advocacy group called America's Voices aimed to vilify CNN host Lou Dobbs. People listed on Facebook as employees of media firms including CNN, The New York Times, Politico, and AOL were served ads featuring images of the CNN anchor accompanied by text like, "Hey, Anderson Cooper, What's it like to work with a racist at CNN? Time to drop Dobbs."

Sounds like a publicity stunt? Sure. Part of the goal was to spawn earned media coverage of the campaign. The organization, however, also aimed to raise money for anti-Dobbs TV spots. They wanted - in partnership with progressive media watchdog Media Matters for America -- to run an ad implying that Dobbs is an anti-immigrant hatemonger during the network's upcoming "Latino in America" special.

"All of the advertising so far has been digital and whatever we raise will go to traditional media," Jackie Mahendra, director of online communications for America's Voices, told me last month.

Yesterday, the group announced it had raised "nearly $16,000" towards that goal, and would run the ads during the series. Now, America's Voices - and HuffingtonPost - report that CNN has refused to run the ad. According to HuffPo, CNN stated, "Contrary to reports, CNN has not accepted these spots and they will not air on the network."

An America's Voice press release from yesterday says they play to run the ad "on a competing network in the next week."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 8, 2009

European Commission Voices Concerns over Behavioral Targeting... Again

The European Commission has once again expressed concerns over the use of behavioral targeting technologies in Europe, and reinforced its intentions to intervene if it feels the industry is incapable of regulating itself effectively.

Speaking at a lunch debate on the future of the Internet in Brussels on Tuesday, Viviane Reding, commissioner for information, society and media, said concerns about targeted advertising are being "repeatedly mentioned to the Commission these days," and that the Commission was "closely monitoring" the practice to ensure respect for users' privacy rights.

"European privacy rules are crystal clear: a person's information can only be used with their prior consent. Transparency and choice are key words in this debate... I will not shy away from taking action where an EU country falls short of this duty," she said, before highlighting the Commission's privacy-related action against the U.K. -- launched as a result of targeting technology trials conducted by Phorm and B.T.

The Commission has repeatedly expressed concerns over behavioral targeting and the collection of user data for advertising purposes. Meanwhile, the U.K. government's consumer protection body, the Office of Fair Trading, has also announced an investigation into the practice.

Nick Stringer, the IAB U.K.'s head of regulatory affairs, maintains that the IAB's work in regulating the space is being taken seriously by government departments, but the fact that its members collect and use data in varying ways, and in conjunction with different business models, suggests its ability to regulate the practice in a way deemed fit by the Commission could be hampered.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 1, 2009

Survey: 34% of Ad Agencies Plan to Hire

A survey performed by the Creative Group, a recruiting agency, found that 34 percent of the advertising and marketing executives surveyed plan to hire in the coming 12 months.

Another 55 percent said they plans to maintain current staffing levels.

The skills in most demand? One in two said they plan to hire staff in four areas: Web design or production, creative or art direction, interactive, and account services.

Least in demand? Only 10 percent said they were looking to hire workers for media services and only 23 percent for public relations, according to the survey.

"Many firms are interested in expanding their digital presence," Megan Slabinski, executive director, said in a news release. Rather than hire full-time employees, companies often bring in talent on a project basis, she said. That way businesses can avoid laying off workers if the economy loses momentum

According to the Creative Group, its survey was based on 250 interviews: 125 with ad executives randomly selected from the nation's 2,000 largest advertising agencies and 125 with senior marketing executives randomly selected from the nation's 2,000 largest companies.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

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 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)

September 16, 2009

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)

August 31, 2009

Marriage Proposal As "Social Media Enagement Success Story"

My husband and I eloped and didn't tell anyone before we did it, so I guess I'm naturally skeptical of people who want to make spectacles of their marriage proposals and weddings. Today the cynic in me surfaced again when I caught wind of the "Dalila, will you marry me?" campaign launched by a guy named Fred, evidently a staffer at digital agency Deep Focus.

Fred included video and social media-enabled banner ads on women-aimed site SheKnows, where he posted a list of 10 reasons his girlfriend Dalila should say, "Yes." It didn't take long for a large banner unit featuring a dynamic Twitter feed to flood with posts related to his campaign.

It also didn't take long for her to agree to get hitched. It must have been reason number 9, Dalila's hair: "Her hair is what I first noticed when I met her, and to this day is still a major part of my most fond memories of her."

Um....OK....

I can't help but wonder if the campaign served a dual purpose as a way for Deep Focus to promote its social ad prowess, but then again, there's the cynic rearing her head. The agency's CEO, Ian Schafer's Twitter post congratulating Fred: "Delila said YES! Congrats, Fred!!! http://bit.ly/u82e2 #SayYesD A social media engagement success story :)"

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 26, 2009

WPP Says Digital Now Accounts for 25 Percent of Income

Ad giant WPP, which owns agencies such as Mindshare, MediaCom, and Wunderman, has announced that, despite falling revenues, its digital business appears to be holding up. The company said revenue from digital and direct marketing activities now accounts for 25 percent of its overall income -- or £1.04 billion ($1.7 billion) -- up from 20 percent for the financial year ending March '09.

Today's statement from the company conceded that "the impact of the recession on the group's profitability in the first half was severe," but that cost actions have been taken in the second quarter that should "improve the picture in the second half."

Looking forward to 2010, the company said top line revenues will remain "even Steven," and asserted that "although there is little doubt that CEOs and CMOs feel better about the general economic environment, Armageddon or Apocalypse now having been averted, there is little evidence of better heads and stouter hearts translating into stronger order-books or investments - at least, yet."

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 17, 2009

AOL's Bid for a Content Empire

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

AOL Blossoms as Print Retreats In New York, AOL has 300 content producers working on 80 Web sites. (New York Times)

It's Broadway Gone Viral, With a Musical Meted Out via Twitter (New York Times)

AT&T Shuts Down Broadband TV Service (GigaOM)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After Moving Ads to the Left, Google Clicks Climb 10 Percent

As we mentioned last week, Google recently moved its search ads column to the left in a bid to increase their visibility and click rate. With the change, the paid links appear much closer to the organic results -- especially on larger screens.

What's been the impact so far? The jury's still out on that, but one search analytics company has published early analysis suggesting clicks may have risen by 10.3 percent. Santa Monica-based SEM firm The Search Agents compared clickthrough rate from last Tuesday through Thursday to the total rate from the past 10 weeks on those three days.

In a post presenting its data, the company says the finding is not proof of users' future click behavior. But if it does bear out, the potential impact on inventory and reach is very significant.

We're still interested in hearing how this change might have affected your campaigns. Care to share?

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

August 12, 2009

Google's Ad Column Moves West From Siberia

As noted by TechCrunch, Google has shifted the ad column on all search results pages to the left. The move is a bid to improve the visibility of sponsored links, and will no doubt drive higher click volume. How much higher is anyone's guess. Maybe you could help us with that?

Here's Google's statement on the change:

"We're constantly experimenting with new visual representations to improve the user experience and usefulness of our ads. In accordance with that philosophy, we've shifted the ads to the left on the page as a way to help users find what they are looking for on the Internet."

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

August 10, 2009

Four Out of Five Major Advertisers Are Using Facebook

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Facebook Joins Forces with Advertisers 80 Perecent of top 100 advertisers are marketing through Facebook. (Financial Times)

Barry Diller's Air of Tech Savvy Hasn't Paid Off Shareholders haven't seen big returns on Barry Diller's extended foray into Web media. (LA Times)

Internet.com Sold to Lead Gen Firm QuinStreet, Inc. agrees to buy B2B publishing brand for $18 million. Included in deal is InternetNews.com. Both are owned by Alan Meckler's WebMediaBrands.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 7, 2009

Is Twitter Testing Ads?

UPDATED: It seems Twitter is not testing a new ad format. Details below.

Twitter appears to be experimenting with a range of new features today, including what appears to be third-party sponsored text links on user profile pages.

A box located directly beneath a user's follower numbers is promoting products and services on some accounts, and offers the options to "tweet now" or to "learn more," the latter linking to a third-party site. One ad apparently links to a site related to a movie called "Taking Woodstock."

The changes aren't currently visible from my account (@jackmarshall), but a user I follow, @anjali28, was kind enough to send me the following screen grabs of the changes she noticed this afternoon. Apparently another ad reads, "Thirst In Select Theatres 7/31. A priest becomes a vampire. Tweet if you want to see the movie! Tweet now or learn more."

However, none of the ads mentioned are for brands or products I immediately recognize. We are currently waiting for Twitter itself to verify the nature of the ads, and indeed if the images are even real.

UPDATE: It seems Twitter is not testing new ad formats after all. Rather, it appears the user that pointed this out to me may have forgotten she had installed the ad-supported browser application, Power Twitter.

Before posting, I questioned the nature of the ads with the user herself, who said in an e-mail, "just to clarify, I haven't installed Power Twitter." I've been unable to reach her since to double-check this, and we're still waiting for a response on the matter from Twitter itself.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 5, 2009

FTC: BT Regulations Come Down to 'Dignity'

A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

FTC: BT Regulations Come Down to 'Dignity' - There's little new information in this story on the privacy views of David Vladeck, head of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. But it's interesting to see him describe the proper limits of behavioral targeting as a matter of human dignity, as opposed to the traditional standard of "causing harm." (New York Times)

Google to Acquire On2 Technologies Video compression tech will likely be used to enhance YouTube experience.

Online Ad Firm Traffiq Wins $10 Million Investment

ESPN Drops Hammer on Twitter Use - Analysts and reporters are told all information they publish must serve ESPN. (New York Times)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 27, 2009

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 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)

July 17, 2009

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)

July 16, 2009

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 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 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 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)

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)

June 15, 2009

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 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)

May 28, 2009

PR Case Study: Gawker Plays the Ad Press Like a Fiddle

There's paid media, there's earned media, and there's burned media. A controversial HBO campaign now running on Gawker Media sites somehow wrangled all three.

Here's what happened in case you missed it: Gawker executed a custom sponsorship for the HBO series True Blood that involved a phony vampire blog that was passed off as a newly acquired site in the Gawker portfolio. That sleight of hand pulled the wool over the not-very-discerning eyes of New York tech blog Business Insider. ClickZ avoided initial coverage in part because it's unseemly to dwell on the embarrassing mistakes of another publisher -- hey, everyone's entitled to a mistake -- and in part because it's a somewhat ham-fisted execution on Gawker's part.

But the ensuing coverage -- by Mediapost, Adweek, AgencySpy and others -- have transformed it into a case study on the PR potential of micro-scandals. And Gawker has shown repeatedly that it can milk such scandals for all they're worth. (Update: per Brian's comment below, I should say Adweek ran a straight story relative to the many others who led with the scandal.)

To fill in the details, in recent weeks HBO and Gawker laid the groundwork for a supposedly vampire-written blog called BloodCopy. The site was unveiled over the weekend and presented jokingly as a recently acquired member of the Gawker family. Gawker provided the architecture and wrote the blog, which has been syndicated to other Gawker sites in the form of sponsored posts. At first, these were not always clearly labeled as ads. Campfire was the creative agency behind the campaign.

Two days after BI ran its straight-faced story on the vampire site, Gawker editor Gabriel Snyder objected, writing, "Gawker Media has been taken to the media criticism woodshed over this one. What's advertising should be called advertising and what's edit should be called edit. It hurts both to blur the distinction." Gladly he noted an earlier post trumpeting the "acquisition" of BloodCopy had been deleted.

However Snyder's victory rang hollow when BloodCopy's supposedly objectionable post was later reinstated -- proving who really wears the pants in the Gawker family (VP Sales Chris Batty). As the week wore on a number of trade rags weighed in, generating valuable publicity for Gawker -- never mind HBO.

Reactions from Gawker's management were mixed. Nick Denton issued an ambiguous mea culpa, retweeting media writer Rachel Sklar's comment, "The news is that Gawker Ad leveraged (+ undermined the credibility of) Gawker Editorial to promote an ad campaign."

Meanwhile Chris Batty defended the strategy, telling the Nieman Journalism Lab, "If we're around in three or four years, the majority of our advertising revenue will be in sponsored posts like this."

Hyperbole or not, Batty's message to advertisers -- undeniably favorable to Gawker's sales efforts -- is this: We'll go the extra mile for you, editorial priggishness be damned. And if we cross a line with our readers, we'll back off.

And what's wrong with that, really? It's certainly worked for Gawker in the past. Recall that in 2007 Gawker sold a site takeover to Evian, which plastered the whole site in pink. Editor Choire Sicha complained then too, and Denton apologized.

Does Gawker engineer these little outrages? I don't think so. Does it cultivate them? You decide.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

May 22, 2009

Do Yahoo Fantasy Leaguers Have Russian Bride Fantasies?

Yahoo's fantasy baseball service and player stats pages provide a ton of ad inventory, and I can't help but wonder whether the company sells any of it direct to advertisers. It seems to be a great way to reach those ever-elusive young males, right? You'd expect to see ads for Axe deodorant or some new 8-blade razor or something, right?

Not exactly. The manager of the fantasy team "The Sleazy Uncles" told me he's been seeing ads for some strange stuff lately when researching players. Yeah, he's getting ads from typical remnant inventory advertisers like Vonage. But he's also seeing a lot of ads for Indian marriage and Russian mail-order bride services.

Really.

The more I think about it, though, the more it makes sense -- sort of. Whether or not Bharat Matrimony is targeting men only is questionable, but mail-order bride service Anastasia International clearly aims to reach men. And to be more specific, it needs to reach men who are, well, to put it bluntly, desperate. I'm not trying to insinuate that all fantasy league players are socially awkward men who can't meet girls (hey, Alyssa Milano does it), but they may be onto something....!

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

May 20, 2009

Twitter Leaves Door Open to Ads

If you're Biz Stone you sure have to watch what you say. After the Twitter co-founder told an audience yesterday that the company didn't find the concept of advertising "interesting," a number of outlets understandably took him to mean Twitter has sworn off ads entirely.

That's apparently not the case. In a corrective blog post, Stone allows as how just because the firm isn't exactly excited about display ads, that doesn't mean it won't one day accept them.

From the post:

The idea of taking money to run traditional banner ads on Twitter.com has always been low on our list of interesting ways to generate revenue. However, facilitating connections between businesses and individuals in meaningful and relevant ways is compelling. We're going to leave the door open for exploration in this area.

And just in case any of you in the marketing world had your feelings hurt by that "interesting" remark, Stone has a kind word for you too.

"Do we hate advertising? Of course not. It's a huge industry filled with creativity and inspiration. There's also room for new innovation in advertising, marketing, and public relations and Twitter is already part of that."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 7, 2009

Yahoo to Take Over Microsoft Ad Sales? Not Likely

The latest reports about negotiations between Microsoft and Yahoo suggest the two have entered a period of "meaningful" talks and may strike a deal before too long. While details are obviously murky, Boomtown has heard that under the deal being discussed "Yahoo would take over both search and display advertising sales and Microsoft would run the tech for both behind the scenes."

That will never happen, according to one knowledgeable source at Microsoft. First, Microsoft is too focused on the long-term importance of digital advertising to sign away control of its sales operation. The company is heavily invested in that marketplace in terms of both people (well over 1,000 in U.S. sales alone) and products (40+). Can Microsoft trust Yahoo to sell MSN, Microsoft Media Network and its other products with the same vigor and knowledge it brings to the table when peddling its own properties? And would Microsoft's famous executive egos ever outsource something as crucial as ad sales?

According to the source, the answer to both questions is no. "There's no way in hell is Microsoft going to give Yahoo control on its properties," he said.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Will Users Really Watch Last.fm's New Ad-supported Visual Radio?

Last.fm has re-launched its streaming music player to incorporate rich media content alongside its existing online radio offering. Users will now be provided with a stream of artist images, music videos, and other visual content as they stream audio from the site, and Last.fm will unearth a range of new ad inventory as a result.

The firm says the new player will provide "unique visual branding opportunities," and will create a more immersive experience than the audio ad spots currently being used by rival streaming services such as Spotify and We7. U.K. mobile network operator Vodafone is already making use of the new offering, running 15 second video ads in the player before some tracks.

In a release, Martin Stiksel, Last.fm co-founder, said, "Passionate music fans come to Last.fm for more than just the songs, and Visual Radio provides them with the enriching, full-featured music experience they demand. And the bold new music player allows brands and sponsors the opportunity to directly reach these users in a visually exciting way."

I disagree. I would have thought the majority of users visit Last.fm for just the songs, rather than a slideshow and some branding. What's more, many users run streaming music services in the background of other applications, rather than granting them their undivided attention. Ultimately, therefore, I'm dubious as to quite how "engaged" the consumer is likely to be with the new player.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 6, 2009

Video: Gawker's Lowbrow Pitch to Advertisers

After a year of retrenchment that saw the shutdown or sale of several sites and the absorption of tech gossip rag Valleywag into its flagship property, one might expect Gawker Media to soften its corrosive tone -- or at least to downplay it to potential advertisers. Not so. The below video, which Publisher Nick Denton describes as "the core of our media kit," shows Gawker's sales team still proudly wears the mantle of mean-spiritedness.

Update: My friends at Gawker have just taken me to task for the coldness of this post, so let me just clarify that I actually like this video.

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

Morning Reads: Microsoft Job Cuts Hit Massive, TheStreet Plowed, WebMD Upbeat

Massive hit by Microsoft layoffs. In-game ad network Massive Inc., which Microsoft bought three years ago, has suffered a significant headcount reduction under the company's latest round of layoffs. VentureBeat reports the ad unit's staff may have been reduced by as much as 75 percent. Updated: The ad unit's staff was reduced by 28 percent, a spokesperson has corrected. "We have made these adjustments in response to general benchmarks and growth trends in the in-game advertising industry. They will allow us to operate more efficiently in the future, and we remain committed to growing the business." Microsoft expects no disruption in its relationships with brands and publishers.

TheStreet.com's online ad revenue plummeted 47 percent in Q1. The company's interactive marketing revenues -- which includes both online ads and lead gen services -- fell almost as much, totaling $4.5 million in Q1. (earnings release)

WebMD on the other had cause to celebrate. The health company's online ad revenue grew 16 percent during the period. The company acknowledged many biotech and pharmaceutical firms have cut ad budgets but said "WebMD is benefiting as these companies consolidate their spending with fewer, high quality media properties." (earnings release)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 5, 2009

Forrester Sees 17 Percent CAGR for Digital Adverting Through 2014

Forrester remains bullish on all categories of digital ad spending in the long range. Analyst Shar VanBoskirk presented the research firm's five-year forecast for interactive ad spending in a blog post yesterday. The upshot: digital ad spending will increase at a 17 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the next five years, to $55 billion in 2014. While all categories (search, display, e-mail, mobile, and social) are expected to grow, mobile and social marketing will show the biggest acceleration.

Here are the projected CAGRs for each category, as well as their anticipated total spend in 2014:

Mobile: 27 percent CAGR to $1.3 billion
Social: 34 percent CAGR to $3.1 billion
E-mail: 11 percent CAGR to $2.1 billion
Display: 17 percent CAGR to $16.9 billion
Search: 15 percent CAGR to $31.6 billion

Forrester says interactive budgets will grow at the expense of traditional marketing. Sixty percent of respondents said they will grow digital budgets by shifting money away from other channels. Not surprisingly, direct mail and print media (newspapers and magazines) will be hardest hit. Among offline media, radio ads, telemarketing and outdoor ads were least likely to be drained in order to expand the Web ad spend.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Morning Reads: Craigslist Erotic Ads, Micro-hoo, Google Antitrust

Craigslist Erotic Services Ads on the Ropes. Less than two weeks after Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal called on the site to ban photos in its "erotic services" section, Blumenthal along with state AG's from Missouri and Illinois will meet with Craigslist officials today, CNET reports. In a statement, CEO Jim Buckmaster said the company "anticipates making further progress toward the common goal of eliminating illegal activity from Craigslist."

Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Progress? Deal talks between the two companies has become "meaningful," says BoomTown. Details of a partnership remain hazy, but Yahoo would likely sign over at least some of its search business to Microsoft.

More Anti-Trust Trouble for Google. This is not an advertising story, but it appears Google is, for the second time in just a few days, enduring the scrutiny of regulators. The concern this time, as reported in The New York Times: close ties between the boards of Apple and Google. The FTC wants to examine whether the presence of two execs -- Google's Eric Schmidt and Arthur Levinson of Genentech -- on both companies' boards violates the law.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

May 1, 2009

Financial Times Digs at Search Engines with new Campaign

The Financial Times is launching an ad campaign poking fun at search engines, and the hit and miss nature of their results.

The creatives aim to highlight the discrepencies between the information required, and the information recieved, when conducting searches for financial-related terms. 'Unlike millions of other websites, we know exactly what you are looking for,' the FT claims.

In addition to the "baby bond" example (right), one execution shows a search for 'EMU' resulting in an image of the emu bird, presumably instead of information on the The European Economic and Monetary Union. Another search for "prolonged recession" reveals information on hair loss.

Exactly why prospective FT customers would search for financial information using an image search isn't quite clear, but I see their point.

Created by DDB London, the campaign will launch online and across global press on Monday, as part of the paper's 'We live in Financial Times' campaign.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 30, 2009

Quote of the Day: Display Ad Prices Keep Falling

Thought display ad prices had hit bottom? Think again, says Dave Morgan. In a Twitter post this morning, the digital ad pioneer and founder of TV startup Simulmedia says April may have seen ad rates fall to their lowest level in recent history.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 29, 2009

Morning Reads: Yahoo Layoffs Commence, Twitter Full of Quitters

Yahoo has begun layoffs of between 600 and 700 employees, according to tech and gossip blog lalawag. The cuts are on schedule, as Yahoo said during its Q1 earnings call eight days ago that it would notify staffers within two weeks.

More than half of Twitter joiners fail to return to the service a month after signing up. Nielsen Online reports retention rate for micro-blogging service is now about 40 percent, posing a challenge to its prospects. That's actually up from a retention rate below 30 percent over the past 12 months. Those bleak return-rate will make it hard for Twitter to achieve reach in the long term. According to Nielsen Online VP David Martin, "a retention rate of 40 percent will limit a site's growth to about a 10 percent reach figure. To be clear, a high retention rate doesn't guarantee a massive audience, but it is a prerequisite."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 27, 2009

Microsoft Partners with Spotzer for Self-Service Ad Platform

Microsoft Advertising has teamed up with Spotzer to provide a self-service ad platform, through which smaller businesses and regional advertisers can buy campaigns across Microsoft's media properties.

The new platform, currently available at www.spotzer.com/microsoft is launching in the Netherlands today, though Spotzer's CEO, Andrew Klein, told me he hopes this will extend to other territories soon, including the U.S.

Spotzer essentially offers a range of pre-produced video, banner and text message creative, to which advertisers can add their own branding and marketing materials. Through this partnership, media can then be purchased across Microsoft's properties, targeting users by segments such as demographics and geographic region.

Essentially, Microsoft will subsidize Spotzer's creative solutions for advertisers, providing they commit to a minimum €1,000 media spend. Advertisers are also free to upload their own creative if they prefer.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 24, 2009

Microsoft's Ad Business: More Akin to AOL than Google

When it comes to digital advertising, Microsoft still has a lot more in common with Yahoo or AOL than it does with Google.

In its earnings report yesterday, the company reported online ad revenues declined 16 percent during the quarter just ended, primarily due to a significant drop in ad rates. The decline was somewhat offset by growth in both page views and queries on its search engine.

Naturally Microsoft would like to reverse those clauses -- boasting to advertisers that strength in search was partially brought down by weakness in display ad rates. Alas, with 40-plus media products in the market, and the vast majority of them reliant on display, rich media, and other types of graphical advertising, that's not happening soon -- unless, that is, Steve Ballmer and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz shock the world by striking a search ad deal of some sort this quarter. The likelihood of that outcome is anybody's guess, but few believe an agreement is imminent.

On a somewhat brighter note, Microsoft's recent "I'm a PC" campaign appears to be paying off. During the Q1 earnings call, execs boasted internal research found consumers professed a 10 percent increase in preference for Windows machines since the ads launched.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Another Superb Apple/NYTimes.com Execution

Apple and The New York Times continue to impress with synchronized home page ads. This one gushes a waterfall of icons marking the installation of Apple's one billionth iphone app:

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 23, 2009

OfficeMax Thinks Out of the Box in Ad Campaign

The office supply retailer shakes things up in a new ad to promote a new line, [In] Place System created in partnership with workplace organization expert Peter Walsh. The ad, created by OfficeMax agency The Escape Pod, depicts Walsh reaching out of one area of the banner to grab a cluttered diorama, turning it into a minimalist work environment, and then walking into the space to have a seat. This ad was found on MarthaStewart.com.

OfficeMax has played up stylish products such as the Peter Walsh line to help people and businesses get organized. The Walsh line includes a file tote and interlocking hanging files, which are predominantly white accented by red, yellow, and green tabs. Design items come into play with the DiVoga line, which includes pastel patterned file folders and binder clips. Will there soon be ads for DiVoga online?

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Should Craigslist Clean Up Its Erotic Services Ads?

Connecticut Attorney Richard Blumenthal called on Craigslist to ban the use of photographs in its "erotic services" section and take other measures to fight porn and prostitution on the classified ad site. (The image, above, is a portion of an ad that can be found in Craigslist's erotic services section.)

The attorney general made his appeal after the murder of a New York City masseuse in Boston and an assault on an exotic dancer in Warwick RI. Both women had advertised their services on Craigslist. Authorities said Boston University medical student Philip Markoff, who was arrested for both crimes, found the masseuse on Craigslist.

"Craigslist has the means -- and moral obligation -- to stop the pimping and prostituting in plain sight," Blumenthal said in a statement. He also called on Craigslist to impose a "significant fee" to the credit card of anyone posting content in violation of Craiglist's rules.

To clean up ads on its site, Craigslist last November started to charge for erotic services ads, requiring credit card information and a working phone number. For the most part, Craigslist ads are free.

Jim Buckmaster, chief executive of Craigslist, told the New London Day that he appreciated Blumenthal's input and agreed that more work had to be done to eliminate ads for illegal services.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

April 22, 2009

Morning Reads: MySpace CEO Ousted, PBS Video Player, Google Profiles

MySpace's CEO and other execs may soon get their walking papers. According to TechCrunch, CEO Chris DeWolfe will be fired as will other members of the "core" MySpace executive team. The sudden changes come courtesy of recently appointed News Corp. digital honcho Jonathan Miller.

Still think we're living in an era of video platform consolidation? More evidence to the contrary: PBS is the latest, after CBS's TV.com in January, to roll out an elegant new experience for long-form video content. Full-length shows include The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Nova, Frontline, American Masters and American Experience. According to PBS, the PBS Kids Go video player it launched last year is streaming more than a million clips a week. (release)

In the Google age your identity boils down to what people can glean from a name query search. With the launch of new public profiles, Google is offering individuals a little more control over the outcome of those queries. Some are calling it a run at social platforms. While that may be a stretch, it is an important moment in the evolution of digital identity management.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 21, 2009

Online Marketing News Roundup for April 21, 2009

Online marketing businesses today announced a slew of offerings, some timed to coincide with this week's ad:tech conference in San Francisco. Here are some items in the PR pipeline:

ReachLocal opens a local advertising platform. For local advertisers, national brands, and agencies, the platform called ReachLocal Xchange will give access to Internet audiences in a targeted format. ReachLocal says it will provide a single media buy, full campaign tracking and reporting, and optimization technology. Publishers, in turn, can create custom ad inventory offers.

Interpublic's Mediabrands announces Greenhaus, an invitation-only consultation practice to foster start-up social media platforms. Led by Quentin George, chief digital officer of Mediabrands, and Brian Monihan, SVP and global lead of social media at Mediabrands' division Universal McCann, the program is set up as an intense six-month program set around four topics: understanding the media economy; campaign lifecycle; media math and metrics; and about the RFP.

In theory the platforms that go through Greenhaus will emerge to support clients of Mediabrands and IPG. To date a handful of companies including Tubemogul, Justin.tv, Worldgolftour, 80/20 Publishing, 750 Industries, Widgetbox, Kosmix, and Danoo have already been through the Greenhaus program.

Rubicon Project, which created an ad network optimization platform, moves to a buy side solution with Rubicon onDemand. Buyers can use onDemand to fill their campaigns, and make buys targeted by audience segment such as demographic, geographic location, and contextual or behavioral segment.

When a video plays on YouTube, does a marketer hear the sound of a customer conversion? Omniture just added the ability to measure viral video campaigns to its SiteCatalyst. Omniture promises the new component "delivers increased insight into the performance of viral video campaigns and how they potentially impact consumer behavior and interaction with a publisher's Web site." It can also be used for marketers who sell advertising against online video to view and provide metrics.

Omniture also announced a publisher-side analytics and ad serving integration with 24/7 Real Media. Publishers will be able to serve relevant ads by creating visitor segments through Omniture SiteCatalyst on sites that are shared with 24/7's Open AdStream. There are additional inventory management features, including insight into which pages have the highest value for advertising.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 20, 2009

Vivaki/Starcom: Tests Underway for New Digital Video Ad Format

What digital video ad format will best the 30-second pre-roll?

Two executives from Vivaki and Starcom, speaking at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Digital Video conference today, outlined the timetable for testing alternative online video ad formats to determine which one will resonate the most with consumers.

The presentation by Curt Hecht, president of Vivaki Nerve Center, and Tracey Scheppach, video innovation director at Starcom USA, was noteworthy for another reason. It shows that that Hecht and Scheppach, both associated with Publicis Groupe businesses, are working with the IAB, which sets standards for digital ad formats, and not against the industry group.

The initiative, dubbed "The Pool," started with seven participants including Yahoo and Microsoft plus six advertisers including Capital One, Purina, Applebee's, and Allstate. Executives from these companies kicked around ad format ideas, coming up with an initial list of 30, according to Scheppach. After presentations and a series of votes, five formats were selected for qualitative testing. After testing and more votes, two formats were selected for quantitative testing -- a phase now winding down.

Scheppach and Hecht both declined to reveal any details out the final formats, but emphasized that The Pool's testing is designed to identify what works for consumers -- and not just advertisers and publishers.

Next up, one idea will selected for a five-month field trial and will be tested against the 30-second pre-roll. The group is aiming to have its final meeting about the online video ad format in November and roll out its findings by early 2010.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 14, 2009

Will a Liberated StumbleUpon Do More to Entice Advertisers?

Will eBay's decision to sell StumbleUpon back to its original owners lead to more ad innovation at the Web discovery engine?

The move, announced yesterday, won't bring much short-term change to StumbleUpon's marketers or its end users. However founder and now CEO Garrett Camp suggested the company's return to independence will free it up to innovate new products and features.

Those features almost certainly touch on advertising. Speaking with ClickZ last fall, the company said it would soon offer content category recommendations to ad buyers. It also said it wanted to improve its analytics package.

StumbleUpon's ad model is simple, and totally unique. For every 20 or 30 Web pages users turn up when they click the "Stumble" button on the toolbar, they get one page that is a paid result. StumbleUpon says it has tens of thousands of individual ad buyers delivering paid page placements into the browsers of toolbar users. All advertisers pay a flat $50 CPM, and the minimum spend is in the $20 range.'

StumbleUpon boasts approximately 7.4 million unique users, up about 25 percent since September. In addition to backing from founders Camp and Geoff Smith, investors Ram Shriram of Sherpalo Ventures, Accel Partners, and August Capital helped buy out eBay's stake in the company.

"We are grateful to eBay for its guidance. However, we realized there were few long-term synergies between the two businesses," Camp said.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 7, 2009

Quote of the Day: Google's Eric Schmidt on Newspapers

Speaking at the Newspaper Association of America convention today, Eric Schmidt went out of his way to make nice with newspapers -- even as those same papers railed against Google for leading Web users to dissociate quality content from the publisher brands that produce it. The following snippets come from a Q&A transcript published by Poynter Online:

Question: You've been quoted as saying a number of times that there should be a "flight to quality," that there's an awful lot of garbage out on the Internet --

Schmidt: Let me just say precisely: It's a sewer out there.

Question: Recognizing that the brands in this room for the most part are credible brands and --

Schmidt: I would say 100% are credible.

Later, Schmidt said he admired the intelligence and speed with which newspapers greeted the first wave of Internet growth in the late '90s. The problem came later, he said:

The act after that is a much harder question. It's how do you keep engagement? How do you avoid being just mediated with a set of stories that are aggregated with your brand on them, which is what's happened to some newspapers?

...My own bias, by the way, is a technology one: I think the sites are slow. They literally are not fast. They're actually slower than reading the paper, and that's something that can be worked on on a technical basis.

photo credit: NAA

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amazon Cuts Off Affiliate Search Bidding

If you're a merchant with a large affiliate program, you've certainly given plenty of thought to whether referral partners should be permitted to buy search keywords. Allowing the practice drives traffic and leads, but it also raises keyword prices and fills the coffers of Google and other search engines.

Amazon, which runs one of the Web's largest affiliate programs, has just come down on the side of controlling keyword costs. As of May 1, U.S. and Canadian referral partners in the Amazon Associates program will no longer be reimbursed for driving conversions through paid keyword bidding, the company said.

Not only that, but anyone using search ads to send traffic to Amazon product pages will have their accounts shut down. Of course Amazon phrases this in the kindest possible terms: "As long as you stop your paid search activities relating to our US and Canadian sites and otherwise remain in compliance with the terms of the Associates Operating Agreement (e.g., by sending users to our websites through links on your site), your Associates account will not be closed," the company notes in a FAQ on the policy change.

It seems possible, based on that aggressive step, that Amazon is in a hurry to reduce its search ad spend. I'd be curious to just know how much this move will shrink that spend, and conversely how much it will cost Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Publicis Acquires Swiss Digital Agency, Nemos.

Publicis Groupe is continuing its global expansion with the acquisition of Swiss digital agency, Nemos. The Zurich-based outfit, which offers digital creative, Web site development, and mobile and social media marketing, will be integrated with the group's existing local digital operation, Publicis Modem Switzerland. Nemos's client roster includes European brands such as Carlsberg and Movenpick.

Despite this continued investment in established European markets, Publicis says it is on track in its aim to generate 25 percent of revenues from emerging markets by 2012, and the same portion from its digital properties by 2010.

The firm acquired Brazilian digital agency, Tribal, in November of last year, followed shortly by Chinese outfit W&K Communications in November. It also expanded into Korea with the acquisition of South-Korean full-service digital agency, Portfolio, bringing the total Publicis Modem global staff to approximately 1,200 across 40 offices.

Pascal Urscheler, Nemos' former CEO, and Marion Marxer, senior brand director of Publicis in Zurich will co-lead the new Publicis Modem Switzerland, reporting to Freddy Collioud, president of Publicis Switzerland. Nemos' 10 staff will be retained. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 2, 2009

NCAA Appeased, MarchTweetness Returns Under a New Name

MarchTweetness is back. Only now it goes by a different name.

Three days after an NCAA copyright complaint forced Federated Media to tear down its experimental college b-ball Twitter aggregator, the AT&T-sponsored site is live again -- with two days to go before Saturday's semifinals.

For most of the week, the URL redirected to a simple Twitter search for the final four teams. That's because Federated Media slipped up when it first created the site, violating the NCAA's copyrights -- perhaps an indicator of company's greenness when it comes to designing sports-related experiences. (Tip for anyone considering a sports mash-up: College and pro athletic associations are REALLY uptight about their trademarks.)

The new site is very similar to the old, with a few important changes. Most notably, the name has changed. MarchTweetness is now TitleTweets, and the old URL now redirects to TitleTweets.com.

Also significant: AT&T is still attached to the site, but now it's listed as "The exclusive wireless partner of the NCAA," whereas it wasn't before. I have a call in to learn whether AT&T had a sponsorship arrangement with AT&T before this week. A large badge on the TitleTweets site links to the NCAA's site, where users can watch live games and view interactive brackets. The badge lists NCAA's other official sponsors Pontiac and Coca-Cola Zero.

Smaller changes included reworking of the copy. "Join in on the March Madness Excitement" becomes "Join in on the NCAA March Madness excitement."

You can check out the before and after below (images courtesy of the FM Publishing blog).

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Growth in U.K. Online Ad Spend Slows, Search Continues to Grow

Growth in U.K. online ad spend halved during 2008, increasing by 17.1 percent to £3.35 billion, down from the 38 percent year-on-year increase it achieved in '07, according to the IAB U.K.'s bi-annual online advertising expenditure study. The U.K. market slowdown mirrors that of the U.S. market; the growth rate here was also sliced in half in '08. According to the report, online now makes up almost 20 percent of overall U.K. ad spend, up from a 15 percent share in 2008.

Within online itself, paid search spend grew 22.7 percent year-over-year, representing almost 60 percent of all online spend in 2008. Perhaps unsurprising given the current financial situation and the relative accountability of search, display grew far less rapidly, at 7.7 percent, and represented 19 percent of spend. Online classifieds made up the remainder of spend at 21.4 percent, having grown 22.2 percent from 2007.

The IAB points to ad networks as a growth driver, and notes they now account for 44 percent of display spending. However, network spending is only up marginally from its 40 percent share in 2007.

In terms of verticals, recruitment leads across all formats, accounting for 23.8 percent of overall online spend, followed by Automotive at 13.5 percent, Technology at 11.2 percent, Property at 9.7 percent, and Finance at 7.6 percent.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 5:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 1, 2009

Thing of Beauty: Ticking Rolex Ad on New Life.com

The below display unit for Rolex is a lovely hybrid of online and magazine advertising -- specifically, fashion magazine advertising.

The ad was created as part of Rolex's exclusive sponsorship of the just relaunched Life.com (please click through to view it), which is a collaboration between Time Inc. and Getty Images. The new site let Web users view millions of images from the magazine's past alongside current ones from Getty. (The Wall Street Journal has more details.)

Graphically, the ad is the height of simplicity: an elegant photo of a watch reflecting the current date and time. Animation here is limited to three quietly ticking hands, proving once more that the best use of motion in online advertising may be the least use of it. (See Apple's ads for the MacBook)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 26, 2009

Google Invests in 'In-Photo' Ad Firm Pixazza

Photo-based ad network Pixazza has secured backing from Google as part of a $5.75 funding round involving several investors, CNET and others reported this week.

The start-up is developing a platform that harkens to the fabled "Jennifer Aniston's Sweater" scenario for commerce-enabled television. Except that instead of TV, Pixazza is enhancing online photos with product information.

The company's system will require no additional ad real estate from publishers, who can use it add a layer of commerce to its photos. Consumers can then mouse over an image to navigate products.

From the media seller's perspective, it's conceptually similar to in-text advertising. On the buy side, Pixazza claims to be integrated with 60 merchants representing 2 million products -- possibly through their affiliate programs. Merchants include Zappos and Amazon.

Companies such as DoubleClick, United Virtualities and VideoClix.tv have sought to develop such enhanced product placement technologies for video, but few have done so for simple photographs. NBC and Hasbro are among the advertisers to have experimented with the video variety.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 25, 2009

Carat Predicts Dip in U.K. Online Ad Spend, But No Contraction

Aegis-owned media buying firm, Carat, has predicted that global ad spend will fall by 5.8 percent in 2009, with investment contracting in every major market except China.

The firm did not break out predictions for digital ad revenues specifically, but a spokesperson told me the agency expects U.K. online ad spend to continue expanding throughout the downturn, growing by around 4.8 percent in 2009, and 7.7 percent in 2010.

Commenting on the overall numbers in today's press release, Jerry Buhlmann, CEO of Aegis Media, said, "China aside, no major market will see growth this year. But we are seeing some signs for optimism in some countries in 2010. We believe that the U.K., parts of Europe and Asia will start to stabilize."

He went on to attribute the relative resilience of the online market to the fact that clients are gravitating to "proven and accountable communications," and focusing on ROI from their media spend.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 24, 2009

Twitter Accepts Its First Ad Payment, Will 'Suggest' ExecTweets

In what may technically be its first ad deal, Twitter is accepting payment from Microsoft and John Battelle's Federated Media Publishing to promote ExecTweets, a service that aggregates tweets from top business executives.

According to FM Publishing, ExecTweets is "a real-time tool that helps you to find, follow and engage with the world's most prolific and successful business executives on Twitter."

While FM says ExecTweets does not represent an important revenue model for the service, Twitter's leadership has given the ad seller its blessing. In a post to the company's blog, founder Biz Stone wrote, "if you're a major brand and you want to sponsor a topic-focused social media experience with Twitter, we suggest Federated Media -- they'll fix you up right."

On a first glance, the interface would appear to have been rolled out a bit prematurely. For instance, the media and advertising category -- where FM should be well-equipped to generate rapid value -- is slim pickings for anyone not exclusively interested in Web publishing. Featured here is a who's who of overexposed digerati: Joi Ito, Guy Kawasaki, Tim O'Reilly, and Pete Blackshaw.

Whatever its flaws, ExecTweets is notable for one big reason. It appears to be the first time any brand has worked with Twitter on a paid basis. While its not clear how much Twitter received from Microsoft for supporting and promoting the tool, Battelle wrote in a blog post that "Federated Media felt that Twitter should share some of the revenue associated with ExecTweets since this project is made possible using their open platform."

A noble sentiment to be sure. However FM stands to benefit greatly -- arguably more than Twitter -- by being the first to engage the thunderously popular service in a paid relationship of any kind. That is a huge selling point for any ad seller.

For its part, Twitter must tread carefully. Having agreed to promote ExecTweets on its homepage and "suggested users" page, the company must now give careful thought to disclosure to avoid provoking user skepticism every time it recommends a product or Twitter user.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 20, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

Spiral Frog Croaks, Burdened by Debt and Unproven Ad Model

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

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

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

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

March 16, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

March 12, 2009

Reports on Parliament's Behavioral Targeting Talk Miss the Point

A number of news reports from yesterday's Parliamentary event on behavioral advertising appear to have missed the crux of the debate, and have, in my opinion, wrongfully implied that members of the panel were denouncing the practice of behaviorally targeted online advertising.

Speaking with ClickZ today, Robb Topolski, a software engineer and U.S. Federal Communications Commission panel member who sat on yesterday's panel, said, "For the panel, the primary position was, 'The middle of the Internet should not be used for an electronic monitoring point.' Certainly there are some who will want to discuss the privacy and data storage implications of 'traditional' behavioral advertising as performed by Google or Revenue Science or many others. It's an important, but different debate."

Contrary to some reports, Tim Berners-Lee, for instance, did not express concerns surrounding behavioral targeting in general, but instead questioned the way in which data for this targeting is collected. During yesterday's session, these questions applied specifically to ISP-level targeting offered by companies such as Phorm and NebuAd, and not to the publisher-led and ad network solutions currently on offer from firms such as Audience Science (formerly Revenue Science), Specific Media, and as of yesterday, Google.

In fact, Berners-Lee seemingly expressed support for the practice, providing that data was not intercepted by ISPs themselves. "I don't have a problem with behavioral advertising; I think it's an improvement, but there are so many ways to do it without ISPs snooping," he said.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 10:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 2, 2009

Standout Ads: Sleight of Hand Beats Grotesquery in Banner Creative

Wiggling insurance ads, flab-in-your-face diet pitches, and other ham-handed attempts to commandeer our attention online using banner ad space show no signs of letting up. However there are many great ads out there, and we industry reporters should be talking more about them.

To my mind some of the most impactful banners in recent memory use subtlety, not grotesquery, to confound our expectations of IAB standard units and make a point. Take the latest in Apple's series of groundbreaking roadblock experiences on NYTimes.com. In the screen caps below, you'll see what may be the most understated floating ad execution in history. It's blink-and-you'll-miss-it creative innovation at its best.

Seen a great ad? Post a comment here or send me an email and I may blog about it.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

February 23, 2009

Microsoft's Scott Howe Gets Laughs at IAB, But Conflict Fears Persist

Scott Howe managed to make the current crisis of falling ad prices funny today in his speech before 400 or so publishers at the IAB's annual meeting in Orlando today. In a bit called "Why the Green Bay Packers are smarter than us," Microsoft's corporate VP, advertiser and publisher solutions speculated that if the online ad industry owned the Packers, the team's biggest star would make the full $98 million in salaries paid to the whole team. In actuality, two of the team's relatively anonymous defensive ends are better paid.

You get the analogy. The Web's unsung heroes (premium media brands) do the heavy lifting, and are entitled to more of the total ad spend. The star (search) should get less.

Howe then made an impassioned plea for publishers to work with Microsoft's Atlas Institute ad research unit to determine the advertising impact generated by their sites. "If you want to know how your site did in helping, you call and we'll hammer it out," he said.

But Howe couldn't entirely escape the conflict of interest issues facing a company that is not only an ad platform, but also a major publisher AND a global ad agency.

One example: When he said publishers must resist advertiser demands to cut prices further, someone shouted from the audience, "Tell Avenue A!"

Howe took the jab in good humor, but a few minutes later was forced onto the defensive again, when IAB President Randy Rothenberg asked him if Microsoft's invitation to publishers isn't really "a case of the fox in the hen house."

Howe acknowledged the point, and once again told digital media firms not to worry -- that he's on THEIR side. "Having a better forecasting engine is good for all of us," he said. "There are no ulterior motives here."

Earlier today Scott talked with ClickZ about Microsoft's move to integrate its sprawling ad network and media holdings into a single platform called Microsoft Media Network. Read our full coverage.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Wenda's Speech: About the 'Schmattes' Thing

Since she uttered the line last night, several news stories, blog posts, and tweets have already referenced Wenda Harris Millard's line that we shouldn't sell our inventory like "schmattes." For the record, the credit for that one should not go to Millard, but to IAB CEO Randy Rothenberg, who invented it earlier this month in a blog post that riffed -- in part -- on Wenda's speech at last year's IAB meeting. In that original speech she said (now famously) that we online media companies must "not trade our assets like pork bellies."

Circular, I know.

In an echo of Wenda, Randy wrote earlier this month, "We must stop acting as if we're selling schmattes, and start acting like the makers of magic that the best of us are -- and always have been."

Wenda liked his tribute so much that she quoted him in turn, resulting in a large number of attendees understandably giving the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia co-CEO kudos for coming up with it.

So if the whole schmatte thing seemed to you a little too similar to the "pork bellies" remark in 2008, while at the same time being perhaps a bit nonsensical, that's the reason. And if you're unfortunate enough not to have come across the term schmatte before, it's a Yiddish word meaning "a rag," or alternatively something of generally poor quality. Now you know.

Read ClickZ's full coverage of Wenda's speech here.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Florida AG Settles with Another Mobile Content Seller

Florida's Attorney General office has settled with yet another mobile content marketer over the fraudulent marketing of ringtones and other mobile content.

The settlement of $1 million with New Motion Inc. and Traffix Inc., which do business jointly as Atrinsic, follows numerous other similar deals with firms like AzoogleAds, AT&T, World Ave. and M-Qube. The AG's office uses the money from these settlements to fund investigations into other misleading marketing offers.

Atrinsic works with affiliates and ad networks to provide content for cell phones. The company's negotiated deal with the AG protects it from prosecution, in exchange it has agreed to disclose the real costs of mobile content offers in an obvious way on all online transaction screens.

"Florida is leading the nation in holding the industry accountable to a high standard of online disclosure and I appreciate Atrinsic's participation in this effort," said a statement form AG Bill McCollum.

According to the AG's CyberFraud division, investigations of complaints have found thousands of Florida consumers have been charged for mobile downloads they neither wanted nor authorized.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 19, 2009

Bud.TV Postmortem: Here Ends the Dream of the Branded Video Site

When it launched in February 2007, the day after the Super Bowl, Bud.TV had already come to symbolize the new age of brand-as-programmer. BMWFilms was still semi-fresh in the ad industry's collective memory, and the entry of Anheuser-Busch's destination site seemed destined to carry the torch.

Two years later Bud.TV is gone, and with it the idea that major content destinations -- especially video centric ones -- can become preferred entertainment.

There are many reasons for this. One is the necessity for syndication. It was evident almost as soon as Bud.TV launched that the primary model for online video would be anytime/anywhere consumption, and that exclusivity would fall by the wayside. (A slow-learned lesson, as evidenced by this week's Hulu and Boxee decoupling at the insistence of video content owners.)

Another reason is the dominance of YouTube, where any self-respecting video programmer -- branded or not -- must have a channel. Indeed, Bud.TV still has a YouTube channel, which is where its one breakaway hit -- "Swear Jar" -- garnered most of its traffic.

Another, of course, is resources: production expertise, focus, and simple talent. "If the networks can't continuously produce that [volume of content], how can a beer company?" A-B VP of Marketing Keith Levy told AdAge.

(Image credit: schizoform. Licensed through creative commons.)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

February 10, 2009

Phorm: Online by the End of the Year?

Kent Ertugrul, CEO of ISP-level behavioral targeting outfit Phorm, expects U.K. service provider, BT, to fully deploy his firm's technology across its network by the end of the year. In an interview with Dow Jones yesterday, Ertugrul reportedly said, "We're not able to comment on specific timings but our work with BT is the most advanced. It'll most definitely be online by the end of the year."

Speaking with me today however, a BT spokesperson was unable to confirm this, stating simply, "It's our expectation to move towards deployment. BT has made no announcement about timings."

BT recently concluded live trials of the technology with a number of its customers. Although Phorm has since released investor updates outlining the ISP's intentions to fully deploy the platform, BT itself has refrained from committing itself to it.

Likewise, Virgin Media, with which Phorm also announced a partnership last year, has suggested it's now a case of if rather than when it will implement the system. Speaking with me last November, a Virgin Media spokesperson said, "Whilst we are still investigating the use of Phorm's technology under our existing agreement with the company, due to the complexities of the proposition we do not have any timescales on when, or if, we will progress to trial or full launch."

In light of the controversy that has surrounded Phorm's practices, its not surprising that ISPs are treading carefully. However, given the fact that Phorm has been operating for at least a year with no identifiable revenue stream, it's difficult to tell if BT really is as committed to the technology as it says, or if Phorm is struggling to keep its investors happy.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Online Ad Spending Remains Strong Down Under

Despite falling ad revenues in Europe and the U.S. last year, the online ad market is fairing comparatively well down under, according to the Australian Interactive Advertising Bureau.

The trade body's annual expenditure survey, conducted in conjunction with PwC, reported a 27 percent rise in ad spend during 2008, resulting in a total spend of $1.7 billion Australian Dollars ($1.17 billion USD) for the year.

However, it seems even the Aussies aren't entirely immune to the economic slowdown, as spending began to dip during the fourth quarter, achieving a sub-average figure of 22 percent growth over Q4 2007, and a 2.4 percent rise over Q3 2008.

That said, it's worth noting that the Australian market is somewhat less mature than its U.S. and U.K. counterparts and, as a result, a slight slowing of the market can be expected.

Interestingly, considering the problems the medium has faced in other markets, display advertising remained a strong grower, in line with the overall market with 27 percent year-on-year increase. Unsurprisingly, search and directories posted strong growth at 30 percent, but classifieds under-performed the rest of the market with 23 percent growth.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 9:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 5, 2009

IAB Pushes for Common Language Between Video Ads and Players

The responsibility for creating standards in video advertising is fragmenting. Last week I touched on the dual roles now occupied by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which is trying to increase efficiency for video ad buying, and "The Pool," a project from Starcom MediaVest Group and Vivaki to establish creative standards for video ads.

As an example of where the IAB has now positioned itself in the standards creation process, the association today issued a set of proposed definitions (called VPAID, for Video Player-Ad Interface Definitions) that spell out how video players and ads should communicate. Without such commonality, agency-created ads won't work with all video players..

According to the IAB, the new definitions will do the following:

-Define a standard method for video ads to talk to video players.
-Provide specs that can be used by any type of video player.
-Cut production costs and improve ROI for advertisers while enabling a less intrusive experience for video content viewers.

Dry stuff, but somebody's gotta do it.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 4, 2009

Inside View of Franken's Online Ad Efforts

Probable Senator from Minnesota, Al Franken, has yet to take his seat as an election recount drags on. But that doesn't mean we can't get an insider's view of how online advertising helped him (probably) win the close election.

A story in Campaigns and Elections comes straight from the source: Josh Koster, managing partner of D.C.-based digital ad firm Chong Designs, which handled digital advertising for Franken's campaign.

From the looks of it, the campaign focused on targeting of niche audiences through search and display ads.

People don't go to one place, looking for one thing. Their whims take them to a million places. The trick is to be everywhere, with tightly targeted messages. It's about showing them highly relevant factoids/ads tailored to the whim they're currently indulging, which if clicked, will redirect them to a relevant part of your website or related off-site content. In short, long-tail nanotargeting takes those little gems--be it an endorsement, video, news story, or ask--and shows it to the people who would care. To this end, we ran more than 30 million impressions for the Franken campaign across five horizontal ad networks, two vertical networks and dozens of local news outlets.

And the messages were tailored to those specific audiences. For instance, when the campaign targeted farmers using keywords such as "farm supply" and "feed stores," the ads would speak directly to them: "Read Al Franken's position paper on agriculture." I corresponded with Koster yesterday to get a little extra info not included in the story.

He goes on to quantify the campaign's online ad spending, what they did with the money, and what results they got.

We nanotargeted more than 125 niche groups, with more than 1,000 pieces of creative, for less than $100,000. On Google alone, an acquisition budget of less than $20,000 got us more than 20,000 clicks, 5,500 active e-mail sign- ups, and more than 2,500 donors. We were able to reach persuasion niches (this is akin to someone opening up and reading a mail piece) for a fraction of a penny per impression, and less than 50 cents per interaction.

When it came to what Koster calls "micro-messaging," I have to say his takeaway bums me out considering the state of the newspaper industry: "Finally, if we had it to do over again, we would have spent more on Google and Facebook and much less on local newspaper placements."
Perhaps local news sites can learn something from this as the 2010 elections could have a significant positive or negative impact on their bottom lines depending on what they offer political advertisers.

In October, I wrote about how the Republican National Committee attacked Franken in an online ad effort, deeming him an off-color humorist unfit to take the seat of his incumbent opponent Republican Senator Norm Coleman.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 3, 2009

Honeyshed's QVC-for-the-Web Experiment Meets a Grisly End

Publicis-backed Honeyshed, the explicitly sales-y hipster portal with the tag line, "Reinventing Shopping for the Digital Generation," hasn't gone dark yet. But in look and feel it already seems an artifact of more prosperous times, our modern equivalent of the roaring '20s. Indeed, the sorts of products hawked by its resident models -- Reebok freestyle high metallic sneaks and high-end mascaras -- are perfect equivalents to the flapper dress and the bob cut.

The site, which has enjoyed a fair amount of buzz since its first launch in 2007, will cease to exist after Publicis declined to re-up its investment in the project. The presumed reason for that decision: the global economic meltdown, which has put a crunch on client budgets, especially when it comes to extravagant branding efforts.

Not long ago management was singing a different tune. After a redesign in November, the project's leader, former Digitas exec Stephen Greifer, told AdAge, "In every economic climate, people have disposable income...we're not asking people to buy houses and make major investments decisions." That argument apparently no longer holds water with Publicis.

A spokesmen for Droga5, Publicis' partner in the venture, said yesterday the site would be shut down in the "immediate future," and confirmed approximately 10 staffers would be let go. As of this morning however you can still catch a glimpse of Honeyshed's lanky models peddling Nintendo boxing gloves for Wii.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 29, 2009

E*Trade Baby Has Nothing to Say on Twitter

Twitter has demonstrated value for companies with something to say and an eagerness to engage. Unfortunately not all who use it fit that description.

Zappos, Ford, JetBlue, Whole Foods and Dunkin' Donuts stand out as shining examples of brands using the platform to share information and listen to their customers and prospects. The E*Trade baby? Not so much.

Since setting up the account several days ago to drive buzz for the precocious infant's upcoming Super Bowl spot, the online trading company has posted a total of five tweets. Three of these are virtually identical, promoting an outtakes reel for the upcoming ad. In an unconvincing attempt to generate an aura of secrecy for something that's not secret at all, the most missive pleads with followers to "Keep this link on the DL." Sorry E*Trade, you're going to have to do better than that.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

January 23, 2009

The Daily Beast Tries Sponsored Article Format with 'Benjamin Button'

The entertainment world is abuzz with talk of Oscar nominations and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" earned 13 nods including one for Best Supporting Actress Taraji P. Henson. Perhaps in a bid to generate early Oscar momentum for the film, Paramount has been running a sponsored interview with the star actress on The Daily Beast.

The feature has resided on the front page of The Daily Beast for some time. Caroline Marks, general manager at The Daily Beast, said the sponsored article format is part of the IAC-owned site's monetization efforts.

"We are committed to building new programs and advertising initiatives including integrated content opportunities," she said. "In this case, we agreed on the broad topic with Paramount (the movie), but the Daily Beast ran the editorial and wrote the piece, which is clearly identified as sponsored content. We are still defining the elements of our advertising and sponsorship programs."

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 20, 2009

History on the National Mall, Brought to you by Mall Cop

A screen grab from Fox News's live stream of the inauguration.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The Inauguration, Branded: How Vapid Can We Get?

I hate to be cynical at this moment of national renewal, but I just have to call out the shallowness of Pepsi's "RefreshEverything" microsite and YouTube channel. The effort, which seeks to leverage the historical moment to build brand equity, may set a new standard for emptiness of thought in pseudo-political advertising.

Masquerading as a place for people to post video letters to Barack Obama, the effort is actually a feeble patchwork of clichés designed to sell soft drinks. Really, how many times have we been asked to feel inspired by tightly edited video montages where celebrities finish each other's sentences? Naturally any such project must feature Will.i.am, the Black Eyed Peas front man and producer of Busta Rhymes single "I Love My Bitch" who somehow has become a spokesperson for the Obama youth movement -- not to mention a CNN hologram.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 14, 2009

Quote of the Day: Joe from Bradenton, FL

"AT&T just sent me a text message advertisement about American Idol. Evil. The economic downturn definitely means a spam upswing."

-Florida resident Joe Brockmeier, Twittering about an unsolicited SMS he received from AT&T. AT&T sent the mass text message to promote the latest season of the show, which it sponsors, according to a New York Times report.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BK's 'Whopper Sacrifice' Burned on the Altar of Privacy

Burger King has disabled its hit "Whopper Sacrifice" app after Facebook asked the company to alter it in the interest of user privacy.

The application offered a free Whopper to any Facebook user who removed 10 of his or her friends. (Tagline: "You like your friends. But you love the Whopper.") The problem, from Facebook's point of view, was that anyone rubbed out for a tenth of a Whopper was told about the act, violating the company's carefully cultivated relationship of trust with users.

"We have reached out to the developer with suggested solutions," Facebook said in a comment to the Inside Facebook Blog. "In the meantime, we are taking the necessary steps to assure the trust users have established on Facebook is maintained."

The problem with Whopper Sacrifice is not limited to preserving trust. As I expressed in a post last week, the application could also be abused in the hands of facebook users bully pulpit-sized networks. That's because the removal of any friend by Whopper Sacrifice was broadcast to the news feed of the person doing the removing, and hence be read by any of his or her friends. Many of these will also be familiar with the victim. So it could be a means of ostracization.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

January 9, 2009

BK's Whopper Sacrifice: Clever But Flawed

In the circle I run in, throwing one's associates through the front window of a public establishment would be considered uncouth. That's doubly true if the supposed gain from such an act is a sandwich. Triply so if said sandwich is "quick-serve," in the new parlance.

However I've gradually come to accept that my circle is rarified and a whole lot more couth than the general population, and so I'll agree with all the people saying Burger King's Whopper Sacrifice app on Facebook is very smart. The concept is simple. Creatives at Crispin Porter + Bogusky working on the BK account were remarking on the sheer number of distant acquaintances and in some cases complete strangers who had found their way onto their friend lists. They decided they could provide a service, and maybe a laugh or two, by giving Facebook users a way to cut the fat, so to speak. So they created an app that facilitated the removal of those fake friends, and then promised to pack the fat back on, in the form of a free Whopper offer for anyone who savages 10 of their so-called friends. The app's tagline: "You like your friends. But you love the Whopper."

As clever as I think this is, I see some problems with Whopper Sacrifice. First, when you off someone on your friend list, that person is told about it, as is your whole group of frineds. ("Jchn sacrificed John Whitmore for a free Whopper"). That's not true if you simply remove them the normal way. I know from many conversations that a lot of Facebook users live in fear that any fake friends removed from their friends list will somehow be told of the action. When I tell people that's not actually the case, they're always visibly relieved. If you tell the victim they've been deleted, as the BK app does, then you're creating a disincentive for decent-hearted people to delete them. However early use of the app suggests it'll be a hit. As of this writing, Whopper Sacrifice has been installed over 30,000 times, and 53,080 friends have been sacrificed. That's somewhere north of 5,000 free Whoppers.

Second, and this is the flip side of the "notice" coin, it strikes me there's potential for bullying here. The removal of any friend by Whopper Sacrifice will be broadcast to the news feed of the user doing the removing, and hence be read by any of his or her friends. Many of these will also be familiar with the victim. In other words, in the hands of mean-spirited social networkers (read: high schoolers) it could be a mechanism for cruetly and ostracization.

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

January 6, 2009

NewsGator Launches Ad Platform

NewsGator Technologies has launched a new ad platform for its publisher clients. Along with a host of partners, the AdBurner platform enables display ads, pre-roll video and overlays, widget ads, and iPhone ads. NewsGator contends that publishers need better ways to package and sell inventory. According to the release, "In addition to managing ad units inserted into products that NewsGator provides to publishers, the process integration extends to unrelated online ad inventory."

Newsgators partners are blog network Technorati, inventory optimization firm Admeld, widget outfit Gigya, iPhone ad network Medialets, and video ad network Tremor Media.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 5, 2009

It's 2009. Please Retire the Holiday Copy

A friendly reminder to AT&T and the rest of you yuletide slackers.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 2, 2009

Dunkin' Donuts to Launch $100M Ad Campaign

Dunkin' Donuts -- where a 10-ounce cup of joe goes for about $1.30 -- will be investing 77 million times that amount – in an ad campaign that launches Monday.

"You Kin' Do It," will be the theme of the $100 million campaign for online, TV, and outdoor ads, according to a report on usatoday.com. The theme apparently plays off of Barack Obama's campaign mantra, "Yes we can," and the "kin'" from Dunkin'.

The brand will continue its participation in social media, such as Dunkin' Dave on Twitter.

Studiocom is Dunkin' Donut's online agency of record.

A spokeswoman for Dunkin' Donuts said the company doesn't break out its media spend, so the portion devoted to online isn't available.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How Time Warner Cable and Viacom Took Their Contract War to Web Users

Viacom and Time Warner Cable have resolved a bitter dispute that threatened to strip TWC customers of Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and other MTV Networks channels. Such negotiations are usually handled behind closed doors, but in this case the companies went all out with ads, on-screen pleas and online rebuttals meant to alarm TV fans and rally them to one side or the other.

The LA Times described a newspaper ad featuring a crying Dora the Explorer, taken out by Viacom, as well as an on-screen alert, warning viewers they may lose their favorite shows. A :30 spot, available on YouTube, had a similar message.

Digital media were heavily leveraged by both parties. Over at TheRiver.net, Pamela Parker posted the above screen shot from MTV.com and described bombastic copy (since removed) on a Time Warner Web site at TWCFacts.com.

“MTV please don’t do it!” Viacom is asking “you” to pay “millions” more, the site says, adding, “Those demands would be unreasonable any time, but given the current economic conditions, they are outrageous now.”

It's not clear to what extent either party used search marketing or e-mail to get their message out. If you noticed either over the past few days, feel free to post them here or email me and I'll post them here.

Multiple reports have noted that the dispute points to how important affiliate fees have become as the recession takes an increasingly harsh toll on network operators' ad revenues.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

December 29, 2008

Digital Revenues Fall at New York Times Co.

Digital ads just won't suffice to save the struggling newspaper business. That's been clear since early this fall, when the Newspaper Association of America reported its members' second quarter revenues shrank for the first time in Q2, following weak Q1 growth. Those revenues declined again in Q3, shattering the pipe dream that rapid Web growth would support the publishers' huge cost structures.

So perhaps it shouldn't come as a shock that The New York Times -- itself an NAA member -- is also feeling a digital ad pinch. Long known for its culture of innovation, particularly at NYTimes.com, the company last week reported results for November, and were they ever bad. The dismal report includes a 21.8 percent overall revenue drop, led by spending declines in a bunch of major sectors and in all its divisions.

While grim, that big picture pain is less disheartening than this tidbit: Online ad revenues for the month contracted 4 percent compared with November 2007, owing to the continued flight of real estate and job classifieds advertising. The collapse of those two bedrocks of its ad model appear to have trumped all the company's smart synchronized banners, its surround sessions and its 10th place ranking among the largest Web players (Nielsen Online). Even for the Grey Lady, it would appear based on these numbers that rapid adoption and innovation in new channels just aren't enough to sustain a business mired in old ones.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 19, 2008

Sign of the Times: Coping With Financial Loss

A search on nytimes.com for "Bernard Madoff," the Wall Street trader accused of running a multi-billion fraud scheme, turned up this text ad from Renee J. Scheiber, a psychotherapist based in Fort Lauderdale, FL:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 12, 2008

Auto Ad Outlook Deserves Nuanced View

So, what can we really expect from online auto advertising during the recession? The outlook isn't exactly crystal clear. Take a recent Wall Street Journal story which predicts hard times for auto advertising online.

"Auto Web sites have commanded some of the highest ad rates online, and they typically have sold out a year in advance," wrote Emily Steel in a story published Tuesday. "Now, those online ad dollars appear to be leveling off as the auto industry slashes costs and prunes its brands. At the same time, traffic is on the wane, as consumers put their car-buying plans on hold and curtail visits to auto-research sites like Edmunds.com, Yahoo's auto section and KBB.com."

The story notes that Forrester Research "expects a big decline in spending on display ads next year," and "visits to auto-research sites were down 2% in October from a year earlier," with steeper traffic decline for some sites.

"Now, many of the sites haven't been able to deliver those viewers for ads they have already sold, and are scurrying to find ways to compensate advertisers," continued the story.
There's no question that auto advertisers have been spending less with some sites that are accustomed to their typically-reliable ad revenue stream. For instance, in Q3, Yahoo cited auto (along with finance, travel, and retail) as the hardest hit ad verticals for that quarter.

However, some think there's room for a nuanced outlook. "This week, a new article by Steel noted the 'tapering off' of ad spending on auto sites — another bold statement (although the article itself was measured and balanced)," wrote Kelsey Group's Peter Krasilovsky on the local research firm's blog.

He asked AutoTrader about the prognostication. The company expects its 2009 revenues to be "solid." The company told him, "Because automotive media sites such as AutoTrader.com, Edmunds.com and Cars.com cater specifically to in-market car shoppers, we expect that there will be continued growth in spending for advertising and marketing through these sites — something that will be happening at the expense of traditional media."

And let's not forget: auto advertisers don't advertise strictly on auto sites. They buy through behavioral ad networks, and also do lots of search advertising. I spoke with Ben Boles, director of digital media for Damson Automotive Group, in October, and he told me his digital ad spending would not be scaled down as a result of the recession.

"Now, rather than necessarily innovating in what we're doing, we are just simply looking for efficiencies that online affords….We're doing it as function of survival," he said.

Plus, big auto brands are recognizing the Web as a place to spend money for things other than just lead gen. As noted by Steel in a previous WSJ story, "Ford Motor, General Motors and Chrysler have launched campaigns on several Web sites, including Google and its YouTube video site, various blogs, Facebook and the social-messaging site Twitter, trying to make their case for a bailout as quickly and widely as possible -- on the cheap."

I wrote earlier this week about the search marketing components of bailout-related campaigns. And one thing that Ford made clear to me was it's starting to see Web advertising as beneficial for branding, and reaching people before that almost-ready-to-buy phase.

"Historically we were focused on the end of the buying process," Ford Digital Marketing Manager Scott Kelly told me. "In the past year we've been more focused on changing consideration up front in the buying process, and search and online tools can help us do that."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 5:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 10, 2008

Yahoo Layoffs Commence, What's the Impact on Sales?

Layoffs of 1,400 Yahoo staffers are expected to begin this morning. As CEO Jerry Yang stated back in October, the reduction will affect about 10 percent of staff with the goal of reducing annual costs from $3.9 billion to less than $3.5 billion.

We at ClickZ are trying to learn as much as we can about who's being let go -- specifically in the company's sales operation. As you might imagine, standard PR operating procedure at times like this is to share no details directly with the press. That's where you come in, dear readers.

Are you a media broker at Yahoo, or do you have insight into the company's sales organization in your capacity as a buyer? We'd be eternally grateful for whatever information you can share. Please reach out to us through our News Tip contact form.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 9, 2008

TiVo Gives Marketers Pause

A new advertising product from TiVo addresses advertisers' concern that TV viewers skip over commercials.

As you might imagine, the offering works by displaying ads while programming is paused. Among the first advertisers to take advantage of it are Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Mercedes-Benz USA. A campaign for the entertainment company began today for the DVD and Blu-Ray release of Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears a Who." In the New Year the luxury auto manufacturer plans to target football viewers with a campaign for its GLK SUV. Marketers can target ads to a show, genre or keyword.

The pause menu is linked to TiVo's Swivel Search feature, which the company claims "creates value for viewers and effectiveness for advertisers."

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 8, 2008

Online Ad Spend Predicted to Continue Growth through Downturn

Written by Jack Marshall

Ad spend forecasts released today by ZenithOptimedia and GroupM suggest internet spend will prop up a struggling global ad market in 2009.

WPP-owned Zenith predicts global ad spend across all mediums will decline by 0.2 percent next year, with spend in North America and Western Europe declining 5.7 percent and 1 percent respectively. Online, however, is expected to experience 18 percent growth, aided by growing spend in regions such as Latin America, Asia Pacific and Central & Eastern Europe.

Publicis-owned GroupM also forecasts a 0.2 percent drop in overall spend for '09, but remains slightly more conservative in its outlook for online, predicting just 10 percent growth worldwide. Predictions for the U.S. market mirror those released for the U.K. last week - four percent online growth in '09 compared to 22 percent in '08.

Quoted in a press release last week, Adam Smith, GroupM's Futures director, summed up the outlook nicely last week when he said, "Past recessions have lasted one or two years. This one feels like a two, and we are evidently some way from the bottom. Any sign of recovery in 2009 would be a nice surprise. But it is a surprise we should prepare for. We were fast into this recession and we could be fast out."

In other words, we can predict all we like, but nobody knows quite how hard this recession is likely to hit, or when it will hit hardest.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 1, 2008

McCain Online Ad Spending Up to $2.36 M

The election is over but the Federal Election Commission reporting ain't. I just finished going through additional online media expenditures reported by the McCain campaign. The new estimate is $2.36 million. (I reported last month that the McCain camp spent $1.53 million according to 2008 FEC reports representing expenditures into October.)

As I noted then, McCain’s FEC reports are really cryptic - unlike Obama's which were quite transparent. So, the most I know is John McCain 2008 and McCain-Palin 2008 paid around $2.6 million for "media" to its Web ad consulting firm, Connell Donatelli. (I shaved off around 10 percent to account for fees and other ad charges that didn't go towards actual media buys.) Just to make it even more opaque, the McCain campaign lists the firm as "CD, Inc." But, my understanding of how the campaign operated is that Connell Donatelli, a.k.a. CD, handled the Web media.

Meanwhile, Obama's campaign reported individual expenditures to media firms, so I've been able to decipher much more about where they spent.

There's another wrinkle in that the McCain campaign also created a Victory Fund and a Compliance Fund to circumvent those pesky campaign finance regulations. I haven't seen any payments to CD in reports from those entities yet, though I've been told to look for them.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Media6degrees Launches, Fusing Behavioral and Social Marketing

When someone claims a digital network of 400 "friends," undoubtedly including everyone from middle school girlfriends to office acquaintances, it's not easy to tell who the real buddies are.

With this in mind, the founders of Media6degrees two years ago set out to build an ad platform that could trace an individual's real circle of friends. It did so by engineering a combination of cookies and ad server logs to pinpoint a person's interests and generate anonymous profiles of his or her real friends. The resulting ad network, which entered trial-mode back in May, has now been commercially released.

According to the company, any individual connected to an advertiser's existing customer respond to ads two to thirty times more often than consumers targeted with simple demographic and geographic targeting.

Media6degrees chalks up the propensity of these individuals to buy similar products to the psychographic likenesses that naturally exist between friends. While that may be so, I'm more inclined to credit simple word of mouth. Whatever. If the company's internal research is to be trusted, it would appear Media6degrees offers a compelling fusion of behavioral targeting and social marketing.

As CEO Joe Doran, an ex-Microsoftie, put it to me last spring, "The most important thing is not to look at the content but to look at the interactions between individuals. I'm defined not by my interactions on MySpace or on Facebook. I'm defined by my interactions with my friends."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oral-B: Power Ads for a Power Toothbrush

The New York Post's Page Six gossip section, including the Post nameplate, cleaned up with these ads from P&G's Oral-B promoting the Triumph electric toothbrush. In another era, a newspaper's nameplate was sacred territory untouched by ads. But those days are apparently long gone.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 25, 2008

A Little Growth Is Better Than Zero Growth

Another downward trending forcast, this time from eMarketer. The research firm has removed a digit from its 2009 interactive advertising spend forecast.

eMarketer's predicting 8.9 percent growth in ad spend next year, as opposed to the double-digit call they (and most other firms) were making last summer - in their case, 14.5 percent.

Glum? You shouldn't be. Growth is growth. You'd rather be working in financial services or the auto industry and experience negative growth? Times are tough all over, but up is still up.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

E-Mail Marketing Elves Churn out the Copy

E-mail marketing elves have gone into high gear for the holiday shopping season.

Here's a sample of pitches that landed in my inbox this morning:

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 24, 2008

New Use for Digital Billboards: Public Stockade

If the mall is today's town center, then the electronic billboard in the Staten Island Mall is the equivalent of a public stockade.

Every six minutes, digital billboards in the Staten Island Mall will flash the photos of five convicted shoplifters for 15 seconds. These ads will appear on eight and nine-foot-tall plasma screens dubbed "Smart Screens," that have a 65-inch digital display.

"I wanted to do something just to warn people who might have ideas about shoplifting," Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan told Larry McShane, a staff writer at "The New York Daily News."

The district attorney worked with Adspace Digital Mall Network to create the ad, which will appear on electronic billboards along with other ads promoting mall businesses.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 10:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 18, 2008

Quote of the Day: Emily Riley on T-Mobile's Billion-Impression Ad Buy

"I would say that officially, this ad buy proves that you can have simultaneous reach of some kind online. No it's not the same as a superbowl commercial, but it's pretty important for brand advertisers nonetheless. More marketers should be willing to pay a premium for this kind of campaign. A site takeover actually already has some traction and is a great way to flood people with your message. However one site is only one site. A giant scale buy on a network on the other hand, can ensure that you're showing a majority of Americans your message in just a day or two. Networks should be selling takeovers every day of the year."

-Emily Riley, JupiterResearch analyst, commenting on T-Mobile's recent billion-impression ad buy with Platform-A.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Intel Sponsors New Gaming Blog from Boing Boing

Intel is the exclusive sponsor of a new gaming blog, Offworld, from the creators of Boing Boing. The site appears to have gotten off to a slightly rocky start however, since comments remain broken on the second day of its official debut.

The blog's launch and its sponsorship were arranged by Federated Media, the conversational media ad rep and network. According to the companies' statement, it "aims to distill the fractured, esoteric world of gaming forums, academia, communities, websites and blogs, into an easily digestible feed..."

Intel has been one of FM's most active ad partners. The Offworld blog is only the latest of several initiatives the companies have undertaken together lately. One of those was a "crowdsourced PC" project through which Intel and Asus solicited the public's idea on what the ideal computer would look like. Intel also is an early tester of FM's Conversational Marketing Toolbox, launched earlier this fall.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2008

Contextual Local Ads - Not Quite There Yet

Quick - where's Beacon?

If you're coming up with multiple answers, you're not alone. So are local Google AdSense advertisers, and as a result, contextual ads are all out of context. Ads for Beacon-related things spanning the country (literally) from Boston to San Francisco accompanied an e-mail from a friend who hails from Beacon, NY.

This problem, of course, is hardly limited to Google. It is indicative of local advertisers who are newer to AdSense -- and in all likelihood, taking a more scattershot, DIY approach to buying and managing keywords than more experienced advertisers are.

So what's the secret to teaching newbie search advertisers about concepts such as negative match? Should such feature be baked more prominently into account management software?

Local advertising is burgeoning, but for it to really take off and soar, a lot of really complex issues will have to come down to earth and be super-simplified.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Denton-the-Bear Sees Major Digital Ad Recession

Gawker publisher and digital sourpuss Nick Denton just posted a screed arguing digital media are screwed in 2009.

According to Denton, "The sector's maturity...means that its underlying growth is more sluggish than it was in the late 1990s. In 2001, Internet advertising swung to a 13% decline from 78% growth the previous year; this time the sector starts from a growth rate of 27%; I would hate to see what a swing as violent as the dotcom burst would look like."

Of course, Denton's doomsaying is congenital. His gloominess has helped him stand out during the boom years, when a thousand start-ups blossomed (and started selling ads), and has cushioned the blow each time he's reduced blogger pay or laid people off.

But deep down he knows digital media will thrive in a downturn, simply because it's more measurable. Right?

Not really. To anyone clinging to that oft-invoked point, Denton has this to say: "Sure, marketers and their agencies can track engagement and clicks in great detail online; but it's still only television advertising that can demonstrate a correlation between spending and a boost to a marketer's sales."

In Denton's view, there is a silver lining. For one, publishers may be able to renegotiate contracts with ad vendors. Financially sound firms like DoubleClick and PointRoll will be flexible on pricing to keep business during the downswing.

Secondly, marketers may find themselves on the receiving end of better service from publishers.

"Internet publishers have forced marketers into a straightjacket of standard ad units too small for brands to breathe," Denton writes. "If the sector is to capture a larger share of brand advertising from magazines and television, the creative needs to have more impact."

To that end, he notes Gawker offers three original ad units: a 1,000x250 "marquis at the top of each page; an extra-wide "panorama," and its sponsored post format. Denton recommends other publishers do the same.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

November 11, 2008

You Can Argue with Customer Satisfaction

I'm always struck by the "Get a Mac" takeovers that run every couple months on NYTimes.com and a variety of other prominent homepages. They're in a class by themselves. This execution sort of encapsulates what the whole campaign is about. You can't argue with satisfaction, but of course that's just what John Hodgman's PC tries repeatedly to do.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

November 6, 2008

BBC Eyes Behavioral Targeting

BBC Worldwide may be looking to launch behavioral targeting ad technology across its properties. New Media Age reports the BBC's commercial arm has approached a number of behavioral targeting firms, aiming to monetize its international traffic more effectively.

Quoted by NMA, Chris Dobson, head of global ad sales at BBC Worldwide, stated, "We're testing first. We intend to roll it out extensively across most components of the sites, including U.K. sites and BBC.com outside the U.K."

A BBC Worldwide spokeswoman reportedly acknowledged that targeting methods were being investigated, but that "no decision has been taken on how BBC Worldwide will proceed." The BBC press office has not replied with confirmation to me today.

ISP-based behavioral targeting firms such as NebuAd and Phorm have been under scrutiny recently surrounding the privacy implications of their systems. However, if indeed the BBC does introduce such technologies, it is likely to adopt more traditional behavioural solutions from firms such as Revenue Science or Tacoda.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 10:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

November 5, 2008

New Tool: Website Optimization ROI Calculator

How can you estimate the return on investment for optimizing your Web site?

The Website Optimization ROI Calculator, a new interactive tool, was developed by interactive agency ZAAZ. It helps digital marketers estimate return based on anticipated outcomes such as increasing site traffic.

Plug in the numbers, for instance, to evaluate how an investment can change the present and future value of your business.

For more details behind the calculator, read the column by Jason Burby, ZAAZ's chief analytics and optimization officer. Jason and his team at ZAAZ developed this tool.

The ROI calculator joins other invaluable digital marketing tools on ClickZ.

A new addition, the ClickZ Flashback Widget, provides historical perspective on today's news.

And the CPM Calculator, an old standby.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

November 4, 2008

Quote of the Day: Worst Time to See a Web Ad?

Group M Interaction CEO Rob Norman at ad:tech NY today: "When I'm checking my bank statement [online], I'm not receptive to receiving ads."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yahoo/Google Deal Revision Would Give Marketers More Control

To appease Justice Department concerns about their search ads tie-up, Yahoo and Google have offered to cap what Yahoo can make through the deal at 25 percent of its total search revenue, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Perhaps a bigger deal for search marketers: The revised deal would let advertisers opt out of having their ads distributed on Yahoo results pages.

That would partly address concerns of some marketers that they'll wind up bidding against themselves, but it may also reduce the available Yahoo inventory for those who choose to opt out.

As Kevin Lee put it back in September, "In order for [Yahoo] to even to consider serving an ad out of Google, that ad has to be 15 percent more expensive," to allow for Google's cut.

Yahoo's extra revenue from each ad served by Google comes at the expense of brands that bid on both platforms, and so letting those brands abstain from ad syndication between the parties. Yet having the option not to pay the higher price to appear on Yahoo SERPs doesn't mean they'll still get in at the lower price.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Obama's GOTV Billboards on PA, FL Sites

Pennsylvania and Florida voters must be pretty excited that the political ad onslaught is almost over. But they've got one more day of presidential ads in the battleground states. Today, Philly.com visitors know it. So do MiamiHerald.com readers. There are expandable Barack Obama billboard ads on the homepages of those sites today, and probably other key swing state newspaper sites, too.

The ad units are very similar to ones the Obama camp ran on Texas and Ohio news sites before those states' important primary elections in February. Those primary ads, however, featured an in-banner video, but today's get-out-the-vote ads do not.

By the way, be sure to check out our Campaign '08 re-cap, and abundant archives!

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 30, 2008

Clouds Keep Gathering Over ValueClick

ValueClick already warned investors back in July that it's performance for the rest of the year would suffer owing to a number of factors. One of those factors was the defection of sites and advertisers from its lead-gen programs in the wake of an FTC investigation of the company. Another is the well-documented trend of falling prices for display ads.

So it should come as no surprise the company continued to struggle in the third quarter. In its just-announced Q3 earnings report, ValueClick reported net income of just $2 million, down 88 percent from $16.8 million for the year-ago period.

Afterward, UBS Analyst Ben Schachter added some discouraging commentary to the bummerfest. According to his research note, ValueClick will have a harder time drawing search traffic to its comparison shopping sites, and may lose ground in display as Yahoo, AOL and others build more sophisticated platforms.

"While it has not been impacted significantly yet, we are concerned that the platform display ad approach from YHOO/GOOG/others may affect VCLK’s Display biz (though the impact is admittedly unclear)," wrote Schachter.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 27, 2008

Gazing Into the 2009 Crystal Ball

In light of the economic downturn, will online ad spending continue to climb?

Henry Blodget, editor-in-chief of the Silicon Alley Insider, posed that question to a panel of speakers at the Digital Publishing & Advertising Conference today in Manhattan. He pointed to the latest pronouncement from Geoff Ramsey, eMarketing CEO, who predicts online ad pending will keep growing.

Such predictions, Blodget said, remind him of what prognosticaters had been saying back in 1999 before the dot-com bust.

David Cohen, EVP, U.S. director of digital at Universal McCann, said it's too early to predict what 2009 will bring. "We've seen a very slight softening in the fourth quarter," he said, adding that one key will be how retail fares during the coming holiday season.

Jeff Minsky, director of Next, OMG Digital, said digital advertising has been holding up. He said a downturn could bring at least one benefit. "If you go back to the last bubble popping, you had a lot of crap get out of the market -- which hopefully will happen again."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

October 24, 2008

Microsoft Ad Business Strong, But Display Ads Threatened

Among Microsoft's diverse revenue streams, its display ad business is the most vulnerable to economic conditions. That's according to CFO Chris Liddell, who yesterday told investors the company still has great expectations for its online services business, which includes its search and ad platforms.

According to Microsoft's earnings report yesterday, online services revenue grew an impressive 15 percent to $770 million for the quarter just ended. It experienced an overall loss of $267 million, but that's not surprising in light of Microsoft's heavy R&D investment in search.

The picture's far from rosy however. Microsoft said it expects less aggressive growth of between 6 and 10 percent for the current quarter, and between 10 and 13 percent growth for the entire fiscal year (July 2008 to June 2009). Liddell said online ad revenue by itself will grow a slightly more robust 15 percent for the year, a rate he called "still healthy in a more difficult advertising spending environment."

In other words, Microsoft anticipates single-digit growth for the first six months of next year. Web advertising performance beyond that is anyone's guess.

As Liddell put it, "Our display advertising business is probably the most economically sensitive of our revenue streams and therefore has the highest potential to either under or outperform depending on the state of the economy."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 23, 2008

Quote of the Day: Martha and Wenda at Odds?

"It's no secret that Martha isn't the easiest person to work for... It wouldn't be the end of the world if [Millard] were to leave."

-A source "close" to Wenda Harris Millard, speaking to the New York Post about a worsening feud between Yahoo's one-time sales chief -- now CEO at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia -- and the company's chairman and namesake.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More Layoffs: Experian Interactive/LowerMyBills, Permission TV, DMA

The last 48 hours has brought numerous reports of new job losses in the digital marketing/media sector, and so we've updated our layoff tracker. The biggest news was Yahoo's decision to cut at least 10 percent (roundabout 1,400) global positions this quarter. Others followed yesterday: Experian Interactive/LowerMyBills, Mania TV, Permission TV, and Imeem are all shedding employees. You can find more information on the layoff tracker page.

Additionally, the DMA is thinning its executive ranks, partly owing to the glut of conferences in the digital ad space, reports Direct.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Russia’s Blossoming Online Ad Market

More news from the blossoming Russian ad market…

Bolstering its presence among the growing ad competition in the region, Russia's largest search site, Yandex, has acquired display ad agency Mediaselling for an undisclosed fee.

Mediaselling already had a deal with Yandex through which it sold ads on some Yandex properties. Writing on the company blog, Mediaselling CEO Lev Gleyzer said the firm has "relied on partnership and friendship" with Yandex over the past few years. The firm also represents other Russian sites including Eurosport.ru, Kommersant.ru and Gazeta.ru.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 22, 2008

Quote of the Day: Can Phorm, NebuAd Be a Check on Google's Power?

"Technology from companies like Phorm can help small websites and ISPs compete with Google for a slice of their rapidly growing advertising income. There are now many companies across the world that rely on Google for as much as half of their sales, via paid search and direct response advertising. Those worried by this domination of the paid search market should be supporting this new competition."

-British media expert Peter Bazalgette, making the case for ISP behavioral targeting.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 21, 2008

Quote of the Day: Fred Wilson on Bulletproof Ad Models

"The next 12 months may be a period of the 'haves and have nots'. Last night the Spotted Pig was mobbed but the new hot place down the block was not. There are bulletproof restaurants (the pig), bulletproof ad models (paid search) and bulletproof brands (all things apple). In tough times the money will keep flowing to the best companies and will stop flowing to the worst."

-Fred Wilson, venture capitalist, writing on his blog today.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 17, 2008

Digital Remainders: Viral Videos, YouTube Search Ads, Huge Spam Ring Busted

It’s been a busy week in digital marketing land. In addition to the big stories we've covered, here are a few you may have missed:

Agencies dote on their viral videos, but can't agree on metrics. Seventy percent of agency execs plan to increase budgets for viral, according to a survey conducted by Feed Company. But about equal numbers said their videos were a success if viewed 100,000 times, 250,000 times or 500,000 times. For those who doubt those budget increases, remember that in the scope of a large media buy, these projects cost peanuts.

YouTube is experimenting with sponsored placements in its search results. However marketers should be wary of assertions that the site operates the "second largest" search presence, ahead of Yahoo, as has been reported. Truth is, many of those queries are better thought of as navigation than search.

World's largest spam ring busted. A network of unsolicited e-mailers peddling prescription drugs and "herbal male-enhancement" remedies was the biggest in the world, according to Spamhaus. The FTC coordinated with New Zealand authorities on the crackdown.

Blog search pioneer Technorati bought an ad network. AdEngage, a network for independent sites, will be combined with Technorati's four-month-old media network. The idea is to develop a self-serve ad network spanning blogs and other social media sites. The platform now exists only in "private alpha" mode.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Takes Out Personal Ad for Yahoo Deal Advocates

"Desperately seeking marketers to support the Yahoo search ad tie-up."

Well, not exactly. But TechCrunch reports the company's attorneys have directly contacted at least one large AdWords advertiser. The lawyer told this person, the proprietor of ReverseMortgageGuides.com, that the company was "looking for large advertisers who use both Google and Yahoo (we do) who would be willing to provide public testimonials in support of outsourcing Yahoo’s search ads to Google."

Here's the full text of Google's voice mail:

“Hi Darren my name is Donald Burke. I’m calling on behalf of Google to talk with Adwords advertisers about the new proposed Google/Yahoo Advertising Agreement. If you have a couple of minutes to talk with me, my number is…Thanks very much. Take care.”

And Darren's response: "I told him I’m a free-market competition kind of guy so he tried to address my concerns for about 15 minutes and then called it quits."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 16, 2008

More on Joe the Plumber

As the morning moved on, more businesses and organizations bidding on the keywords "Joe the Plumber" or "Joe Plumber" started to crowd the search engine results page on Yahoo and Google.

A plumbing service out of North Carolina called Mr. Rooter topped the sponsored listings on Yahoo with "Joe Plumber." While Donald Glovan is listed as the contact at Mr. Rooter -- and no Joe -- the business appears to have a connection to a Joe. That is, Joe, NC.

A directory of plumbers, hosted by Shapel Directory, also appears in the paid results for "Joe the Plumber," along with three other businesses.

Over at Google, the Obama-Biden campaign purchased the keywords that link to a Web site that includes a calculator. There, taxpayers can input their annual salary to see how Obama's tax plan would affect them.

Cafe Press, which makes custom T-shirts, joined in the fray with its "Joe the Plumber" T-shirt.

The screen grabs, below, show sponsored Yahoo results (left) next to those of Google.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Joe the Plumber, Advertised

Fresh off his starring role in last night's debate, Joe the Plumber has already inspired AdWords advertisers in the travel, apparel, and yes, political sectors.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quote of the Day: Chad Hurley's Brave New World

YouTube founder Chad Hurley spoke yesterday at the MIPCOM conference in Cannes, France. He spent a good deal of time assuaging media companies' fears about rights management. He also hit the theme of advertiser accountability in a down economy. A few nuggets:

"There is no old media. There is no new media. There is one media with one common purpose: to inform, move and inspire the world through information, art and entertainment. Together, we can find a solution that will benefit everyone in this ecosystem, from consumers to advertisers to the content owners alike."

"...Weezer launched their music video “Pork and Beans” on YouTube resulting in over 4 million views in just two days. Using our sophisticated analytics tool, the band was able to then get an in-depth look at the video’s views. This data provided an online focus group of sorts, enabling them to prepare more effective and powerful marketing campaigns. It even helped Weezer understand where their videos were being watched and then plan their upcoming tour."

"...Online video began as a playground for advertisers where they could test ideas, drive brand awareness and create consumer engagement through clever viral video campaigns. In the current economic climate, this platform also provides advertisers with an affordable distribution channel and metrics to help gauge the success of a campaign and drive engagement numbers up."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 13, 2008

Newspapers Saw Worst Online Ad Revenues Ever in Q2

Despite lifelines from Yahoo and quadrantOne, the newspaper industry is gasping for air as its online ad revenues continue to sink. It’s worse than ever. Second quarter revenues actually contracted for the first time, following disappointing Q1 growth of less than 10 percent.

In Q2, online ad revenues were around $777 million, down from $804 million in Q1 2008, amounting to a -2.4 percent change.

Now, in addition to battling steeper-than-ever declines in print classifieds revenues, newspapers must contend with a severe drop in Web ad dollars – the only hope the industry has had for counteracting print ad decreases.

With ad budgets steadily tightening, I think it’s safe to say we can expect the waters to get even choppier for newspapers. Hopefully they can hang on without the need for desperate measures.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 7, 2008

Quote of the Day: Barry Diller's headache

"You really want to get a headache? Try to understand Internet advertising. Social networking advertising is being discounted because there is so much inventory [of available ad spots], and because methods have not yet been found to make it very effective. Will that get figured out? I absolutely believe it will. What form will it take? Absolutely unknown."

-IAC CEO Barry Diller in an interview with WSJ.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

October 3, 2008

McCain's Ad Quickness

Our pals over at Media Trust Co were working overtime last night post Palin/(O')Biden. It looks as though the John McCain camp launched a couple of brand-spanking-new display ads to commemorate the debate.

Here they are, 'cause the American People deserve it, doggone it.

Ad image provided by The Media Trust Company

Ad image provided by The Media Trust Company

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

October 2, 2008

Dana Todd: (News)Force of Nature

Chair of SEMPO, partner in Sitelab, Dana Todd continues to be something of an interactive marketing force of nature. And now, she's one of the founders of a new advertising/PR hybrid play called Newsforce.

The newly-founded company places press releases - in their entirety - in premium ad positions on major publisher sites. Really major publisher sites, like WashingtonPost.com, USA Today, Time, and Slate.

As you'd imagine, Newsforce gets the PR game. Naturally, they're already generating their own media coverage.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 30, 2008

Media Buyer Calls Forbes.com Guarantee Low Risk

Wouldn't it be nice if Henry Paulson, Congress, and the rest of 'em would offer the American people a guarantee that – if a bank bailout bill ever passes – we'll get a positive return on our investment?

Ha.

While it'd be tough to trust in a guarantee given by the government anyway, online ad buyers may have better luck. Expanding on its "Brand Increase Guarantee" program, Forbes.com just launched the "Total Guarantee." The promise: advertisers spending a minimum of $1 million over 90 days are guaranteed to hit specified reach and frequency targets. "With the Total Guarantee, marketers can specify how many individuals within their target audience they want to reach and the average frequency with which they reach them at the outset of the campaign," stated a Forbes.com press release.

"They never seemingly lost any money on this," David Smith, CEO of integrated media agency mediasmith told me yesterday. He calls expanding the guarantee program smart marketing, and wondered why he hasn't seen other brand name publishers offer this sort of thing.

Getting an advertiser to move $1 million in a few months time could amount to "a nice piece of business" by the time the year's over, added Smith.

Plus, argued Smith, Forbes.com "knows the level at which [online advertising] will move the needle, so it's a fairly safe move."

"This will be most attractive to new advertisers against this target audience or advertisers who have not advertised on Forbes.com before," he continued. "Those are the easiest to show a short-term increase via research" because they haven't communicated via that venue in the past.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

McCain Debate Quip Straight from Web Ad

I meant to post about this earlier, but remember way back when on Friday night when, during the presidential debate, John McCain mentioned a study costing taxpayers $3 million to study bear DNA as an example of pork-barrel spending? "I don't know if that was a criminal issue or a paternal issue, but the fact is that it was $3 million of our taxpayers' money. And it has got to be brought under control," he quipped.

Well, he's been running ads with the very same message -- and strangely uncomfortable joke -- since last October. The call to action of the ads, like others focused on pork-barrel projects and high gas prices, is to get people to sign a petition; the real goal is to acquire email addresses, to be used later for donation requests.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Music Industry: Internet Advertising Is Really, Really Hard

At ContentNext's EconMusic conference in London last week, music industry executives gathered to discuss the future of the music industry, as physical sales nosedive and P2P sharing becomes increasingly commonplace.

The Social Media session threw up the most interesting ad-related insights, with musician Billy Bragg among the panelists, alongside Last.fm's COO Spencer Hyman and Index Ventures' Danny Rimer.

Bragg's gripe, predictably, was that musicians aren’t seeing enough, if any of the ad-revenue generated from sites such as MySpace, Bebo and Last.fm. "How much does MySpace make from advertising, $800 million? And how much do they pay for content?" he asked. "In order for [musicians] to make a living, the industry has to recognize that the old model doesn’t work anymore, and has to be restructured,” he continued.

Last.fm's Hyman suggested that it was almost impossible to pay artist royalties through models such as Last.fm's, stating, “We’re happy to share the advertising revenue we get, but what we can’t do is to give more than we’re getting in." He added, "Internet advertising is really, really hard."

Intriguingly, Index Ventures' Rimer suggested that it was up to the artists themselves to be shrewder, thinking of themselves more as brands and giving their music away entirely free, monetizing it instead through endorsements and advertising.

Steve Purdham, CEO of ad-supported platform We7 was also present on the panel. We7 came to market with the concept of placing pre-roll audio ads at the start of MP3 track downloads. However, the company has seemingly seen little interest from major labels and advertisers, as it has since leaned more towards the ad-supported streaming model à la Last.fm.

Despite signing a deal with EMI earlier this month, tracks will only be available on We7 through ad-funded audio streaming and paid-for MP3 downloads, rather than the ad-supported MP3 downloads it had originally based its revenue stream on.

It's an interesting model, but it seems at this point that labels are still clinging to higher revenues from paid-for downloads. However, material from a number of independent labels is currently available on the We7 site.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 29, 2008

Obama Nears $5.5 Million in Online Ad Spending

Barack Obama's campaign is gradually edging towards the $5.5 million mark. The Democratic presidential hopeful's campaign has spent about $5.45 million according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings that report online ad expenditures into August. As always, though, there's some lag time, so expect more August expenditures to show up in future reports, and in turn, in ClickZ's Campaign '08 Obama Spend-O-Meter.

In keeping with the campaign's ongoing approach, Google is getting the lion's share, with a new total of $3,311,253. Yahoo and local media sites (via local media firm, Centro) also top the list. Other media firms that continue to appear in FEC filings: Microsoft (MSN search most likely), Facebook, CNN.com, and Community Connect, publisher of BlackPlanet.com.

Obama for President January-August 2008
Google: $3,311,253
Yahoo: $706,005
Centro: $600,252
Microsoft/MSN: $247,522
Turner/CNN.com: $215,200
Facebook: $111,974
Politico: $97,328
Advertising.com: $80,000
Broadband Enterprises: $80,000
Community Connect (BlackPlanet.com): $64,420

The thing to remember is that with Google, some of the money is trickling down to other sites via the AdSense network.

How do I know? Well, Obama's campaign is running lots and lots of display ad impressions, according to Nielsen Online. However, ad networks are getting very little Obama grease if the FEC reports are any indication (Advertising.com and Drive PM have taken in less than $100,000 all together and Valueclick hasn't been listed at all). I think the FEC reports are the best indication we have, considering the campaign won't talk. So, I've deduced that many if not most of those display ads are running through Google, and since Google doesn't run display on its site, other publishers must be receiving some of that money through the AdSense network.

Hey, what about John McCain's online ad spending? Is this yet another form of liberal media bias? Nope. McCain's campaign hasn't broken out online ad expenditures in FEC filings.

UPDATE: I just got an e-mail from a company that says it's received more from the Obama camp than I've reported here. To reiterate, some expenditures for previous months haven’t been reported yet by the campaign in its FEC filings. There’s only some August data available and no September online ad expenditures reported yet.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 26, 2008

Math Prevails Over 'Mad' as Advertising Week Ends (Mercifully)

Sick of it yet? Me too, which is why I'm declaring Advertising Week V officially over one day early, and calling the game for technology.

Despite the Mad Men-driven nostalgia for simpler -- you might say more instinctive -- times that was palpable all over town this week (well, all over Midtown anyway), every meaningful announcement and panel was about their opposite: efficiency, analysis, and above all, platforms. Platforms that help marketers' improve buying efficiency (See: Yahoo's Apt and Platform-A's BidPlace), platforms that help them attribute conversions across channels (See: Microsoft Engagement Mapping).

With all that new technology nipping at their heels, it's no wonder agencies -- even relatively tech-savvy ones -- are dwelling on a time no one working today is quite old enough to remember. A time when copywriters sweated out their hangovers all morning and philandered all afternoon, rather than poring over TiVo Stopwatch reports and optimizing landing pages.

Digital marketing firms in particular seem to be hitting the 'Mad Men' note very hard this week. After all, the most overt homages to AMC's hit series came from the tech companies. Platform-A's cigarette girls above and Yahoo's Don Draper moment are only two examples.

"I'm not a real agency relic, but I play one on TV," was the substance, figuratively if not literally, of the speech by Jon Hamm, who introduced Jerry Yang at Yahoo's coming out party for the Apt display advertising platform.

It was telling, if not surprising, that in the period allotted for reporters' questions, the great Don Draper wasn't asked any.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 22, 2008

Yet Another Association Bashes Google/Yahoo Pact

Another international group has come out against the Google/Yahoo search agreement, calling it a raw deal for global as well as U.S. advertisers.

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is asking the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition to block the deal on the grounds that it will have a "detrimental effect on competition, result in price increases and reduce the options available to advertisers worldwide."

The WFA is an international blanket organization made up of 55 national groups. Its membership includes the Association of National Advertisers in the U.S., which has already declared itself opposed to the search advertising pact.

It's also the second international organization to speak up, the first being the World Association of Newspapers (WAN). The difference here is the WFA's position essentially echoes that of its U.S. tentacle, whereas WAN's declaration ran counter to that of its U.S. member, which has taken no official stance.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 18, 2008

Wired's Anderson and Time's Quittner on Single-Sponsor Content

"It's a little bit scary [from a traditional publishing perspective] to see one advertiser paying for the whole endeavor." -Josh Quittner, Editor-at-Large, Time Inc.

"I'm over that." -Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired magazine.

The two conversed for an hour at OMMA today, touching on new ad models, Google Chrome and social news sites like Digg.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 15, 2008

Best Buy Nabs Napster, Will Market Devices to Downloaders

Best Buy has agreed to buy Napster, partly for the chance to sell tech products to its user base.

The music retailer plans to cross-sell devices and other products to Napster's 700,000 subscribers. By doing so it expects to "capture recurring revenue by offering ongoing value over a mobile digital platform," it said in a statement.

Interesting notion, but is it logical? From a marketing standpoint, what can Best Buy achieve owning Napster that it couldn't by simply partnering with it? $121 million is an awful lot to spend on an ad deal, after all.

And from a business standpoint? I'm no music industry analyst, but considering Napster lost $16.5 million last year and faces accelerated innovation from behemoth competitors (See MySpace Music's news this morning), it's definitely a gamble.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 12, 2008

Jeffries & Co Pares Back Online Ad Expectations

If any more investment or research firms plan to lower their 2008 and 2009 forecasts for online ad spending, I don't want to know about it.

Jeffries & Company today became the latest in a long string of firms to trim (albeit slightly) their expectations of the online ad market. Jeffries now declares the channel will grow to $50 billion (20 percent) in 2008, down from its earlier prediction of $52 billion (25 percent). Next year it expects the market to grow to $58 billion (16 percent), down from $61 billion (19 percent). The guesstimate assumes lower growth in display (14 percent in 2008 and 7 percent 2009).

Analysts Youssef Squali and Naved Kahn were taken aback by meetings with European marketing execss, "many of whom were in a pretty somber mood."

With Germany and Spain in recession and the UK and France struggling, they say advertisers are delaying their ad plans. "We've heard of new inquiries down by as much as 30 percent," they say. Additionally, Web development projects are frequently being put on hold.

Jeffries does name some areas of continued strength, and no surprises here either: Paid search, SEO and analytics are expected to retain marketers favor til the flood waters recede.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

September 10, 2008

Brightcove to Drive German Video Network

Video technology platform Brightcove has partnered with OMS, a German online sales and marketing network for regional newspapers, to create an ad-supported online video network for its member publishers.

The network will feature content licensed by OMS from third parties, alongside video published by the regional newspapers themselves. Ad sales will be handled by OMS.

Speaking with ClickZ News, OMS Media Consultant Kim Kriegers said, "The German online video market is still very fragmented in terms of reach, content quality and technical standardization. With this deal, OMS is trying to address these problems to make the market more attractive and efficient for advertisers."

After the video platform has been rolled out across the network's 60 sites, Kriegers expects it to serve in excess of 10 million streams a month, attracting existing OMS advertisers, as well as traditional TV advertisers looking to cut back on ad spend. Together, the network sites reach around 9 million unique visitors each month.

Targeting possibilities for the platform will be limited to content categories, or channels, such as national news, sports, and entertainment.

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

September 8, 2008

McCain Still Wants Your Web Donations

John McCain 2008 is no longer able to solicit or spend private donations now that he's accepted the Republican nomination. But that doesn't mean the co-author of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law can't get around that pesky roadblock. The latest ad – launched 9/3 -- from the McCain-Palin Compliance Fund, asks supporters to "Invest in Victory" by donating $50 to the Compliance Fund.

According to a disclaimer on the McCain campaign site, "Because the McCain-Palin Campaign is participating in the presidential public funding system, it may not receive contributions for the any candidate's election. However, federal law allows the McCain-Palin Campaign's Compliance Fund to defray legal and accounting compliance costs and preserve the Campaign's public grant for media, mail, phones, and get-out-the-vote programs. Contributions to McCain-Palin Victory 2008 will go to the Compliance Fund, and to participating party committees for Victory 2008 programs."

That Victory fund is operated by the compliance fund, the Republican National Committee, and the Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Pennsylvania GOPs.

Hmmm…I wonder what states are in the most contention this year….

Thanks to The Media Trust Company for the ad.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 5, 2008

Seinfeld Plays Opposite Man of Silicon in New Windows Spots

The first of Crispin Porter + Bogusky's ads for Windows Vista, starring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates, has aired, and the result manages to charm without packing much punch. The biggest thing missing: any hint of a reason the viewer should, oh say, try the OS.

In the ad, Seinfeld catches Gates shopping in a discount shoe outlet. The dialog is surreal in true Crispin fashion: Seinfeld asks Microsoft's outgoing chairman if computers will ever be "moist and chewy like cake." To this Gates replies with a secret, hands-free adjustment of his boxer shorts.

Funny. But not to the level of John Hodgman's PC in Apple's worshiped Get a Mac ads. Which have the additional advantage of being all about the products.

You may recognize this version of Seinfeld from American Express ads from 2004
in which he plays opposite the man of steel. They pal around together in a restaurant, visiting the Grand Canyon, watching movies. Once again, here we have Everyman Seinfeld mucking it up with a legendary hero.

Not that there's anything wrong with that (to steal a line). The comic's aimless banter is legendary; it's why he pulls the big bucks (Seinfeld's reported take here is $10 million).

But is aimless banter enough to stem the tide of consumers to Apple products, or to head off the looming threat of Google's hosted applications? It's too early to draw big conclusions, given the new spot is just an icebreaker to "reintroduce Microsoft," the company said. But, well, Jerry's only work since 2005 was the unloved Bee Movie. With respect, shouldn't Microsoft try something, or someone, with a bit more sting?

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

First Seinfeld/Gates Microsoft Spot

The first of Crispin, Porter's highly anticipated spots is about .... nothing.
But the infamous teenage mugshot of Gates is a nice touch, no?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

September 3, 2008

Gannett Takes Controlling Interest in CareerBuilder

Gannett's now the majority owner of CareerBuilder, having picked up a 10 percent stake in the recruiting site from Tribune for $135 million. The purchase gives it a 50.8 percent controlling share of the firm.

The transaction is reminiscent of Gannett's acquisition in July of its rivals' ownership shares in ShopLocal, the online shopping circular provider previously owned by a triumvirate of newspaper publishers. In that purchase, Gannett bought all outstanding interest in the firm from McClatchy and Tribune.

Tribune, which previously held a share of CareerBuilder equal to that of Gannett's, now possesses 30.8 percent of CareerBuilder. McClatchy meanwhile owns 14.4 percent, and Microsoft has 4 percent.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quote of the Day: Google as Agency Virus

“...they’re almost like a virus, going to work their way into specific agencies and replace the DNA of those agencies with a more analytic orientation while trying to maintain some of the client relationships.”

-Peter S. Fader, professor of marketing at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, quoted in the New York Times.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Chrome Should Force Some Soul Searching on Tabbed Browsing

While Google's entry into the browser wars has few, if any, direct implications for advertisers, indirect ones are easy to spot.

Take the elevation of tabbed browsing to the core of the user experience. While Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 both support simultaneous tabbed navigation, Google Chrome is built on it. Tabs have been elevated to the top of the interface, and Google has introduced separate processes for each tab, so one tab's glitch doesn't crash the whole browser -- as is the case with IE 7 and Firefox. Here's a screen grab from the comic book, created by the great Scott McCloud, that Google used to unveil Chrome:

Clearly Google believes the future of the Web lies in toggling -- between static pages and rich applications, between entertainment content and productive tasks. If it proves to be correct, and consumers increasingly channel their attention through numerous tabs residing shoulder to shoulder in the narrow confines of a browser, marketers will be forced to reconsider how they deliver -- and measure the impact of -- their display ads.

Among the questions such a presumed future raises: What is the impact of simultaneous browsing on metrics like page exposure time and ad exposure time? How does it affect the overall number of ads served to any given Web user, as well as the effectiveness of those ads?

Also, what are the best ad placements to leverage a tab-addicted society? For instance, some publishers claim users of IE7 and Firefox have exhibited higher click-through rates on horizontal banner ads at the top of Web pages. But the evidence is anecdotal. Very little research exists on the effect of tabbed or simultaneous browsing on digital ads.

That may change. JupiterResearch hasn't yet looked into the phenomenon, according analyst Emily Riley. However she indicated it hopes to do so in the future.

Until that happens, advertisers can only guess at the impact of tabbed browsing on their ads.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

August 29, 2008

McCain Ads Continue Attack

Senator John McCain has been deemed "Ready to Lead" in his online ads, and now he's ready to call his Democratic rival SenatorBarack Obama...er...un-ready. According to The Media Trust Company, McCain's camp dropped two new display ads yesterday, just in time for Obama's much-anticipated Mile High acceptance speech last night.

He's also touting his experience in search ads. A search for "McCain" turns up this ad: "No On The Job Training Needed Help Elect John McCain."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 27, 2008

Phorm Appoints Digital Agency TBG London for B2B Help

ISP-based behavioral targeting company Phorm has hired digital agency TBG London for a helping hand with its B2B marketing efforts.

Speaking with me earlier today, a Phorm spokesperson said, "There is huge interest in our technology and its possibilities. TBG is helping us develop several propositions that draw on these capabilities for their presentation to a number of our business partners."

The spokesperson said the relationship was intended purely to aid Phorm in "bringing ideas to life," adding that no ad campaign was currently in the pipeline.

In the U.K., Phorm has already signed deals with major ISP's including Talk Talk, BT and Virgin Media, though none have started using the technology yet. BT originally said in April they would conduct trials “in the near future,” but have continued to postpone them.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

August 22, 2008

Verizon Wireless Searching for Deal

Verizon and Google may be close to a search deal for the carrier's wireless customers, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Journal says, "It's the latest sign that telecom companies are finally conceding that their homegrown search services have stalled -- and that they need help from the Internet's big guns."

What it all could mean for Verizon's ad relationships with AOL and Millennial Media remains to be seen.

This may just be about finding the right partner, as Google is the most used search provider on the Web. In July it maintained a 61.9 percent market share, according to comScore. Putting aside past disagreements and competition -- on things such as the spectrum auction and Google Android -- Verizon sees that Google has already gained some dominance on the handset. Google held 61 percent of the mobile search market share in Q1, according to Nielsen Online.

Verizon has worked with white label mobile search provider Medio for some time now, which has included search and advertising. The article speculates Medio will manage the relationship between the carrier and Google. For display advertising, Verizon currently splits its inventory. AOL's Platform-A sells the lion's share, and Millennial Media also sells a portion.

Will Google be happy with just search? It's got mobile display ads. That may be down the line. The Journal says the next deal after mobile search could be a Google search box in Verizon's broadband and TV services.

Posted by Enid Burns at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 21, 2008

But Seinfeld Had ALL the Macs!

Microsoft has enlisted Jerry Seinfeld to star in a new series of ads targeting Apple's hyper-successful "Get A Mac" campaign?

But...Seinfeld's a hardcore Mac user. Isn't he?

Remember the show? There was a Mac in the living room of Jerry's apartment in every single episode. The model upgraded with each new season. It was a well-known feature of the show that Jerry's apartment was filled with things that resonated Jerry: superman models, breakfast cereal...and Macs.

What's Microsoft thinking? What's Seinfeld thinking?

Here's what I'm thinking: Sellout.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

August 5, 2008

McCain’s Celeb Obama Bash Tops Viral Chart

According to Viralvideochart.com, (which, funnily enough, compiles viral video charts), recent political ads from U.S. Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have been amongst the most talked about videos across the net over the last week.

Viralvideochart.com scans "several million blogs a day," according to the site, and compiles its charts according to the number of times each video is linked to, and embedded from, YouTube, Google Video, and MySpace.

On Friday, McCain's ad branding Obama "the biggest celebrity in the world" topped the chart, racking up 168 new posts in 24 hours. In the same period, Obama's "Low Road" T.V. ad clocked up 42 new posts, managing only eighth place.

The only other actual ad in the site's top 20 today is Snickers' speedwalker ad, at thirteenth place.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 25, 2008

Absolut Behind Miracle Anti-Michael Jackson Drug Viral

Ever seen a spoof ad on the NYC subway?

No? That's what I thought.

Which is why my mind got bent six ways when I noticed BeKANYE yesterday on the downtown R train. Value proposition: two fizzy tablets dropped in water transform you from a white guy with receding chin and hairline into...well, Kanye West.

I couldn't find it online, but a friend did this morning. Funny thing is this afternoon, at the offices of a major publication, someone had tacked a digital printout of the subway print camapign to their monitor. This at least confirmed I had not been hallucinating of the subway (always a possiblity in +90 degree heat).

Absolut's the culprit, mocking direct and infomercials.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

July 24, 2008

Publicis Acquires Korean Agency Portfolio

Publicis Groupe announced recently it has acquired South-Korean full-service digital agency Portfolio, adding to the group's existing Asian operations in Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taiwan, and New Delhi.

The agency will be integrated with Publicis' existing digital global network, Publicis Modem, and re-branded as Publicis Modem Korea.

Portfolio currently provides services such as site development, and search and display campaigns for major international brands including Microsoft Korea, Marriott Hotels, and Nissan.

In a statement, Martin Reidy, CEO of Publicis Modem, said, "Asia is a critical market for Publicis Modem and a key part of our global expansion," citing the group's strategy of targeting high growth international markets.

Publicis has acquired two major Chinese digital players in the past year -- EmporioAsia in May, and Communication Central Group last July.

The Group also released second quarter results today, claiming it's on track to reach its aim of generating a quarter of revenues from digital by 2010. Digital constituted 18.8 percent of business in the first half of the year, up from 12.7 percent the previous year.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 23, 2008

Quote of the Day: NYT's Nisenholtz on 'Bifurcation' of Premium and Remnant

“We’ve seen decent price increases on major display units. There has been a bifurcation between premium positions and remnant, which largely includes banner. At NYTimes.com, we don’t see any cannibalization from the remnant business. At About.com, we’ve seen softness in display, mainly due to execution issues, which current investment proposals are attempting to address.”

-Martin Nisenholtz, SVP, Digital Operations for The New York Times Company, commenting on ad prices during the company's Q2 earnings presentation. (via Paidcontent.org)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 21, 2008

Mobile Demos Skew Older and Older

The most interesting thing about the IAB's mobile forum this week?

It's not just about the kids any more.

In case study after case study, advertiser and marketers spent the day demonstrating how, well....old mobile advertising demos are becoming. Mike Anderson of Live Nation's ConcertVision Program probably put it best when he said that response to SMS promotions at "dinosaur" acts (such as Cheap Trick and Voyager) was all but nil a year ago, and through the roof this season.

Parents, apparently, have learned to text from their kids.

Again and again, we saw case studies from companies such as Jaguar and RIM, which don't exactly appeal to 20-somethings, but are gettign through-the-roof responses to mobile campaigns from older, affluent demos.

Could this mean that one day soon, the oft-promised year of mobile advertising may become a reality>

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 18, 2008

U.K. Government's Digital Spend Balloons

The U.K. government's digital media spending increased 57 percent year-on-year in the twelve month period ending March '08, according to the Central Office of Information's (COI) annual review released this week.

According to the office, the increased digital outlay "demonstrates that government - like the private sector - is following audiences online." The growth was attributed to a number of campaigns surrounding issues such as climate change, army recruitment, road safety and tobacco control.

Of the £156.9 ($314) million the COI spent on advertising media, £35.4 ($71) million of it went on digital - almost a quarter of its total spend. What's more, overall media spend only rose by 15.4 percent year-on-year, suggesting that the budget is moving online rapidly.

"From events and direct marketing to research and digital, both COI's established and newer channels have shown growth over the year," said Alan Bishop, COI Chief Executive, in a release.

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

EBay U.K. Ads go Behavioral

EBay has informed users it will begin rolling out behaviorally targeted ads in the U.K. this month, presumably using technology from AOL's Tacoda, as it did in the U.S. in October.

The AdChoice system will serve ads based on previous on-site searches and items purchased, as well as "information from other companies," according to an e-mail sent to U.K. members on Tuesday. eBay did not respond to queries as to which companies this may include. Existing publishers in Tacoda's network include the likes of Conde Nast, New York Times, CBS Digital Media, and Dow Jones.

A statement from eBay, e-mailed to me today simply read, "AdChoice provides a more personalised and relevant shopping experience for our users. Participation in this programme is entirely optional and does not involve disclosure of personal information to any third parties."

Though the AdChoice system will offer users an opt-out, members that are not happy with the resulting changes to the site's privacy policy are invited to close their accounts.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 10, 2008

WPP Goes Hostile for TNS, With Counter-Offer from GfK

German market research group GfK is putting together a cash offer for rival firm TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres), in response to a hostile bid from Martin Sorrell's WPP launched yesterday.

WPP has offered £1.1 billion ($2.1 billion), after previous offers were snubbed by the company's board.

In response, GfK has issued a release stating it is terminating its own proposed merger with TNS, which has been in discussion since April, and will pursue "a proposal which would involve an alternative all-cash offer being made" with anonymous financial backing.

Although talks are still in early stages, GfK says it has received "strong indications of interest in such a transaction."

WPP made a significant step into the online ad arena with its acquisition of 24/7 Real Media last year, and TNS's online media research capabilities could complement 24/7's range of digital ad offerings, which include search marketing and a display ad network.

While some have suggested that the $2.1 billion price tag overvalues TNS in such a cautious financial climate, others believe market research will remain relatively healthy in an economic slump, fuelled by the concerns of nervous advertisers looking to validate campaign decisions.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

U.K.'s Telegraph Newspaper to Monetize International Audience

U.K. publisher Telegraph Media Group (TMG) is following its competitors' lead, and seeking to monetize the non-U.K. readership of its main online property, Telegraph.co.uk.

According to MAD.co.uk, the group has signed a deal with global ad sales house AdGent 007 to sell its non-U.K. inventory to international advertisers.

Measurement firm ABCe says around two thirds of Telegraph.co.uk's 18.4 million unique visitors in May came from outside of the U.K.

Brian Harrison, digital director of Telegraph Media Group is reported to have said, "This deal is about gearing up to monetize this audience and begin exploiting the opportunities of overseas markets." He added that users in the U.S. make up the majority of the sites non-U.K. readership.

Harrison also hinted the deal could lead to the creation of specific content and features tailored to overseas users.

TMG competitors Times Online and the Guardian Media Group (GMG) both made similar moves recently. Times Online opened a U.S. sales office, while GMG signed a deal with Reuters<./a>, allowing it to sell its U.S.-aimed online inventory.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 9, 2008

BBC Reports Digital Growth, but Net Loss

BBC Worldwide, the British broadcaster's commercial arm, has reported a 57 percent year-on-year increase in digital media revenues, generating £21.9 million ($43 million) in sales in 2007/2008 compared with £13.9 million ($27.4 million) the previous year, according to its annual review.

However, net losses for the digital side of the business rose from £3.9 million ($7.7 million), to £10.9 million ($21.5 million) over the same period.

David Moody, BBC Worldwide's digital Director, credited the revenue growth to the syndication of content to partners such as YouTube and Apple iTunes, and the launch of an ad-funded international website – bbc.com – in November last year.

He attributed the loss to product investment, specifically BBC.com and a new Video On Demand service, dubbed "Kangaroo," which is due to launch later this year. The U.K.'s Competition Commission is currently investigating the project, which would see three of the U.K.'s biggest broadcasters; BBC, Channel 4, and ITV, join forces to offer video content online, presumably through an ad-supported or pay-per-view model.

According to Moody, BBCWW will enhance its digital media offering significantly in 2008/2009, generating revenue through Kangaroo, increased advertising across the BBC.com site, and perhaps through an international commercial version of its iPlayer, which offers BBC video content online.

Other than that, the organization's two-part online strategy will persist, aiming firstly to "build a network of strong BBC-branded sites," and secondly, "to distribute BBC content widely across the Web to reach potential users who are unlikely to come directly to BBC Worldwide's own sites."

Overall, BBC Worldwide's profit grew 17 percent year-on-year to a total of £118 million ($233 million). Digital represented 2.7 percent of total sales, almost doubling from 1.5 percent the previous year.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 4, 2008

Wacky (or Wonky) Ad for "The Wackness"

Can't figure out whether this is an ad serving problem, or an issue with Firefox 3.0. But every time I visit a page in the film section of The Village Voice, two ads for current film "The Wackness" display.

Well, make that 2 1/2 ads. An upside-down, partial ad also appears, spilling down into the lower frame of the browser.

If it's an ad serving issue, it's easy to straighten out. But if the new version of Firefox, which is setting download records, is messing with ad serving, the industry is going to have to sit up and take notice.

Anyone else out there getting wacky, wonky ads on their new Firefox browser?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 23, 2008

HotJobs and Monster Turn Text to Display

Post written by Kate Kaye

Yahoo HotJobs and Monster each see promise in distributing recruitment listings via display ad units. Each firm today touted new offerings allowing employers to post job ads that will be seen beyond the standard text listings framework. Neither offering is entirely new, though they both indicate the current trend towards enabling any advertiser to easily create and run online display ad campaigns isn't going anywhere.

Yahoo HotJobs has expanded its Smart Ads system for use by job advertisers. The "pilot program" generates display ads from recruitment listings, and targets them to job seekers, according to criteria including HotJobs registration information and behavioral data. Then it serves up those ads across Yahoo, according to a press release. The Smart Ads system, launched in July 2007, constructs display ads using creative assets and direct feeds of available offers provided by advertisers. The company today also unveiled a branded company profile product for recruitment advertisers.

Meanwhile, Monster has made its listings-turned-display ad product available through a new channel. The Career Ad Network product now is available through Monster‚s self-service eCommerce channel. The Network distributes listings-based display ads "across diverse affiliated network websites," according to the company."

Both companies launched the new offerings in conjunction with the annual Society for Human Resource Management Conference in Chicago.

The DIY ad phenomenon is getting a lot of traction. Part of the goal is to tap into the pool of small and medium businesses that have yet to spend much online but have dabbled with other self-serve platforms like Google AdWords. Most likely, the display ad component is aimed at generating higher ad rates than standard text listings enable. Plus, by having Monster and Yahoo worry about the media placement and targeting end of things, small advertisers can get their ads out in more places beyond HotJobs, Monster and their distribution partner sites.

Speaking of partners, Yahoo's relationship with the so-called newspaper consortium started as a HotJobs distribution play and has evolved for some of those partners to include a display ad cross-selling deal. I haven't heard back yet from HotJobs on this, but I'd imagine the Smart Ads option may be available through Yahoo's newspaper partners in the future.

Getting back to Monster, Classified Intelligence just reported (from the big HR convention) the company has signed deals with 11 new newspaper partners, and has "inked deals with several media companies to form distribution agreements that it says will offer employers 'the option of easily extending the reach of their print ads to include Monster's job-seekers.' "

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 19, 2008

Alibaba Aspires to Overtake the China Ad Market

Alibaba, known for its eBay-like online auction site in China, is apparently getting some traction for its free online auction service called Alimama.com, Reuters U.K. reports. The Alimama service was launched last year.

Since then, it's reached a milestone. According to reports, it has currently 400,000 registered Web sites and 2.8 billion daily page views in the 10-month trial run, according to the Reuters article.

The goal for the subsidiary is to build the largest share of online advertising in China within three to five years, according to a source quoted in the article.

The Chinese company may just have an edge over its foreign competitors, said Josh Crandall, managing director of Media-Screen, a strategic market research and consulting firm that looks at the markets in both the U.S. and China.

"Albaba is a strong company based in China, so it has a leg up," he said. "It knows small businesses and already has a relationship with small businesses." Crandall said global and American companies won't find it so easy to compete with Alimama.com once it has established a relationship.

Alimama.com will have to compete with existing China-based advertising companies such as Baidu.

Posted by Enid Burns at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 16, 2008

Yahoo-Google Confounds Digerati, Marketers Universally Miserable

One hundred hours later, opinion makers still can't agree on whether Yahoo's search ads deal with Google was a brilliant move long overdue or the beginning of the end.

For those in the latter camp, perhaps the most stinging indictment came from Joe Nocera, who wrote in the Times that Yahoo has "chosen to become a pawn of the most dominant company on the Internet." That's a strong remark, given the deal allows Yang & Co. to retain a control lever they can use to ratchet up monetization when flagging earnings seem to call for it.

The more they use that lever, the less pleased marketers will be. Many fear price hikes as Google boosts its control of search ad spending to 90 percent or more. Increases are probably not around the corner however, except insofar as advertisers give up on Panama and spend more on Google, thus bidding keywords higher. Under that scenario, Google will encounter less pressure to create competitive value for advertisers. That could manifest in higher campaign costs down the road.

As distasteful as Google's embrace is to Yahoo, it's nothing compared to what Microsoft's feeling -- especially given it lit the fuse on the bomb that just blew up in its face.

Indeed, if the six-month drama surrounding Yahoo's fate were a drawn-out Looney Tunes episode, the screen would now display a blackened Wile E. Coyote (Microsoft, a.k.a. Eatibus Anythingus) moments after an elaborately concealed explosive device detonates on top of him. The singed coyote can only look on in despair as Road Runner (Google, a.k.a. Hot-rodicus Supersonicus) casually polishes off the platter of bird seed laid as bait. The comparison breaks down a bit at this point, since Yahoo clearly has to be both the pile of Acme brand TNT and the bird seed.

Whatever. The big question now is, what's Wiley planning next? It was only a year ago that its loss of DoubleClick in a fierce bidding war with Google drove Microsoft to hotly pursue a purchase of much larger aQuantive. There is no acquisition target bigger than Yahoo, but many smaller snacks remain on the table -- for instance AOL, Facebook, ValueClick, AdBrite, Tribal Fusion, and Specific Media.

Finally, many believe an eventual acquisition of Yahoo is still very much in the company's plans, and that Yahoo's Google deal has merely bought it time. It's entirely possible regulators will block the relationship on anti-competitive grounds, in which case pressure will mount for Yahoo to return to the negotiating table.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 6, 2008

New Obama Ads Ask for Unity

Our friends over at Media Trust Company spotted a new Obama campaign ad creative on the Web, and it's all about unity. "Let us unite in common effort to achieve our greatest hopes and highest aspirations," declares the display ad. The call to action is the same as always for Obama's online ads: "Join Us."

Media Trust saw the ads on sites including Parenting.com, MSN.com, NYTimes.com, Politico.com, and Kentucky.com.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 5, 2008

Ford and Microsoft Sync Up for Viral Roadtripping

Microsoft has teamed with Ford for a highly experiential, super soft-sell microsite around Microsoft SYNC.

SYNC is a voice-actived gizmo for your car that's kind of like an iPod crossed with a Blackberry: it does music, text, and telephone. Cool, but it's a sell with a high educational curve.

Sync My Music, which lives on MSN, features a game, tons of content and a number of video webisodes about Kim and Seana, two music-obsessed girls, who road-trip across America in a SYNC equipped Ford in their respective quests to become a singer/songwriter (Kim DiVine is the real thing, actually), or to hook up with hot male indie band members.

The game unlocks additional content such as wallpaper and MP3s; the Explore section of the site is a region-by-region guide to the myriad cities the girls visit in their travels. It contains info on local clubs and bands and planning your own road trip. Which may prove difficult, as most of the links are crosswired. Select NYC's hippest bands, for example, and you land on Atlanta's arenas, clubs and cafes.

Oh, well. Given current gas prices, you probably weren't really going to do the roadtrip thing this summer, anyway.

Microsoft wants users to digg, blog and forward the site to a friend. Given the chicks meet popular local indie bands from time to time, the viral has got some real potential. Not just from the fans, but from the bands, who are promoting the heck out of the site on MySpace already.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

June 3, 2008

Obama Targets Ads to South Dakota Primary Voters

Like it has done much of the primary season, Barack Obama's campaign is running display ads targeted to voters in South Dakota today. In the past, similar ads have urged people to vote early or make sure they're registered to vote. The ads suggest they confirm their polling place. (Oh, and let's not forget they tell viewers to "Vote for Barack Obama.")

The Media Trust has spotted these on South Dakota news sites AberdeenNews.com, ArgusLeader.com, KSFY.com, though I'd imagine similar ads are on Montana sites today, too.

Ad image below provided by online ad tracking firm The Media Trust Company.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 28, 2008

Will Microsoft Acquire a Directories Giant?

[UPDATED: Some disagreement in the comments over my use of a Compete chart below, so I've added data from ComScore].

Shares of U.K.-based Yell Group are up on rumors Microsoft has approached the directories publisher about a possible sale. The acquisition, if it came to fruition, would be Microsoft's first merger in the local business and residential look-up arena, and could be interpreted as a play for search share. For instance, Yell's online properties -- including Yell.com in the U.K., YellowBook.com in the U.S., and PaginasAmarillas.es in Spain -- could carry Microsoft Maps and local listings, along with geo-targeted advertising. And Yell's sales force could upsell local marketers on Microsoft's other channels.

Even so, YellowBook.com is hardly the leader in the space, particularly in the U.S.

According to ComScore, YellowBook.com's April traffic pales next to category leaders YellowPages.com (AT&T) and SuperPages.com (Idearc). SuperPages.com is the dominant online yellow pages player with over 30 million unique. However YellowBook.com boasts the highest growth rate, having bean-stalked 156 percent since April 2007 to over 14 million U.S. uniques.

And here's Compete's traffic comparison, which mainly goes to show how utterly hopeless an endeavor independent traffic verification still is.

What a sale to Microsoft would mean for Yell's working environment may be a point of some nervousness for the company's staff. The firm was just awarded a ninth place ranking on the Financial Times' list of the U.K.'s best workplaces.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Ikea's Mobile/Web/Game Ad Hybrid

Ikea is pulling out all the interactive marketing channel stops to promote the opening of its new Brooklyn store. The campaign -- aimed at getting New Yorkers to the new big box retail location in a seldom-visited area -- utilizes e-mail directing recipients to play a game played both online and via mobile device.

The Ikea Brooklyn Get There Giveaway asks viewers to locate boxes hidden on the pathways leading to the store on a map interface built in Ajax. Find and click on boxes containing designated Ikea products and players are given a code they can send via SMS. Each text message is an additional entry into a shopping giveaway.

The game is clever and somewhat engaging -- but it's not really apparent why mobile would come into play here. There's no apparent rhyme or reason in jumping across channels to actually enter the contest. That said, it doesn't unduly burden users, either, given mobile devices are usually within arms' reach.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 20, 2008

Need to Roll Your Own Content? Digitas Brings the Zig Zag Papers

When you think about it, isn't the phrase "branded content" longer than it needs to be? What's the suffix "-ed" contribute, really? And "video," while pleasingly brief, doesn't really cover animation, does it?

The folks at Digitas have solved both linguistic failings with the launch of The Third Act, a new agency described as a "brand content platform" geared toward helping clients produce "motion media" content.

Whatever the verbiage used to describe it, the strategy behind this latest move from Digitas is clear. As clients are compelled to produce ever more original content, especially video content, it behooves the larger agency networks to mobilize their creative resources to serve that purpose.

To that end, The Third Act aims to offer a soup to nuts video services menu, beginning with idea development and extending to production and distribution on various platforms. The Third Act will tap talent from the agency's Boston and Chicago offices, as well as global production resources.

Based in New York, the entity will be helmed by SVP and MD Stephanie Sarofian and report up to global chief creative officer Marc Beeching. Digitas plans to showcase its new baby at a June 5 event in New York called Digital Content NewFront.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 7:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 19, 2008

RecycleBank's Ad Model: What's Not to Love?

RecycleBank may not only be the greenest advertising model out there -- and everyone's jumping onto that band wagon these day -- but one of the most common sense new plays to come down the pike in years.

The program encourages and rewards consumer recycling, saves municipalities money, and creates value for advertisers in the process. Here's how founder and CEO Ron Gonen explains it.

Families are given a free curbside recycling bin equipped with an ID tag. When the bin is picked up by a truck retrofitted with a device to read the tag, the family is allocated points based on the amount they recycle. They can log in online to check the level of their points, then redeem them for coupons from participating advertisers -- Coke was first to sign on. Other local merchants such as Kraft, Petco, Staples and Dunkin' Donuts are also participating in the company's Wilmington, DE pilot program. Basically, these advertisers are rewarding highly loyal consumers who are doing good, and who are feeling pretty good about themselves in the bargain.

Coupons are snail-mailed to consumers, providing advertisers with yet another messaging opportunity. Yes, the company's fully aware a paper-based reward might not be the greenest thing on earth, but in order to get city government on board, they're compelled to offer that option.

RecycleBank makes its money not only from ad revenues, but also from the municipalities that sign onto its program and see significant savings as a result. Disposing of waste costs more than recycling, apparently.

How can you not love a program that's equal measures of smart, green, and win-win?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 14, 2008

IBM Predicts Decline in CPM-Based Ad Sales

In a report titled "The End of Advertising as We Know It", IBM has predicted significant changes for online advertising, forecasting "greater disruption for the advertising industry in the next five years than occurred in the previous 50."

Of the 80 "advertising experts" surveyed, more than half expect open advertising exchanges to take 30 percent of current revenues commanded by traditional media in the next five years.

In addition, two thirds expect 20 percent of ad revenue to move away from impression-based sales, in favor of action-based within three years, says the report.

The report goes on to imply that the balance of power in the ad market may move away from the provider, and towards the consumer, with individuals gaining increased control of how and where they view advertising.

As the report states, "Traditional advertising players - broadcasters, distributors and advertising agencies - may get squeezed unless they can successfully implement consumer, business model and business design innovation."

"Consumers are forcing marketers to experiment and make advertising more compelling, or risk being ignored."

IBM also surveyed more than 2,400 consumers, with results suggesting that the public now spend more time at their PCs than they do in front of their TV sets. More than 70 percent of respondents claimed to use the Internet for more than two hours a day, compared with just 48 percent spending the equivalent time watching TV.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 12, 2008

U.K. Facebook Creatives Branded 'Illegal'

A range of ads promoting credit and loan facilities on Facebook are in fact illegal, according to U.K. debt charity Credit Action.

The charity has said that a number of companies advertising on the social networking site are not providing information on their products that is required to satisfy U.K. advertising laws set out by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

An article on the credit action website reads, "If you've been on Facebook recently, you can't miss the adverts for 'payday loans' and credit cards. What you may not have realised is that many of these ads are breaking the law!"

The offending ads fail to state the annual percentage rate of interest (APR) of the loans being advertised. According to Credit Action, this information must be clearly displayed if the ad offers an incentive or interest-free period, makes comparisons with other lenders' products, or provides services tailored for those with poor credit histories.

Malcolm Hurlston, the charity's chief executive, said that some of the companies are U.S.-based lenders who may not be aware of U.K. advertising rules, but that others are from big-name firms who have been active in this country for some time.

"We must be sure that such creative products concur with existing rules and regulations and offer customers the full protection of the law," he told the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper.

Credit Action has written to the OFT complaining about the ads, but says that users should also report them to Facebook.

Offending companies include Payday U.K., Payday Advance U.K. and My Payday Online.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 9, 2008

Google's Mayer Talks Image Ads in Search

On Bloomberg Radio this week, Google Search exec Marissa Mayer was asked how Google justifies blowing off the $200 million per year the company claims it could make from text ads on its image search results. Her response, "Ads should match the results." She said if Google were to run ads in Image Search, they would likely be image ads. She also said attention would be paid to the relevance, user experience, and types of interaction with image search.

Based on those remarks, Bloomberg posted a follow-up story, "Google May Run Display Advertisements With Image-Search Results," that makes such advertising appear imminent. Then came the blogged headlines: "Google Will Put Display Ads Into Image Searches on Tom's Guide and the speculative "Will Image Ads Bring Google More Money?. Are these publications, and plenty others, jumping to conclusions? Yes.

Listen to the radio interview (I recommend using Explorer, it crashes Firefox) for yourself. Mayer is answering questions rather than offering information about upcoming advertising products.

That said, selling ads on image search results pages would contribute significant revenues to Google. There's interest from advertisers, too. "For advertisers to have a very visual product… could certainly be a great opportunity," said Kevin Lange, director of operations at SMG Search, a division of Starcom MediaVest.

The caveat for image search versus text search: "What is the mindset that goes to image search and searches for 'car,' as opposed to Google.com and searches for 'car.'"

Lange also said Image search is a relatively small user base. ComScore data reports 707 million searches in image search, compared to 8.3 billion searches on all Google sites combined in March. Google received 149.6 billion unique searchers in March, and Google Image Search received 43.7 million uniques.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 8, 2008

IAB: When Is Rich Media Really Rich?

The Interactive Advertising Bureau today released guidelines that would update the definition of rich media as well as revise guidelines for other ad formats. The IAB has asked for comment within the next 30 days before locking down them down.

When asked about the highlights, Marla Nitke, IAB spokeswoman, pointed to the three bullet points in the IAB news release. The highlights are:

*Redefine rich media. It would refer to "advertisements with which users can interact (as opposed to solely animation and excluding click-through functionality) in a web page format," the proposed change reads. Rich media, under the proposal, also includes in-page and in-text digital video ads where the associated content isn't streaming in a player.

*Offer guidance on file weights and animation lengths for both rich and non-rich media online ads.

*Address ad formats such as banners and buttons as well as transitional and various over-the-page units such as floating ads, page take-overs and tear-backs. New units would include a 720x300 pop-under and a 300x100 or 3:1 rectangle.

"These standards aren't bad for creatives. They seem to be an efficiency
for media traffickers. A "one size fits all" standard is great but we
could loose the dynamism that online adverting used to enjoy," Dorian Sweet, creative director/digital strategist, wrote to ClickZ, when asked for his thoughts on the proposed standards.

And this from Deep Focus CEO Ian Schafer: "The only thing that jumps out at me as significant is this: 'Redefine rich media so that ads must be interactive aside from the
ability to click-through in order to be categorized as rich media.'

"I like that. Another reason to talk about ‘engagement’ and its relative metrics, and another reason for all ads to be rich media."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Enliven to Merge with Offline Ad Management Player

One of the more storied vendors in the digital marketing arena, Enliven, has agreed to merge with DG FastChannel, an ad production and creative asset management firm. The combined entity hopes to offer advertisers a single place to create and manage ad assets, especially video.

Enliven offers rich media, mobile and in-game ad products and services. It was originally acquired by Unicast in 2002 and then absorbed into Viewpoint (known for its 3D and hologram digital imaging technology) two years after that. Some time later Viewpoint was rebranded Enliven, after which it promptly dropped out of sight. Or at least out of ClickZ's sight. For the past few years the company has either failed to return our calls or declined to speak with us about its operations.

In any case, Eniliven's capabilities will be added to DG FastChannel's traditional media management suite, which supports national and local broadcast and cable TV, radio, and print. The combined entity will also offer post-production services, a searchable database of TV ads, and Web site development, courtesy of the SpringBox agency brand. Not sure how much "agency" there is behind that "brand," but there you go.

The all-stock transaction values Enliven at approximately $98 million. DG FastChannel previously owned 12 percent of the company.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 7, 2008

Disaster Planning for Online Ad Inventory

Talk about forethought -- or in this case, is it afterthought?

Nola.com, the online presence of New Orleans' Times-Picayune, has -- as the very first paragraph of its online media kit -- the following call-to-action:

ATTENTION Current NOLA.com Advertisers ONLY. Hurricane Advertising Information. Please fill out instructions for your campaign in case of emergency/evacuation. CLICK HERE.

The form on the landing page requests complete contact information, the name of the advertiser's sales rep, and the following menu button choices:

How would you like us to handle your campaign?
- take down
- leave up
- leave up with new creative

Clearly, New Orleans is a city that knows a thing or two about disaster, and Nola.com's on-the-ground coverage of Hurricane Katrina was nothing short of heroic. While Katrina was the worst, it was hardly the first, and sadly will probably not be the last hurricane to wreak havoc on the Crescent City.

New Orleans media isn't the first to face difficulties with advertising in the wake of catastrophe. The New York Times was compelled to publish a special, stand-alone, ad-free print section for a full year of post-9/11 coverage to cope with adjacency issues.

There's a lesson in this for any publisher, namely that disasters happen. And that disaster planning is best undertaken in advance of the actual disaster.

So here's the homework assignment: implement a plan for your ad inventory before a worst-case scenario occurs where you live, work, or publish.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Quote of the Day: Jeff Lanctot

"The most effective agencies must live squarely at the intersection of marketing and technology. They should be sprinting to that intersection. Not just digital agencies, but all agencies. As all media becomes digital, any agency that doesn’t view itself as a technology company should commence reflecting fondly on the good ol’ days. The road ahead is likely to be significantly less fulfilling."

-Jeff Lanctot, SVP of Avenue A | Razorfish Media, writing in his blog.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 2, 2008

Times Online Opens U.S. Sales Office

To help monetize its substantial U.S. readership, Times Online has set up an ad-sales office in New York, reports NMA.co.uk.

The office will work closely with News Corps's recently acquired Wall Street Journal, and offer cross-selling advertising opportunities across both publications in recognition of the demographic overlap of their readerships.

Times Online's digital media publisher Zach Leonard said that behavioural targeting opportunities between the WSJ and Times Online were also being investigated.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2008

The WB Will Not Be Televised

"The next great network will not be televised."

With this, and other grandiose pronouncements, Warner Bros. Television Group unveiled two major new broadband sites, a couple of virtual worlds, and named some of the advertisers that will support the launch.

The WB.com, which comes out of beta in August, will be an online video-on-demand network featuring both library content and original Web productions. "We're in the digital storytelling business," noted Warner Bros. TV Group President Bruce Rosenblum, "and making a significant investment in our digital initiatives."

The company was more tight-lipped about advertising opportunities, but did reveal initial sponsors include Mattell, McDonald's and Johnson & Johnson.

In addition to distrubution partners including Comcast, AOL, Fancast.com, and some mobile carriers, WB created an application on Facebook. All content on the WB site will be available for viewing from within Facebook, and vice-versa: users can peruse Facebook from inside The WB.com.

KidsWB.com is the juvenile version of WB content on the Web. Integrated within the platform are two virtual worlds: Warner Zone, featuring characters from WBs extensive cartoon library, and DC Hero Zone, where Batman and his ilk can be encountered. It goes live sometime next month.

It's interesting to note that "mix, mash, share" is a motto. Give Tweetybird a mohawk, turn the Tasmanian Devil into a tutu-wearing avatar - WB doesn't care. That's massive, considering the proprietary attitude entertainment conglomerates have traditionally taken toward the sanctity of their characters. On the adult site, users will be encourage to re-mix episodes of, say, "Friends," and share them with their own friends.

Are you listening, Mouse?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 5:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 24, 2008

Obama Looks Ahead to North Carolina, Indiana

Barack Obama's camp is wasting no time looking ahead to the North Carolina and Indiana primaries. The campaign has been targeting ads to North Carolina and Indiana Web users for at least a few days now, in the hopes of getting them to register to vote. They're showing up on local TV station and newspaper sites, according to online ad tracking firm The Media Trust Company.

Obama for America already has reached out to voters in Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island with similar online ad messaging. (Still, he lost to Clinton in all four states.)

Some believe registering new voters, who tend to be young, will benefit Obama, which may be why Clinton has stuck to asking for campaign contributions in her more rare display ad efforts.

Thanks to The Media Trust Company for this ad image.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 23, 2008

Online Security Firms Seem Non-Committal about Phorm Blocking

Behavioral ad targeting company Phorm could find its controversial technology automatically blocked by some online security firms.

The BBC reported the likes of Symantec, Trend Micro, and McAfee are "scrutinizing" the ad-system, and could decide to block cookies needed for its operation, should they deem it "adware."
With a vast number of users worldwide using security software on their machines, this could have a devastating effect on Phorm's audience numbers, and ad revenue opportunities as a result.

This is not the first time Phorm has faced issues over security. In its previous incarnation as 121 media, a piece of software it was responsible for titled PeopleOnPage was considered by some to be spyware, a fact that is unlikely to help the company's reputation.

Being objective however, isn't the role of online security firms to do exactly that: identify and monitor potential security risks?

A statement from a Symantec spokesperson in the BBC story seemed non-committal: "At this point we are assessing the full implications of this technology and how it fits into the established criteria we use for categorising and classifying new technologies such as Phorm's."

Similarly, Greg Day, security analyst at McAfee, is reported to have said, "At this point we have not rushed to give it a classification."
According to Phorm, its relationship with security companies is one of complete cooperation. Radha Burgess, marketing and communications director said, "We are currently in the process of talking with security firms, and taking them through the system in order to evaluate it properly."

Ultimately, therefore, it appears security firms are avoiding jumping to conclusions, and will continue to monitor and evaluate the system, classifying it as and when they deem necessary.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What Time Is It in the Cloud?

These days, my head is in the cloud.

More and more companies are rolling out cloud computing solutions and applications. On the consumer level, it's getting easier and easier for documents, spreadsheets, e-mail, calendars, presentations, you name it, to live in the ether somewhere above the hard drive, always on and always accessible.

Way cool, and an emerging opportunity for advertisers and marketers to push relevant, contextual messages to cloud computing users.

But what time is it in the cloud? I'm wondering this as I shuttle between the East and West coasts, wielding a battery of BlackBerry, mobile phone, and the laptop I'm using to access the book I'm writing entirely on Google Docs (not a word of the manuscript is on my hard drive).

Some of these devices are set to the time zone I'm actually in, others are set to the one I live in. So how's an advertiser to know what's relevant messaging? Should an ad be pushed for a business or service in Sonoma (where I'm speaking today), or New York (where I live?). Does the cloud know if I'm working at lunchtime or at dinnertime?

Geo- and daypart targeting has long been used in traditional as well as interactive marketing. When life literally shifts to online -- as users move into the cloud -- how will this element of targeting be achieved?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 22, 2008

Warming up to Earth Day

Whether you're worried about global warming or rising fuel costs, Earth Day has gained a new generation of supporters. Started in 1970 as a grassroots movement to promote environmental conservation, Earth Day years later took a back seat to gas guzzling SUVs.

Fast forward to 2008. Even Chevy Tahoe is promoting its hybrid model at AOL.com today.

And, organizations buying the keywords, "Earth Day," on Google today included TCP Inc., the maker of compact fluorescent lights, and Ashworth University, which is promoting courses in conservation.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

NBC Expects $1B from Digital Properties in '08

George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer for NBC Universal, said the company's digital properties are on track to generate $1 billion in revenue this year, up 40 percent from 2007.

Speaking this morning at ad:tech SF, Kliavkoff said "a lot" comes from ad sales, though a portion represents theme park and other ticket sales. Operating profit is increasing 50 percent, year over year, he said.

On another front, Kliavkoff praised Google's YouTube for becoming more aggressive about removing pirated NBC content from the video site. "It's significantly less than a couple months ago," he said.

Digital represents a small slice of NBC Universal's $15.4 billion revenue in 2007, but its growth, nonetheless, would be significant if other advertising and revenues on broadcast or cable properties were to decline or level off. (Kliavkoff gave no indication that would occur, though.)

In an interviewed with Adam Lashinsky, senior writer for "Fortune,"
Kliavkoff spent a chunk of time talking about Hulu, the NBC Universal-News Corp. joint venture for a premium video portal. The ad sales teams at NBC Universal and News Corp., he said, have the first right to sell inventory on Hulu or distribution sites a couple months in advance of the Hulu sales team. When that occurs, Hulu gets the same revenue split -- without the cost of sale.

About a month ago, consumers were given two options for viewing advertisements on Hulu, according to Kliavkoff. People can opt to see either one movie trailer before a program, or five :15 spots.

At one point, Lashinsky asked Kliavkoff what it was like to yank NBC programming from Apple's iTunes. Kliavkoff suggested "yanked" was a loaded word. Lashinsky, with humor, fired back: "How did it feel to give Steve Jobs the finger?"

Speaking like the lawyer that he is, Kliavkoff said it was inappropriate for him to discuss a matter involving a distribution partner -- and added that NBC has a film distribution deal with Apples iTunes. He declined to discuss details, though, including the revenue-sharing arrangement.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 1:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 15, 2008

Google TV Ads: General Release Confirmed for Next Few Weeks

Don't look now Ma, but your favorite soap's about to run its first ad for DogShoes.com.

Google has confirmed it will soon offer its TV Ads program, in trial mode since it launched a year ago, to all U.S. advertisers. In the next few weeks, AdWords customers large and small will be offered a shot at the broadcast glitz, complete with production referrals for those lacking TV-ready video assets.

The move indicates the company has resolved the volume issues that hobbled the program during its first months. As of late August 2007, just 50 clients had tested the system and the minimum spend was a modest (for TV) $10,000 a month, according to a source.

"Over the past months, our partnerships with DISH network and Astound Cable have scaled and we are pleased to expand our Google TV Ads program to more U.S. advertisers," the company said in a statement.

A story yesterday in Multichannel News had some additional details sourced to Keval Desai, Google product lead for the TV initiative. Desai told the pub advertisers including Lenovo and Priceline.com had placed ads through the system. “We serve millions of impressions daily," he reportedly added.

Desai was unavailable to comment today. Google would only add that it believes the wider advertiser launch "will ultimately lead to better, more relevant ads on television."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

Take That, Victoria's Secret!

While downmarket Victoria's Secret fusses its advertising might be "too sexy," the much tonier lingerie purveyor Agent Provocateur "wears its carnal appeal like a badge of honor."

In tandem with Story Worldwide, the brand just added an "online party" to its Web site that will be updated as different stages of the 2008 collection are rolled out.

In addition to more or less of safe-for-work videos (depends on where you work, I suppose), visitors can drag garments that catch their eye off the models and into an individual cloakroom (read: shopping list). Some visitors will doubtless be disappointed that this action does not, in fact, actually remove the garments from the models. They remain fully lingerie'd.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 10, 2008

Euro RSCG Creating Creative Commune

Jeff Brooks, who heads Euro RSCG's New York presence, is on a mission not only to un-silo digital from the agencies other operations, but to put digital "at the heart" of every activity and client engagement.

To this end, he's planning to remodel the shop's sizeable New York offices with the goal of putting all the creatives -- from digital to direct to broadcast and print -- on the same floor to foster (or force?) collaboration and interaction.

"There are going to be fights," he admits. "Then they're going to laugh, make up and go out for drinks and dinner together."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ad Vets Pereira and O'Dell Take a Non-Different Approach

-post written by Fred Aun.

Tired of trying to be different?

Marketing and branding experts the world over are spending endless hours trying to help their clients differentiate themselves from their competitors.

Well, ad industry veterans P.J. Pereira and Andrew O'Dell, in announcing the formation of a new agency called Pereira & O'Dell, not only eschewed witty creativity in naming the agency but also said "fugetaboutit" when it came to the Holy Grail quest for differentiation.

"Pereira & O'Dell is being built more on excitement than differentiation," said co-founder Pereira in a statement announcing the new agency. "A lot of great agencies focus so much on being different from each other, on specializations and new business models, that they spend more energy on becoming efficient technique-wise rather than inspiring."

So what we have here is something rather different: An agency that's being different by saying it's not trying to be different.

"We're not obsessed with becoming the next revolution; we just want to do things as they should be done today, mixing new and old techniques without any assumptions or prejudice," added Pereira.

The new company, based in San Francisco, also announced that LEGO Systems and PONY are among its first clients. It is starting out with a team of 15 full-timers and some per-project specialists.

Pereira & O'Dell has secured $30 million from ABC International "to support growth initiatives."

For the past three years, Pereira, 34, and O'Dell, 38, worked at AKQA. Pereira was executive creative director and O'Dell was president.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 8, 2008

Scripps Shoots for "Total Category Dominance"

Dropped in on the Scripps Networks upfront this morning. Deanna Brown, who's been president of its Interactive Group for the past year, has set the rather ambitious goal of "total category dominance" for the group's five cable properties: HGTV, Food Network, DIY, Fine Living, and GAC.

To achieve that goal, Brown is focusing on what she told advertisers is "new" new media, i.e. mobile and social channels. Given the predominance of contests, shopping lists and other participatory programming on the stations, Scripps is particularly well postioned to leverage social media and has already done so with successful initiatives such as Blog Cabin.

Chatting afterwards, Brown told me that what she's really concentrating on over the next few months is an extensive rebuild of Scripps' backend, particularly the CMS, to bring more Web 2.0 functionality to the networks' numerous sites. "After eight years of the same CMS, it's time for a change," she said.

Users won't see a difference, but will be able to use the sites differently and in deeper, more engaging ways. Methinks this is an issue many media companies are going to have to address -- and invest in -- to remain competitive, retain audience and attract advertisers.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 4, 2008

Behavioral Ads on Meth: More Info on U.S. ISP Practices

The Washington Post has some new information on the scope of ISP behavior tracking in the U.S. According to its story this morning, ad vendor Front Porch claims it's already observing and targeting ads to 100,000 U.S. broadband subscribers through secretive partnerships with its ISP partners. NebuAd meanwhile said it has deals that cover 10 percent of U.S. customers.

The relatively new method for behavioral targeting works by sniffing data packets on virtually all of a consumer's online activities (and anonymizing those packets, the companies involved will be quick to tell you). Ads are then served to consumers through cut-rate remnant network inventory. ISPs and their vendors only buy impressions where the IP address of the user matches up to its subscriber database.

Two ISPs, Wide Open West and Embarq, have modified their terms of service to permit the activity, and WOW named NebuAd as a partner, according to the WaPo story.

Reaction of the U.S. public and press to such activities has been muted in the U.S. The U.K. is a different story. There newspapers and public interest groups have loudly protested the development. A dedicated protest site was created at badphorm.co.uk, and a Web page has been set up to petition the Prime Minister to scrutinize the practices.

Our earlier coverage:
-ISPs Collect User Data for Behavioral Ad Targeting
-Questions for Bob Dykes, NebuAd CEO

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 31, 2008

Hello Awareness, Goodby Brand Equity

You know it's a lucky day when you wind up sharing your lunch table with Ted McConnell, Procter & Gamble's hypersmart manager of interactive marketing and innovation.

What's been on Ted's mind recently? Brands that advertise on social networks. He believe these marketers are looking at short-term metrics to their longer-term detriment. Awareness is spiking for these advertisers, but at the expense of brand equity down the road. Users overwhelmingly regard social network ads as unnecessary and intrusive.

Short term wins. Long term problems. When someone of Ted's stature raises this as an issue, Facebook, MySpace and their ilk would do well to prick up their ears.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 28, 2008

Bad Credit, Good Creative?

Guess it's a sign of the times.

This Orchard Bank MasterCard ad turned up on AOL.com.

Don't forget the small print, either. The bank didn't here.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Automotive Web Ads: GM Is Tops in Reach, Toyota Plays Frequency Game

GM, Toyota and Honda were the heaviest online advertisers among auto companies in January, according to some new data from comScore Ad Metrix. GM delivered approximately 1.7 billion impressions, while Toyota placed 1.4 billion and Ford bought 11.3 billion.

However the data tell a different story when examined in terms of frequency and targeting. Toyota scored the highest number of ads per person -- 22 per individual in January, comScore says, compared with 16 for GM and 11 for Ford. The heavy concentration of impressions probably has something to do with the auto maker's online marketing strategy for its Scion brand, which is focused heavily on the "urban" segment (i.e. black and hispanic youth). Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Prius and Toyota's other hybrid/fuel economy advertising was aimed at fans of TreeHugger.com and other environment and cause-related content.

Speaking of Toyota and digital marketing, have you seen the Scion Speak "create your own crest" experience? Ranks right up there with the smoothest and prettiest site interfaces I've played with in recent memory. The "navigation wheel" concept sure is favored by experience designers. See R/GA's recent work for Sunglass Hut.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 27, 2008

dotMobi Hearts Mobile Web

The non-profit dotMobi Advisory Group (MAG) is taking over the ilovemobileweb campaign launched last year by Bango, thereby bringing together over 125 companies to support and foster the initiative.

The stated campaign aims are to:

· Raise awareness of the mobile Web with consumers around the world
· Encourage open access to the mobile Web for every user
· Provide consumers with choice of content and services
· Provide easy pathways for fixed Internet publishers to move to mobile
· More standardization of devices and development platforms

Interested organizations are invited to join the initiative -- gratis -- via the e-mail link on the ilovemobileweb Web site.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 26, 2008

Guardian Says 'No Thanks' to Phorm

Phorm recently partnered with a three leading U.K. ISPs, and has been working hard to allay privacy concerns stemming from its use of IP-based targeting technology.

In what could portent a blow to the companies attempt to make inroads into the British advertising marketing, Guardian News & Media has just politely said thanks, but no thanks to the prospect of working with Phorm's OIX advertising exchange.

"Our decision was in no small part down to the conversations we had internally about how this product sits with the values of our company," Simon Philby, the Guardian's advertising manager, is reported to have written in an e-mail to a concerned reader.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 24, 2008

Another Big Publisher Ditches Ad Networks

Earlier this year I wrote about Gawker's abstinence policy with regard to ad networks. "We feel there absolutely is value in not wasting our readers' attention on cheap, ugly advertisements... and maybe some good karma too," Gawker sales head Chris Batty told me at the time.

Now another major publisher is following suit. ESPN has decided to sever ties with ad networks and exchanges, according to a story in MediaWeek this morning.

Both Gawker and ESPN have expressed hope other publishers will follow suit. It's a great sales move, since it sends a message of love to brand advertisers and appears to take a stand against the math-driven approaches to ad targeting being championed by the major Web companies. But don't look for a general publisher rebellion against networks. Abstinence may work for sites representing a potent media brand in a narrow category (like ESPN), or for networks independently run on a shoestring (like Gawker). But dozens of others are deeply reliant on the incremental revenue offered by arbitrage and algorithms.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Could Behavioral Targeting Work for Pharma?

At last week's EconHealth conference there was much talk about privacy issues, how the pharma and medical/health industry needs a major overhaul, and about emerging models for presenting health information and discussion online. There was a lot less talk about how to monetize that content, i.e. "The Economics of Health Media."

Still, a couple points were made regarding the money end of things, including advertising.

Steve Case, chairman and CEO of Revolution, which runs health info site Revolution Health, made a couple grandiose prognostications, including one about how the amount of money spent by pharma companies on Web ads will go from 5 percent to 50 percent in the next five or ten years.

More wishful thinking: The recession might help. "If some of these major companies come under some pressure, it's going to force some people out of their comfort zone….I think there will be an acceleration" of spending online, said the former AOL CEO.

Panelists reminded the audience multiple times that, like it will for sharing health information online, it took a long time for consumers to be comfortable with online banking. But this was something we've all heard umpteen times. Where was the conversation about the dollars and cents, the advertising? One question did percolate as I wondered, so I asked it during a panel on "Emerging Models: HealthContent & Web 2.0." (Note: No conference is complete without a panel whose title features the term Web 2.0 and/or social media. Also, collapsing two words into one suggests hipness.)

The question: Considering the privacy implications, will pharma advertisers ever use behavioral targeting? Raj Amin, CEO of Health video network HealthNation didn't rule out the possibility of pharma advertisers using behavioral targeting, despite the fact that people may not appreciate being targeted with ads based on interaction with content about a specific disease or condition. Still, he stressed contextual targeting raises fewer if any of concerns.

"Contextual doesn't send up the same kind of flags," he said. "Sure there's an opportunity" to explore use of behavioral targeting, he continued. "But it needs to be done in a way that's acceptable to consumers."

Posted by Kate Kaye at 9:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 20, 2008

AdBrite Opens Up to Other Ad Networks

AdBrite has cut deals with numerous ad networks, allowing them to sell inventory into its auction-based marketplace for mostly small to mid-sized sites. A dozen networks including Advertising.com, Burst Media, AdPepper Media, PrecisionClick and CPX Interactive are now trafficking ads with AdBrite, the company said.

AdBrite has worked with ad networks as part of a pilot program since fall 2007, a year after it embraced greater transparency into its audience stats and inventory avails. It was then, fourteen months before Facebook introduced a nifty audience configuration tool for marketers as part of its Social Ads program, that AdBrite created its interface letting media buyers plug in audience characteristics and immediately generate a count of available inventory.

It's all very exchange-like. Indeed, the new ad networks policy shows how tenuous is the distinction between ad networks and exchanges. An exchange is fundamentally an ad network that lets anyone -- including other networks -- trade inventory into an auction marketplace, finds the optimal pairing of advertiser and publisher, and charges fees rather than a percentage of sale. Like so many developments in the display ad arena these days, AdBrite's move takes the display ad business a step closer to that day when every unit of remnant inventory will be offered on the spot to every available buyer before connecting with the optimal creative execution.

AdBrite is the Internet's 17th ranked ad network (comScore, February 2008), reaching approximately 82 million monthly unique users last month. Comscore ranks the network fourth in page views however, with 25 million in December, roughly the same as ValueClick.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 17, 2008

DoubleClick Acknowledges Widget Ads, Will Support Them

There used to be a running joke at DoubleClick that the company should hire a VP of widget technology. "It'd be a short-lived career," VP of Advertiser Products Ari Paparo told me in an interview last August. He uttered the somewhat mocking remark by way of acknowledging that ever more advertisers were asking for widget capabilities.

Six months later DoubleClick is giving them what they want. The Google-owned firm today announced support for widget (i.e. "embeddable") ads. The function will reside within DART for Advertisers, where agencies will be able to easily add "virality" to their rich media campaigns.

Gigya is supporting the ad sharing component through its Wildfire technology, which can process widget installs on 50 social media platforms, including social networks, blogs and bookmarking services.

The main value DoubleClick can bring to the widget advertising phenomenon is standardized reporting. DFA customers will be able to obtain metrics on the number of impressions, interactions, viral “grabs” for each of the social networks. That may eventually help marketers gauge the conversion impact of all that viral sharing.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 13, 2008

WSJ.com Sponsored by ING Today

I just noticed WSJ.com is free today, sponsored by ING. Initial entry into the site is met with a roadblock ad, while this homepage unit links to WSJ's site subscription sign up.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 12, 2008

U.K. ISP Will Require Users to Opt-In to Phorm’s Ad-Targeting System

U.K. Internet Service Provider Talk Talk, one of the launch partners for behavioural ad-targeting company Phorm, will require its customers to opt-in to participate in Phorm’s controversial new Webwise system.

Speaking with ClickZ News today, a Talk Talk spokesperson said "We believe in offering our customers a choice, and as a default they will be opted out of the system. Nobody will become a part of this that does not want to."

The spokesperson added that Talk Talk would be encouraging its users to opt-in; adding the ISP is "completely satisfied that [the Webwise system] offers customers benefits, both in more targeted advertising and in security."

It’s hardly surprising that the ISPs like Talk Talk will recommend their users signing up for the targeting, since they're the ones that will be pocketing the revenue share.

Phorm states that the advantage for the consumer is in its anti-phishing alerts, which are built into Webwise alongside the ad targeting. However, anti-phishing protection is now already included in the majority of Web browsers.

Ultimately therefore, the success of Phorm appears to hang on whether or not users want to receive targeted advertising. If ISPs choose to introduce the platform as opt-in, it's difficult to see why users would actively do so without more of an incentive.

When you factor in the recent privacy concerns surrounding Phorm's technology, it will be interesting to see just how many Talk Talk users do in fact opt-in over the next few months.

The spokesperson said that deployment of Phorm technology in the Talk Talk network was still "a long way off."

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 3, 2008

The Knot Aims for Ad Bump in Bump Acquisition

Post written by Fred Aun.

If they don't want Grandma to frown, couples are supposed to tie the knot, meaning get married, before the woman gets a bump, meaning a baby.

Granny, therefore, would appreciate the fact that it was The Knot that just acquired The Bump instead of it being the other way around.

The Knot, publishes wedding resources Web site TheKnot.com. It also owns WeddingChannel.com, lifestyle Web site TheNest.com and baby-focused TheNestBaby.com.

The Bump is a magazine and Web site, published by Bump Media, Inc. that is focused on pregnancy and new parents. The magazine is distributed in OB/GYN offices.

That's one of big reasons the gang at The Knot was interested in the deal, said CEO David Liu in a statement.

“There is a significant barrier of entry to distributing materials through OB/GYN offices," he said. "The Bump’s already established relationship with this trusted resource lends credibility to the brand and a unique ability to connect with this consumer at their earliest stage of pregnancy.”

It all should be good news for The Knot's baby and maternity product advertisers who desperately want to reach moms, and moms-to-be, as they wait uncomfortably in those pastel painted doctor offices.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Even Obama Video Ads Stand for Change

The big Texas and Ohio aimed video billboard effort from Barack Obama's campaign has evolved. At its start, it featured copy urging people to vote early in the two states; now that the early voting period has ended, the ads are simply urging people to vote and suggesting they click through to find their local polling place.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 29, 2008

ComScore Weighs in on Google Click Volume Debacle Sparked by Its Data

Earlier this week, when comScore set off a GOOG selling frenzy on Wall Steet with data showing click rate growth had flattened, I called the research firm for comment but to no avail. Amazing what 48 hours can bring. After a continued outcry, comScore has now issued a lengthy statement with additional data and charts (previously unavailable to non-clients) arguing, basically, that everyone should just calm down. Here's the money quote:

While we do not claim that these concerns are unwarranted, we believe a careful analysis of our search data does not lend them direct support. More specifically, the evidence suggests that the softness in Google’s paid click metrics is primarily a result of Google’s own quality initiatives that result in a reduction in the number of paid listings and, therefore, the opportunity for paid clicks to occur.

ComScore also shared the following chart, which demonstrates that click rates declined for much of last year, long before economic fears began bleeding into the nation's collective consciousness. It also shows how ad coverage, defined as the percentage of queries that display at least one ad, has declined roughly in parallel to click volume growth.

So you see, comScore says, Google is pumping fewer ads to its users and receiving fewer clicks in return. ComScore theorizes that reduction will be counterbalanced by an increase in revenue per query under the click quality initiative

On a separate but related note, agency heavy SearchIgnite has said it's seen none of the click volume declines described by comScore data, nor revenue shortfalls either. The agency, which claims to represent $200 million in search spending, said ad impressions for the first six weeks of 2008 were up 79.5 percent year over year, while paid clicks were up 47.2 percent. Additionally, ad spending on Google grew by 40.1 percent among the same group of clients (In other words the data doesn't include new business).

SearchIgnite's research should not be considered representative of the search industry at large, as it's just one agency with a defined group of clients who all share one thing in common: they follow SearchIgnite's advice. But then, can comScore's data be treated as really representative of consumers' click behaviors? After all, the company was seriously challenged by the IAB last year, and publishers of all stripes love to take potshots at its audience and traffic estimates.

My take continues to be that while the click rate fall-off is not necessarily the result of a lack of consumer confidence, a lack of confidence is bound to result in a reduction in click volume. More succinctly: No, Google's not insulated from a recession and no, comScore's findings are not (necessarily) a bad sign.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

Google's Declining Click Volume: Theories

So you've probably already read about the comScore data published yesterday suggesting Google's paid clicks are no longer growing as fast as they once were.

The measurement firm believes paid clicks in October were up 37 percent over the year ago period, a distinguished growth rate, but that they fell precipitously from there. It estimates they grew 27 percent in November, 12 percent in December, and were flat in January. Further, its said the volume of clicks actually declined sequentially last month, from December to January. Sequential data is less valid than year-over-year, especially between Q4 and Q1, but this is still worth noting since we're talking about the heretofore-invincible Big G.

Still, the finding shouldn't come as a shock. Google said itself, during its Jan. 31 earnings call, that clicks are no longer growing as fast as they once did. The company's explanations for the anemic growth center on an ongoing effort to improve click quality by reducing the number of ads on its sites and its network. Example: On AdSense for Content, Google has shrunk the clickable area around ads to reduce accidental clicks. It also seems to have further restricted search keyword bidding on generic and low-converting terms, for instance "baseball." (Ably explained by Greg Yardley here.)

Investors aren't buying it however and have pummeled the company's stock since close of business yesterday. Further, many news and blog reports seem to be assuming macro-economic conditions are the principle force behind the click declines.

There are two main recession arguments. The first is that small to mid-sized advertisers are scaling back their search spend. The Wall Street Journal today quoted a Majestic Research analyst to this effect. The analyst said the SMB fall-off had been happening for the past four to five months. If so, that's a huge development but I honestly don't buy it. During the Q4 earnings call, CEO Schmidt said rather vehemently the company has picked up no hints of a macro-economic slowdown in its advertisers' spending activity; and a decline in small businesses would certainly qualify as such a hint -- a hairy, ugly one at that. "I'm happy to say that we have not yet seen any negative impact from the rumors of future recessions," he told investors. "We'll see what happens."

The second, more convincing economic explanation is that consumers are holing up for the coming (perceived) recession and conducting fewer shopping related searches as a result. Fewer people in the purchase funnel equal fewer ad clicks, plain and simple. What categories get hit? Travel, new car buying, consumer electronics. Entertainment and CPG, maybe not so much.

While I buy that argument, I’m not sure it's happening yet. Hitwise offered a dissenting data point to comScore's report, finding Google's downstream traffic to retail sites in January increased year over year, the opposite of what you'd expect based on comScore's numbers.

A further point that must be mentioned is that comScore's data is not infallible. Anyone shorting the company's stock based on the findings of one measurement firm -- a firm frequently contested by major publishers, I might add -- would likely be making a mistake.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 26, 2008

Quote of the Day: Microsoft/Atlas "Engagement Mapping"

"The cynic in me isn’t surprised that Microsoft’s got a long line of agencies waiting to test this stuff, since it justifies spending more money on ads with crap click-through and conversion rates even when the real purchases are coming from a keyword buy on a competitor’s search engine [keywords]. But the basic argument -- some people see an ad and then decide to act later -- seems sound. I just don’t know what proportion of users do this, vs. the ones that just didn’t notice the earlier ads. After all, if you know a user’s browser loaded four of your banners without results, but then the user clicked on a fifth, you still don’t know much."

-Greg Yardley, writing on his blog about Engagement Mapping, Microsoft's new approach to gauging impact and optimizing spend for ad impressions across search and display ads. (See ClickZ's earlier coverage.)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

Ultramercial: We Do Engagement Pricing Too!

In the wake of our coverage of VideoEgg's new "per engagement" pricing strategy, I heard from an old school engagement player: Ultramercial.

In an e-mail, company rep Lori Jones pointed out that every person who sees Ultramercial's "Day Pass" interstitial unit "engages" with the ad, and she indicated it charges CPMs of $50 and up for its publishers.

"If the 75 cents cost-per-engagement quoted by VideoEgg is accurate they’re going to do very well," she wrote. "As a comparison, Ultramercial charges our advertisers on a CPM basis for our full-screen premium access ad. This works out to be about 5 cents to 25 cents per engagement, which lasts on average 50 seconds."

For the uninitiated, Ultramercial's trademarked unit lets publishers like Salon and TheStreet offer ordinarily paid content for free by requiring site visitors to click through the ad experience. Just a reminder that some ad formats are inherently sold on engagement.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 20, 2008

Defining and Measuring Engagement

Digital advertising, marketing, and publishing executives today deliberated over what "engagement" means for their business and clients. And no one agreed on one way to define, measure, and extract value from online engagement.

"Engagement is a concept we're still defining," said Jean-Philippe Maheu, CDO of Oglivy North America. It includes, he said, creation and distribution of great stories and determining how to best get brand influencers and advocates to work with a brand.

Nada Stirratt, MTV Networks's EVP, digital advertising, said engagement represents developing the right programming that consumers will invest in. "Whether that's someone watching [TV] on the air, going online, creating an avatar, playing a game, creating a community, or texting in on a cell phone," she said.

These executives were among 18 who spoke during a three-hour "Engagement Debate" at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York Times Square. VideoEgg presented the event, which coincided with the company's launch of its new "per engagement" pricing model on its video advertising network.

Ian Schafer, Deep Focus chief executive, likened engagement to initatives to build brand loyalty, rather than to promote a direct response, such as an online purchase.

During a discussion on how to measure engagement, Erin Matts, group director, strategy, at OMD, said metrics vary depending on a brand's objective. In order to establish some standardization and faciltate future planning, Matts tries to work, when possible, from comScore metrics such minutes per day on a media property.

Benjamin Ezrick,Ogilvy Interactive's senior strategist, digital innovation, argued that Google has already defined and measured engagement: the click. "Right now, that's the best monetization of engagement," he said. "That's the standard."

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Tale of Two (Three Actually) Behavioral Ad Standards Projects

There's a ton of action right now around behavioral targeting standards. Here's a recap of what's in process:

Revenue Science is busy planning its next move for the behavioral targeting standards project it proposed earlier this month. The company was set to meet yesterday to determine who it will ask to be on the coalition's board. However, the project has been dealt an early blow in that largest behavioral ad network Tacoda has said it won't be involved. No surprise there.

Meanwhile, the IAB is formalizing its own behavioral targeting guidelines document, which it will make public by month's end. The IAB's standards likely won't try to establish common vocabulary and procedures (the main issues Revenue Science is taking on), but rather will focus on privacy and disclosure. The organization doesn't have a long history stumping for behavioral targeting standards, but it's trying to be more vocal as publishers feel a more urgent need to restore the health of IAB standard display advertising. The consensus now is that better targeting, including behavioral targeting, is pretty much the only thing that can reverse the never-ending declines in banner ad effectiveness -- in terms of both direct response and branding metrics. In another sign of its eagerness to project thought leadership in behavioral targeting, the IAB had a presence at the FTC Town Hall on the subject back in November.

The two standards movements come as the FTC begins a process of creating a self-regulation standard for behavioral targeting. It unveiled is proposed document back in December, and a comment period for the suggested rules will last until April.

On a side note, would someone please come up with a better name for behavioral targeting? It's fine by itself but whenever I'm forced to write about it with descriptors attached, as with Revenue Science's "behavioral targeting standards coalition," the resulting sentences are enough to put Dave Morgan himself into a deep coma. Possibilities: something corny like "yester-targeting" or something blunt like "past targeting," or maybe a word with a pop culture reference, like "I Know What You Did Last Web Site... targeting." Naturally, I'm open to suggestions.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

NYC Gov Valentine: Condom Ad Campaign

New York City's Health Department launched a new campaign on Valentine's Day to promote safe sex. The city released an ad campaign and a new design on the packaging and dispensers of the condoms it distributes free throughout the city. The tagline for the campaign is "NYC Condoms: Get Some!" Ads are planned for TV, radio, and print, with nyc.gov/condoms serving as the a central point of the campaign.

While the short video created for this purpose targets diverse groups with hip hop, Latin, and Jazz music runs only about 10 seconds, it's not said to be planned for the Web. It's the perfect length for the web, and there are plenty of sites serving the New York city area that could be utilized. First there's government sites, then city papers and other local and targeted sites. It's possible the ad units will make their way to the Web either on video sharing sites or as actual ad units once the campaign rolls out.

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 12, 2008

Virgin Atlantic Launches "Love From Above"

Virgin Atlantic Airways' just-launched American campaign, Love From Above continues the real-speak whimsy that is a hallmark of the Virgin brand. It poses questions to travelers such as, "Shouldn’t a seat recharge more than your laptop?”

Developed by agency-of-record McKinney, the campaign is notable for a substantial mobile component. Virgin's first WAP site, http://LoveFromAbove.mobi, aimed at fliers in and out of New York and Chicago, passes along info on complimentary taxi rides in wrapped London cabs, British pub events, and free movie passes. A Valentine’s Day surprise is promised to top off the launch.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 11:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 11, 2008

Amazon Explores Shopping Search Engine Features

Last Wednesday Amazon quietly added a third option to advertise via its site. In addition to online advertising, and offline inserts placed in customer's delivery boxes, the company is now offering Amazon Product Ads as a cost-per-click system. Merchants will be able to list their own products and consumers will be brought directly to their stores instead of Amazon's.

So instead of directly selling an affiliates products or services, the company is willing to capitalize on its audience to provide merchants with greater reach. Considering Google's encroachment on the shopping search engine space, it has to look like Amazon is keen to shore up its product search defenses.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 2:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Redken's Shade-y Integrated Campaign

Redken just launched a large scale integrated campaign for its Shades EQ hair color line, featuring stylists, colorists, and eventually, consumers in the print and online components.

A centerpiece is the video rich DoYouShadesEQ.com microsite, featuring hair color tips and tricks from experts. Hair colorists are invited to submit videos of themselves talking about the product -- a winning entry scores a trip to New York and a role in a future video spot and a photo shoot for the print campaign.

Offline, the campaign includes a 24-page supplement in industry trade "American Salon." In addition, the print component will highlight a colorists each month in that publication for the remainder of the year. Consumer print ads are also promised by the company.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Reuters to Sell The Guardian's Online U.S Ad Inventory

This post was written by Jack Marshall

British newspaper The Guardian has signed a deal with Reuters to sell its U.S.-aimed online ads. Previously, The Guardian's U.S. online inventory had been handled by the Valueclick network.

The Guardian Web site currently receives over 18 million unique monthly users, five million of which are U.S. based according to the Guardian.

Ads will be sold alongside Reuters.com, and the recently launched Reuters Affiliate Network, a collection of news sites and blogs that target a business audience. Quoted in the Guardian today, Tom Turcan, General Manager at Guardian News and Media Digital said the deal was the "first big commercial step in a continuation of the Guardian's ambition to become a global brand." He added the agreement would also allow for better ad targeting.

The move continues The Guardian's pursuit of the U.S. market, following the launch of GuardianAmerica.com in October last year.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WPP Acquires Stake Web Analytics firm NuConomy

WPP announced today that it has acquired a stake in Israeli Web analytics company NuConomy, although it would not reveal how big a stake it has or how much it was worth.

The NuConomy platform appears to be in beta, judging from the company's Web site, but claims to "measure consumers' engagement and interaction with content, while giving advertisers actionable insight into the audience they engage with."

The acquisition follows a handful of recent WPP investments in digital media firms, including Integrated Media Measurement Inc., VideoEgg, SpotRunner and Dutch interactive agency LaCommunidad. Rumors that it would make a move to acquire the outstanding share of SpotRunner have been circulating for months, with no new developments.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Chitika Injects Video, Social to Ads

Chitika’s progression from its mini-mall and Facebook API ad unit concepts to the next level with a user-initiated video ad unit that has tabs for users to scroll through social features such as leaving comments, ratings, and sending the ad to a friend. It helps that the example is cute USB flash drives by mimoco. The ones that look like kubrick block-style figures. The product is attractive, the video well produced, but will advertisers buy the unit?

Posted by Enid Burns at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 8, 2008

Romney Campaign Took Chances in Online Ad Strategy

Mitt Romney may be out of the Republican presidential nomination race, but let's not forget his campaign did some innovative stuff when it came to online ads. In addition to running the most display ads of any campaign in 2007 -- about 100 million impressions, according to Nielsen Online AdRelevance, the campaign was among the first to use Web ads for persuasion purposes.

This may not seem like a big deal, but the reality is when political ad consultants and campaign staffers think of online ads, they think fundraising and database or list building. Those are the two main goals of online political ads. Don't get me wrong, they seem to work well for these purposes, plus they provide straight forward metrics for measuring ROI: how much money did we rake in or how many names did we add compared to how much was spent?

But ask most people involved with the interactive aspect of campaigns and they'll say Web ads don't work for persuasion purposes. Romney for President ran some of the only persuasion-oriented ads we've seen this election season.

In December, the campaign ran ads promoting the former Massachusetts Governor's "clear vision of change for America," and mirrored the "Romney knows how to run a business" message the campaign focused on in other media. The ad told voters, "He did it in business, the Olympics, and in Massachusetts and He can do it in Washington." Other ad creative presented components of Romney's platform: "Republicans Have to Get Our Own House in Order. Stop wasteful spending. Secure the borders. Insist on high ethical standards."

The campaign was also the first (to my knowledge) to use the video overlay format. Oh, and it was probably the first Republican campaign to run ads on Gay.com (however unwittingly)....

Interestingly, the news of that faux pas led me to further investigate the information I'd been using throughout the year (and previous years) for much of the Campaign '08 coverage; that prompted a major revision of Nielsen data, and according to the firm, some changes in the way they track political ads.

Of course, the Romney camp did run fundraising ads, too. Mimicking ads run earlier in 2007, the campaign set a specific fundraising goal in December and gave it a name: Media Victory Fund. Display units featuring pop-art style graphics and bright colors told supporters to, "Tune in to Victory. Help Put Mitt Over the Top. $1,000,000 Media Victory Fund. Be Part of Mitt's TV Campaign." An earlier effort pushed "Project 44," and aimed to collect $44 from donors to support his run to be the 44th President.

I spoke with Romney for President's e-strategy director Mindy Finn in January about the campaign's online ad and e-mail efforts, including its heavy use of ad networks and geo-targeting, as well as how the campaign measured results -- for its direct-response and persuasion ads. (Read the full coverage here.)

Posted by Kate Kaye at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 7, 2008

Time's Running Out to Comment on FTC's Behavioral Targeting Rules

If you had it in mind to share your $0.02 with the FTC on its recently proposed self regulation rules for behavioral targeting, you'd better get on it. The deadline to submit comments is just a few weeks away.

The language of the suggested rules is very broad, which the FTC believes is necessary for them to be effective in governing the future evolution of BT. One requires "reasonable security" of consumer data. Another proposes companies keep data only long enough to fill a "legitimate business need."

The FTC also wants to make data collection more transparent to consumers, of whom it says "few appear to understand the role that data collection plays." To that end, it's calling for a prominent opt-out mechanism on all sites engaged in behavioral targeting.

You can read and comment on the proposed guidelines document at the FTC's site. Remember, if you don't make yourself heard now, you're not allowed to complain later.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WPP's GroupM Acquires Majority Stake in Social Media Agency

WPP's GroupM announced today that it has acquired 75 percent of the share capital of LaCommunidad, the Dutch interactive agency behind imaginatively named viral tracking technology, ViralTracker.

LaCommunidad specializes in viral and social media campaigns, and has worked with big name European brands including ebay, Ford, and Dutch Airline KLM. According to a release today, the investment "continues WPP's strategy of strengthening its capabilities in digital media."

WPP recently acquired a minority stake in U.S.-based Integrated Media Measurement Inc., the developer of an end-to-end media measurement system that links media exposure to consumer action.

However, rumors of a more significant ad-related investment have been circulating since last September. One possible target is rumored to be SpotRunner, an Internet agency offering localized Web and TV ads for small businesses, in which WPP already owns a small stake.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 6, 2008

Microsoft Musical Chairs: Berkowitz Out, McAndrews to Run All Online Services?

Microsoft is mum on reports today that Steve Berkowitz, head of Online Services, will shortly step aside to make room for either aQuantive chief Brian McAndrews or his boss, Kevin Johnson, who heads Platforms and Services. The replacement would be part of one of Microsoft's regularly scheduled reorgs that may also bring changes in its Windows division (Mary Jo Foley reports Windows product marketing EVP Michael Sievert will move on, a casualty of the Vista's generally poor reception with consumers). WSJ and CNET cited internal sources saying the organizational shuffle could come as soon as next week.

Two big questions: Will Berkowitz's Online Services unit will be merged completely into Johnson's, and will McAndrews' Digital Advertising Solutions group gobble it up? Hopefully both will happen, for both marketers' and Microsoft's sake.

That's the way it should've gone back in August, when Microsoft created Advertiser and Publisher Solutions to house all its new aQuantive properties along with Microsoft AdCenter. McAndrews was named to lead the unit, while Berkowitz's Digital Advertising Solutions sales force was oddly left on its own. That just didn't make sense, and it looks like Microsoft's about to correct the error.

No indication in either report whether Berkowitz will be jettisoned or offered a new post.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 1, 2008

Microsoft Wants to Buy Yahoo: Convergence, Continued

There have been rumors of late about some sort of Microsoft/Yahoo hookup -- and here it is. Microsoft just tendered a $31/share bid for Yahoo. All of Yahoo.

It's about the advertising. From the press release: "The online advertising market is growing at a very fast pace, from over $40 billion in 2007 to nearly $80 billion by 2010. The resulting benefits of scale along with the associated capital costs for advertising platform providers make this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today this market is increasingly dominated by one player. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a competitive choice while better fulfilling the needs of customers and partners."

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO said in a statement: "We have great respect for Yahoo!, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market."

After the jump, Ballmer's letter to Yahoo board members. We'll be following developments closely, promise.

Board of Directors
Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089
Attention: Roy Bostock, Chairman
Attention: Jerry Yang, Chief Executive Officer

Dear Members of the Board:

I am writing on behalf of the Board of Directors of Microsoft to make a proposal for a business combination of Microsoft and Yahoo!. Under our proposal, Microsoft would acquire all of the outstanding shares of Yahoo! common stock for per share consideration of $31 based on Microsoft's closing share price on January 31, 2008, payable in the form of $31 in cash or 0.9509 of a share of Microsoft common stock. Microsoft would provide each Yahoo! shareholder with the ability to choose whether to receive the consideration in cash or Microsoft common stock, subject to pro-ration so that in the aggregate one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be exchanged for shares of Microsoft common stock and one-half of the Yahoo! common shares will be converted into the right to receive cash. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition.

Our proposal represents a 62% premium above the closing price of Yahoo! common stock of $19.18 on January 31, 2008. The implied premium for the operating assets of the company clearly is considerably greater when adjusted for the minority, non-controlled assets and cash. By whatever financial measure you use - EBITDA, free cash flow, operating cash flow, net income, or analyst target prices - this proposal represents a compelling value realization event for your shareholders.

We believe that Microsoft common stock represents a very attractive investment opportunity for Yahoo!'s shareholders. Microsoft has generated revenue growth of 15%, earnings growth of 26%, and a return on equity of 35% on average for the last three years. Microsoft's share price has generated shareholder returns of 8% during the last one year period and 28% during the last three year period, significantly outperforming the S&P 500. It is our view that Microsoft has significant potential upside given the continued solid growth in our core businesses, the recent launch of Windows Vista, and other strategic initiatives.

Microsoft's consistent belief has been that the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! clearly represents the best way to deliver maximum value to our respective shareholders, as well as create a more efficient and competitive company that would provide greater value and service to our customers. In late 2006 and early 2007, we jointly explored a broad range of ways in which our two companies might work together. These discussions were based on a vision that the online businesses of Microsoft and Yahoo! should be aligned in some way to create a more effective competitor in the online marketplace. We discussed a number of alternatives ranging from commercial partnerships to a merger proposal, which you rejected. While a commercial partnership may have made sense at one time, Microsoft believes that the only alternative now is the combination of Microsoft and Yahoo! that we are proposing.

In February 2007, I received a letter from your Chairman indicating the view of the Yahoo! Board that "now is not the right time from the perspective of our shareholders to enter into discussions regarding an acquisition transaction." According to that letter, the principal reason for this view was the Yahoo! Board's confidence in the "potential upside" if management successfully executed on a reformulated strategy based on certain operational initiatives, such as Project Panama, and a significant organizational realignment. A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved.

While online advertising growth continues, there are significant benefits of scale in advertising platform economics, in capital costs for search index build-out, and in research and development, making this a time of industry consolidation and convergence. Today, the market is increasingly dominated by one player who is consolidating its dominance through acquisition. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! can offer a credible alternative for consumers, advertisers, and publishers. Synergies of this combination fall into four areas:

-- Scale economics: This combination enables synergies related to scale
economics of the advertising platform where today there is only one
competitor at scale. This includes synergies across both search and
non-search related advertising that will strengthen the value
proposition to both advertisers and publishers. Additionally, the
combination allows us to consolidate capital spending.
-- Expanded R&D capacity: The combined talent of our engineering
resources can be focused on R&D priorities such as a single search
index and single advertising platform. Together we can unleash new
levels of innovation, delivering enhanced user experiences,
breakthroughs in search, and new advertising platform capabilities.
Many of these breakthroughs are a function of an engineering scale that
today neither of our companies has on its own.
-- Operational efficiencies: Eliminating redundant infrastructure and
duplicative operating costs will improve the financial performance of
the combined entity.
-- Emerging user experiences: Our combined ability to focus engineering
resources that drive innovation in emerging scenarios such as video,
mobile services, online commerce, social media, and social platforms is
greatly enhanced.

We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company with exceptional display and search advertising capabilities. You should also be aware that we intend to offer significant retention packages to your engineers, key leaders and employees across all disciplines.

We have dedicated considerable time and resources to an analysis of a potential transaction and are confident that the combination will receive all necessary regulatory approvals. We look forward to discussing this with you, and both our internal legal team and outside counsel are available to meet with your counsel at their earliest convenience.

Our proposal is subject to the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement and our having the opportunity to conduct certain limited and confirmatory due diligence. In addition, because a portion of the aggregate merger consideration would consist of Microsoft common stock, we would provide Yahoo! the opportunity to conduct appropriate limited due diligence with respect to Microsoft. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.

In light of the significance of this proposal to your shareholders and ours, as well as the potential for selective disclosures, our intention is to publicly release the text of this letter tomorrow morning.

Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the Yahoo! Board to engage in a full review of our proposal. My leadership team and I would be happy to make ourselves available to meet with you and your Board at your earliest convenience. Depending on the nature of your response, Microsoft reserves the right to pursue all necessary steps to ensure that Yahoo!'s shareholders are provided with the opportunity to realize the value inherent in our proposal.

We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity to create significant value for Yahoo!'s shareholders and employees, and the combined company will be better positioned to provide an enhanced value proposition to users and advertisers. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favorable reply.

Sincerely yours,

Steven A. Ballmer
Chief Executive Officer
Microsoft Corporation

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 31, 2008

1-800-FREE411 Sells Out National Ads for the Year

Free directory assistance service 1-800-FREE411 has sold out its 2008 "sponsorships," which are its national ad placements, a testament to both how targeted and limited inventory is for the Jingle-owned service.

Marketers, both national and regional, like the audio sponsor placements for a few reasons. First, they're completely intrusive (therefore more effective), yet users are by and large Ok with that since putting up with the inconvenience saves them two bucks or so per call. Second, available data for targeting include geography, business category or a combination of the two, qualifying consumers in a manner similar to a search or or Web directory buy. Three, metrics are simple. Ingenio struck a deal with Jingle last year to let advertisers place campaigns with 1-800-FREE411 on a pay-per-call basis.

New national advertisers placing audio ads with Jingle include Allstate, Days Inn, FordDirect and Miller Brewing Company. 2008 renewals include AMC Theaters, McDonald’s, Nationwide and ServiceMagic.

The influx of brands also speaks to the company's success in recruiting sales staffers over the past year or two, including former Atlas sales veep John Roswech.

The next hurdle for Jingle will be growing user awareness and adoption. It's a task made the more challenging as new competitors join the fray, including Google and AT&T. Carriers as a group, when they wholeheartedly embrace ad-supported DA, will have a considerable advantage when it comes to promoting the services to consumers.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 28, 2008

Funding the Rubicon Project

Just a few month's after entering beta the Rubicon Project, a publisher-side ad inventory automation system, received an additional $15 million in financing. This brings the company's total funding to $21 million.

A beta checkpoint includes over 1,000 Web sites signed up for the service, and over 10 billion ad impressions served. The funding will be used to build the infrastructure and staff to support demand. There's a need for global expansion even at the company's early stage. "We're actually dealing with a lot of international ad networks today," said Rubicon Project CEO and founder Frank Adante. He reports about 50 percent of impressions come from traffic outside the U.S. While the technology platform is self-service, and doesn't require a presence in the where the company does business, but a few overseas operations may be in order. "The first step is to analyze markets we want to enter on the publisher side," said Adante. The first targets will likely be Europe and Asia, especially since IDG Ventures Asia is among the investors in the round.

Adante said the ability to siphon international traffic to local ad networks and impressions is "helping publishers make more money with the ad space."

Acquisitions are another goal of the funding. "We've got a pretty big mission, to automate online advertising. Step one for us is to better facilitate relationships between publishers and ad networks," Adante said. Some of the mission may be filled in the acquisition of technology to run Rubicon Project functions.

Posted by Enid Burns at 12:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

iCrossing integrates British Search Brand 'Spannerworks'

British based search and social media specialist Spannerworks is to be re-branded iCrossing, almost a year after it was acquired by the U.S. digital agency.

Former Spannerworks CEO and founder Arjo Ghosh has been named CEO of iCrossing U.K. Ghosh will be based in Brighton, and will lead the company's development and operations within Europe.

Jeffrey Herzog, founder and global CEO of iCrossing stated in a press release, "For the past year, Spannerworks and iCrossing have been operating as one company, with a shared belief that search is the common pathway to all digital marketing. One brand, supported by this common belief, will fortify iCrossing’s position in the global marketplace and strengthen our ability to deliver global digital marketing programs to our clients."

Last week Ghosh was also appointed chair of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising's (IPA) search council.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 25, 2008

Did Clinton and Obama National Ad Drops Dis the Web?

So, all the news sites are covering the big semi-national ad drops by the Clinton and Obama campaigns. The irony, in this case, I suppose should have been expected: The news sites didn't get any of those ad dollars. From what I could tell in browsing and refreshing countless pages on big national news sites today, including CNN.com, NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com, FoxNews.com and Yahoo News, the campaigns have neglected Web ads when it comes to this big national advertising push.

This is purely unscientific, of course. I may not have been served the ads even if they're running, or they may not be targeted to New York City, or they may not be running on any of the sites chosen for the test. Still, I figure if these sites did have some big ad buys in, they wouldn't be running University of Phoenix and Lending Tree ads on homepages and politics sections. They also probably wouldn't serve up the same pre-roll Netflix and Microsoft ads over and over in news and politics video clips. (See the screen grab below of CNN.com's Election Center 2008 section displaying a University of Phoenix ad).

The campaigns most likely realized they'd get so much so-called "earned media" out of hyping up national ad launches, there'd be no point in actually paying for Web media, at least in more prominent placements on those sorts of sites. For instance, NYTimes.com coverage features a video companion piece including snippets of the TV ads.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

January 24, 2008

Wall Street Journal to Stick with Subs for "Really Special" Content

In the months since News Corp. agreed to acquire Dow Jones, media punditry has tended to assume the Wall Street Journal's Web site will eventually go free and ad-supported. Not so.

Covering remarks Rupert Murdoch made in Davos today, WSJ brings us news that its pay wall won't crumble... yet. Rather, Murdoch said the site's free content will be greatly beefed up while a "significant portion" of its "really special" content will be preserved for subscribers' eyes only.

Here are his exact remarks, made in response to a question posed at the World Economic Forum, according to the Journal:

"We are going to greatly expand and improve the free part of the Wall Street Journal online, but there will still be a strong offering" for subscribers, Mr. Murdoch said. "The really special things will still be a subscription service, and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last.fm and Yahoo Ad-Funded Music Could Signal Things to Come

Yesterday, Last.fm revealed a new direction for its online music service – a free, ad-funded on-demand streaming platform. The new site will enable users to simply enter artist or track details, and stream full-length, high-quality music of their choice directly to their computers.

What's the catch? Well, at present you can only listen to each track three times, although this could be extended according to Last.fm execs.

The platform will be funded solely through advertising, which will appear alongside every song. Apparently even without a user login, ads will be targeted using data that the site has accumulated in the years it has already been live.

Labels and artists will receive royalties per listen, so the more popular a track, the more revenue it will generate. The system is also open to unsigned artists that can upload their music to the site, potentially removing the labels from the loop entirely.

News reports today suggest that Yahoo is also in early discussions with labels, perhaps with a view to offering MP3s for download as part of an ad-supported model. Meanwhile various other companies are experimenting with similar formats. For example, British company We7 currently offers full length MP3 downloads with "pre-roll' audio ads before each track.

Perhaps the most interesting side of all this is the acceptance of the model from the music industry. All four major record labels have signed up to the Last.fm service, as well as 150,000 independents.

As labels dig desperately to find new revenue models, therefore, it appears that ad-funded digital downloads could represent the future of the industry. The biggest worry for the labels however, is that they may eventually find themselves out in the cold entirely, as the opportunities grow for artists to generate profit directly from ad-funded sites.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 23, 2008

Publicis and Google: All About the Pitching?

So Publicis and Google have a relationship. Call it an understanding. They're going to exchange knowledge. And people. And it's going to be... unprecedented.

Here's the official statement from Publicis:

This collaboration, underway for over one year, is based on a shared vision of how new technologies can be used to improve advertising.

Riveting stuff, eh? Yet the lack of detail didn't prevent news outlets from writing several dozen stories about the supposed pair-up. Here's what we know based on existing reports, along with a few guesses about what the Googlicis arrangement might (or might not) mean:

The gist of the tango, according to Reuters: "Google would exchange its technological know-how for Publicis's analytical and media planning expertise." A nice idea, but Google works alone, see? Sort of like the Terminator, or maybe Harvey Keitel's character in Pulp Fiction. Joint ventures and partnerships aren't really its bag. Google has, however, shown a great interest in getting large brand marketers to spend more of their money with it. Not coincidentally, Publicis also would like to see those clients increase their digital spends -- just as long as they do so through Publicis.

Google and Publicis will have dedicated staff on-site at each others' offices "for a few months or a year." Agencies do this with their clients all the time. For the sake of argument, consider this new deal an analogous scenario in which Google is the agency (though it swears it's not), consulting with its client (Publicis and its various units, as well as their brands) on various methods by which the latter could spend more money. The Google staffers sit in on pitches and develop media plans across the company's network. As for the other end of the exchange program, I'm somewhat baffled. All I can say is my heart goes out to any Publicis staffers with the dubious luck to be stationed at Google "for several months or a year." The line here between pitch and collaboration is very murky, and who could stand being pitched for that length of time? I couldn't.

Google will launch a global account team for Publicis, "the first of its kind with a Global Advertising Group." This is the key piece of the relationship, if you ask me. And it's something Google has pursued aggressively with the entire agency community for well over a year. Believe me, the company would leap at the chance to do the same thing with any of the major holding companies. As an aside: It seems to me there's a slight risk for Google in appearing to align itself with one major ad network to the exclusion of the others.

Anyway, now you have my two cents. Maybe it's worth less than that. In the end, what's more interesting to me than the nature of the collaboration is how much Publicis committed to spend with Google to get this feather in its bizdev cap.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 5:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Electronic Arts Experiments with Ad-Supported PC Gaming

Electronic Arts has announced that it is to release a new instalment of its popular PC game series 'Battlefield' entirely free of charge. Instead of being sold retail, 'Battlefield Heroes' will be distributed digitally and will seek to generate revenue through in-game advertising and small in-game transactions.

Unfortunately EA declined to comment on what exactly 'in game advertising' would entail. However, Ben Cousins, senior producer at EA Dice, told BBC News that no ads would be appear in the game itself, but that they would instead appear on the Web site and the 'front-end' of the game.

Although this release will represent EA's first foray into ad-funded gaming in Western markets, a free version of its Fifa Soccer series has been available in South Korea since 2006. Users can spend small amounts on extra kits or skill-sets for their players.

The in-game transactions in Battlefield Heroes are likely to work similarly, with users purchasing new virtual outfits or attributes for their characters. However, Cousins told the BBC that E.A. expected 95 percent of people who played the game never to spend any money, suggesting that the ad revenue should be sufficient to finance the entire game.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Agency Action Heats Up in Asia, Dentsu and WPP Make Inroads

Recent days have brought a flurry of activity around digital agencies in Asia, where multi-national holding companies are duking it out for market dominance.

Making inroads this week are Japanese conglomerate Dentsu and WPP. The former has reportedly created a joint venture with China-based Focus Media on a new Internet marketing venture in that country. According to the reports, Dentsu will consolidate its existing Chinese operations, including those in Beijing and Shanghai, within the new venture.

WPP's Wunderman meanwhile has acquired Asian interactive agency network Agenda. Agenda has offices in Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan, and Kuala Lumpur, and its services include Web site development, analytics and strategy. Wunderman is on a bit of a tear, having recently acquired Blast Radius.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 22, 2008

Ad Sales and Ops Jobs Could Figure Into Yahoo Layoffs

Reports that Yahoo will shortly lay off several hundred staffers should come as no surprise to those of us who have tracked the company over the past year (See ClickZ's recent coverage linked below). CEO Jerry Yang foreshadowed this moment during his very first earnings call in July when he promised change at the company. And he more recently reinforced that promise with his October declaration that Yahoo would narrow its focus to become a "starting point" for consumers and a powerful Web-wide inventory source for advertisers.

Reading between the lines, one spin on those comments goes like this: Content operations jobs are going away, and by the way, we'll be eliminating the walls (and redundancies) between our ad network holdings.

If that interpretation has any merit, many ad sales and operations folks at BlueLithium, Right Media and its in-house network sales group might be getting pink slips for Valentine's Day. If I were a betting man I'd put money on it. After all, back in September Jupiter analyst Emily Riley told ClickZ Yahoo was "considering merging and retraining sales teams" and "centralizing sales efforts" across all its acquired properties.

Related:

Yahoo Shows Signs of Display Ad Growth in Q3, Builds Publisher Network
Yahoo's Exec Departures: Brain Drain or Natural Exodus?
Yahoo Buys BlueLithium, Dreaming of Network Dominance
Yahoo's Yang Promises Changes Following Q2 Earnings Talk

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BBC Could Cash in On Ads through Overseas Audience

ComScore released figures today suggesting that almost 60 percent of traffic to BBC sites now comes from outside of the U.K. It appears that the BBC's decision to begin serving ads to their international users in October last year will be paying dividends as a result.

Some calculations using ComScore data reveal that the BBC served ads to a potential audience of around 270 million unique users in November 2007.

The data suggest that online visitors from outside the U.K. also outnumbered the domestic audience for U.K. papers The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times, and The Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail had the highest proportion of international visitors, with 69 percent of its 7.6 million visitors originating from outside the U.K. The BBC attracted 59 percent of its audience internationally, while the Telegraph (57 percent) and the Guardian Media Group (56 percent) also drew more than half their respective audiences from outside the U.K. Only two of the ten sites (or groups of sites) studied, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) and ITV sites had less than a quarter of their traffic originate internationally.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 18, 2008

Bud Goes Mobile with Super Bowl Voting

Budweiser commercials are often picked as favorites from the crop of Super Bowl ads, but this year Anheuser-Busch is inviting its consumers to vote on their favorites while the game is still being played. As part of its annual Bud Bowl campaign, the brewer is signing up consumers to vote on their favorite Budweiser commercial during next month's Super Bowl using their mobile phones.

Users that provide their number will get a preview of one of the commercials, and after the game they'll also be provided with a code to unlock an "exclusive" unaired game spot. With seven Bud ads set to run during the event, it's anybody's guess which one the winner will be.

Posted by MatthewNelson at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sign of the Times: Avoid Foreclosure

Low.com, a Los Angeles-based company that includes a lead generation service, is running this ad.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 17, 2008

Video Ads, and How One Nearly Killed my Computer

It wasn't a virus from an infected ad or stress from rich media demands of streaming video, but a common commercial diversion that nearly did in my Alienware. My husband called not long before I left work yesterday to prepare me for the worst: My computer may be dead from a freak accident.

He was watching a show on a network-supported steaming site when the stream went to commercial break. He reached for his PDA to play a quick game for the :30 duration of the ad and knocked something off his desk, which landed squarely on the off switch to my computer's power supply. Attempts to power everything back up were greeted with an "Error Loading Operating System" message. We thought we'd crossed over into the territory of reformatting or worse, hand over your credit card for a new computer. This morning he poked around the BIOS and restored my operating system.

While the Wall Street Journal reports AccuStreamiMedia research finding ad revenues from streaming video and audio reached $1.37 billion, a 38 percent increase over 2006, are Web watchers paying any more attention than TV watchers when the sponsor takes over the screen? Just because the computer is a lean forward medium, and the user is likely sitting closer to the screen doesn't mean there's any more likelihood they'll offer their undivided attention.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Time Warner Cable to Kill Video Advertising?

This can't portend well for video advertising, or for sites and portals that sell video ads (are you listening, AOL?).

Time Warner Cable just announced they'll be rolling out a sort of pay-as-you-go plan for broadband subscribers. Rather than the usual all-you-can-eat monthly package, they're going to experiment with "tiered levels of service based on how much data [consumers] download per month, rather than the usual fixed-price packages with unlimited downloads."

Pricing information is as yet unavailable, but aside from the fact TWC is obviously targeting users of P2P file sharing services, they're also going after users who download (or stream?) large amounts of video.

Well, that's just ducky for online video advertisers and the publishers, sites and portals who sell video inventory. Time Warner-owned AOL certainly comes to mind. Train consumers to equate online video usage to going on a meter -- rather like making long-distance landline calls or filling up at the gas pump -- and they're likely to think twice before hitting that play button, no?

Initially the trial will only affect new TWC subscribers in Beaumont, Texas. A quick search indicates the populace there -- thankfully -- has other ISP options.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another Great Mac/PC Coordinated Banner Execution

One solution to the problem of declining brand impact: Make better ads. I caught this coordinated "I'm a Mac" banner execution on the NYTimes.com homepage. Worth a watch if you can find it there.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008

Valueclick Aims to Attract a Slice of Political Web Ad Sliver

Valueclick is the latest to jump on the "let's try to cash in on these political ad dollars" bandwagon. The firm put out a press release today suggesting Web ads (primarily display units) are an "alternative way to stand out in crowded local television markets and a way to reach younger, affluent, professional voters who cannot be reached through television advertising."

I certainly don't want to detract from their offer or the notion that ad networks should be used by political campaigns, but consider a couple points:

Although Valueclick can enable video in banners as well as in-stream video ad formats, the notion that Web ads will be an "alternative" to television spots probably will be scoffed at by political media buyers and campaigns. I think "complement" is the more appropriate term. Though some campaigns including McCain's and Romney's have done some branding/persuasion-oriented Web advertising in the past year (what TV is used for) most online ads have been employed by the campaigns for specific direct-response purposes (volunteer signups, in-person event registration/promotion, fundraising).

"In addition to geographic targeting by state, DMA or ZIP codes, ValueClick Media’s large audience can be highly segmented based on contextual, demographic, psychographic and behavioral attributes," notes the release. Of course political campaigns want to be able to geo-target, and some have been, via ad networks including Valueclick (from what I've gathered).

However, political campaigns often want to target ads to particular voting precincts or wards at GOTV (Get Out The Vote) time. The big presidential campaigns have smart in-house interactive teams (or consulting teams) who are aware of online advertising, ad networks and targeting capabilities. One thing that could convince them to either start spending through networks or spend more would be the ability to target on the precinct level.

If a network enables that leading up to the general election, I'd bet it would attract some real interest.

And let's not forget, though we'll no doubt continue to see an uptick in political ad spending on the Web for years to come, the portion of ad budgets going online now is miniscule. Plus, even the Romney campaign, which ran the most ads of all the presidential candidates in '07, wonders whether spending any more on Web ads would be worthwhile. In a discussion about the campaign's interactive efforts, Mindy Finn, e-strategy director for the campaign told me recently, "I don’t think there's room for online advertising to have a much greater share [in the Romney for President ad budget].... One thing to remember is that online advertising is just so much cheaper.”

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

Compete Gets Into Competitive Ad Tracking

Compete, a Web site measurement and competitive analytics firm, has come out with an a new ad performance analytics tool called Ad Analyzer. The offering promises to track campaign impact for its clients and their competitors within specified customer segments. Most Ad Analyzer customers will focus on the competitive data, since the bulk of ad tracking and serving systems out there let them measure the effectiveness of their own ads and landing pages.

Here's a rundown of the specific data Ad Analyzer promises to track, pulled directly from the press release:

* Share of unique visitors continuing on to the brand’s site, vs. leaving, after seeing the landing page
* Click-and-return rate - Share of unique visitors returning to the brand’s site within 30 days of seeing the landing page
* Funnel entry - Share of unique visitors to a landing page that enter the online shopping cart or online application process
* Offline Lead: - Share of unique visitors to a landing page referred to the brand offline
* Order submission - Share of unique visitors to a landing page who submit an order or form in the same quarter

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 15, 2008

If MySpace Really Wanted to Protect the Kids...

MySpace is now working with Attorneys General on a plan to verify ages and protect its youngest users. That's well and good. But if the site is really serious about guarding teens from all forms of exploitation it should consider changing its advertising policies to disallow ad sales to shady mobile subscription services.

The number of MySpace users taken in by offers for free (but not free) wireless content is vastly greater than the number who come into contact with predators. Yes, the latter makes better headlines, and for good reason. And sure, the harm inflicted by misleading mobile offers may only consist of a surprise $40 charge on a 14-year-old's cell phone bill. But it's harm nonetheless.

For a primer on how one questionable mobile content firm has bought a huge volume of advertising on MySpace and other sites, click here.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Call from Paris: Hot or Not?

Paris Hilton wants your number.

To promote her new film, The Hottie and the Nottie, which opens next month, Paris Hilton wants to call you. Not once, but an undisclosed number of times to remind you to see it.

Visit the film's Web site and you're asked to supply a mobile or landline number, together with your Zip Code. You'd expect a localized message with this information, but when Paris called back seconds after supplying the data, she just wanted to remind me to see the pic. I have a feeling subsequent calls may contain local theatre information closer to the opening date.

Voice marketing provider Vontoo is powering the backend of the vox initiative.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 14, 2008

Flip.com Cuts Staff, Joins Undead Pool

CondéNet has slashed the headcount at Flip.com, its self-expression site for teen girls, from 18 to two. Yet despite having been dealt what would seem a killing blow, the venture hopes to find new life as a content sharing application on social networking platforms. As such, I guess you could say it officially joins the undead pool, where it will no doubt swim groaning, rigor mortis-hindered laps alongside the Facebook mainstay Zombies app.

When it launched a year ago, Flip.com was showered with media attention, including from this publication. The site's core product is a set of multimedia creation tools allowing its mostly teen visitors to create "flipbooks" -- actually slide shows that use a nifty page turning animation between screens. Flip users have created approximately 82,000 flipbooks in the past year, CondéNet said, and the site's reported unique monthly audience is around 300,000.

CondéNet began courting advertisers with the new venture very early… as much as eight months before Flip.com actually launched in February 2007. J&J's Clean & Clear was the site's first advertiser through its agency OMD Digital. Under the launch sponsorship, the acne cream brand tested most of the site's available formats, including run of site banners and sponsored creative assets teens could incorporate into their slide shows.

Flip.com continue to have a standalone Web site, but all its resources (such as they are) will go toward the app strategy and associated ad products. Who knows, that may turn out to be a smart move given the trend toward portability of Web content and services. But it's hard to imagine the project will accomplish much with such a tiny staff.

"We will have probably two headcount on it -- but it might be 'pieces' of several people as opposed to two individuals," Sarah Chubb, president of CondéNet, said in an e-mailed statement.

Chubb said ad details for the widget strategy will follow.

"We have advertisers now and are moving ahead with what needs to shift given this change," she added. "It is our intention to offer smart ad packages for this iteration of flip, as we did for the original version."

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

January 7, 2008

Aegis Acquires Digital Agency in Helsinki

Aegis has snatched up Finnish digital shop White Sheep and rebranded it Suddenly Helsinki. The agency, which offers strategic and creative services among other offerings, will join Isobar's Nordic network of "Suddenly" branded digital marketing firms. Isobar now has Suddenly outposts in all four Nordic nations through offices in Stockholm, Oslo, Gothenberg and Copenhagen.

White Sheep clients have included Peugeot, Danon, Bayer and Omnitele.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 1:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 2, 2008

Out of Home Displays Become More Interactive

Who says out of home displays are all lean back, or stand back? Increasingly, they're becoming more interactive. Samsung and Reactrix Systems plan to show off a new LCD-based interactive large-format advertising platform, WAVEscape, at the Consumer Electronics Show next week. For Samsung, this pushes a "brand-to-consumer" offering, while it enhances the tech capabilities of Reactrix' offerings.

Consumers are engaged in the ads, which become more reactive as they get closer to the LCD display. Of course WAVEscape won't be the first, or last, technology in the channel. We've seen Lexus autos crash in empty storefronts triggered by passing pedestrians, other projected ads that react and ripple as people walk by, 3D technology Philips developed for its flat panel displays, and don't forget the interaction in Boston when a Comedy Central "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" outdoor campaign triggered multiple bomb scares.

More details will likely be announced at CES next week, and afterward. What Samsung and Reactrix have already announced is an early commitment from Hilton Hotels & Resorts to use WAVEscape in its hotels, though the application may not be strictly advertising. Hilton plans to use the displays in an e-check-in kiosk installation.

Posted by Enid Burns at 5:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 29, 2007

Coupon Giant Heads Online at RedPlum.com

Major offline advertising firm Valassis is "going where the consumers are" and repositioning itself to rely heavily on an online portal site called RedPlum.com. Valassis has been known primarily for coupons, direct mail messages and for putting ads directly on the polybags protecting newspapers, but starting this January it will retire its ShopWise brand name and shift gears, according to Suzie Brown, chief marketing officer for Valassis.

"Consumer media habits have changed dramatically over the past five years, and we've primarily been an offline medium," she said of her company's move to an online portal. "Our whole goal is to deliver value to consumers how, where and when they want."

To drive consumers to the site, however, the company is still relying on its offline advertising expertise, as all of its products will now include references to the RedPlum Web site. The site will contain product information, coupons and ads for local and nationwide businesses, many of which will be updated by widgets built into the site. Unlike other widgets, the RedPlum versions will have a limited ability to be grabbed and replicated on a consumers Web page or social network page.

"There will be some features and functionality that allows people to share content from our site with others. If I want to take a coupon and send it to my mom, because it's something that I think she will use, I can do that," Brown said.

Brown declined to specifically name any of the company's partners for the RedPlum rebranding and launch, but did say there will be a "Fair amount of travel content on the site."

Posted by MatthewNelson at 12:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

December 20, 2007

Internet Leads Ad Spend Growth

In the first three quarters of 2007, the overall ad spend in the U.S. dropped -0.1 percent, according to the Nielsen Company. The data are in line with figures released by TNS, and less optimistic than the global outlook from ZenithOptimedia. The Internet saw 15.9 percent change, compared to the first three quarters of 2006. In the same period, spot TV, network radio, spot radio, local Sunday supplements, network TV, B2B magazines, local magazines, national newspapers, and local newspapers dragged the ad spend into a marginally negative stage of growth.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nielsen Bets on Addressable TV Ads

You've heard TV ads are getting measurable, right? And addressable? Yeah, so have we, though the major cable operators have embraced those new adjectives with all the enthusiasm of a six-year-old staring down the bath tub.

Yet every now and then little developments bubble up (like a six-year-old's fart in aforementioned bath tub) that suggest change is happening. One such bubble wobbled to the surface yesterday, as Nielsen announced a pairing with TV ad management firm Invidi (think Atlas or DoubleClick for television) to provide data that will improve the latter's TV measurement system for addressable ads.

Invidi owns a piece of software that sits at the so-called head end, a facility at your local cable office where content and ads are stitched together and served to your TV. The head end, and how it regulates the joining of programming with marketing content, will define the future of television, smart people say.

With the Nielsen relationship, Invidi will be able to provide better analytics on ads targeted based on the individual characteristics of a household or community. And Nielsen aims to position itself as a necessary partner in the age of addressable TV. To that end, it recently launched a unit, DigitalPlus, to work with set top box data from cable and satellite providers.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 18, 2007

Anti-Mormon Advertiser Running Romney Ads on Google

Does Mitt Romney want to be our nation's high priest? Ex-Mormon Ed Decker and author of "My Kingdom Come, The Mormon Quest for Godhood," thinks so. And he's pushing his book and beliefs using AdWords ads that show up in Google results for searches on Mormon presidential hopeful, "Mitt Romney."

Decker is founder of Saints Alive, a "Christian nonprofit corporation founded upon the call of God to witness Jesus to those lost in Mormonism and other cults," according to the group's Web site.

From the book's promo site:

The very ethos of the Mormon faith is built around the anticipated return of Jesus to Independence, Missouri, for his thousand-year millennial reign. It is here that he will assign godhood to the worthy.

However, it cannot take place until the U.S. Constitution falters and is saved by the LDS church. The nation will become a Mormon theocracy. Mitt Romney has raised Mormon speculation that this may be the time and that he may be the one to lead the way as both U.S. President and LDS high priest.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

Ford Explores Widget Advertising

Ford is getting into the widget advertising game, as starting next week the company is planning to run "grab-able" ads on AOL promoting the Sync voice interface system in its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles. The automaker tapped Interpolls to create the widgets, which include rich media features like video advertisements and a link to download songs from Ford's Web site. The widget is part of a larger advertising campaign Ford is running with AOL for the Sync feature, along with television, radio and print ads.

The widget is being distributed like a rich media ad via an ad server, but it can also be copied and embedded in an individual's Web page or social network page like Facebook or MySpace. As Sync is a Microsoft powered voice activation system, the idea of sharing widgets should actually appeal to the more tech minded consumers using AOL, said Peter Kim, president of Interpolls.

"They are probably more likely the types that will know how to grab a widget for their page," he said. "If you happen to own a Sync product in your car, and you like it, you grab this and put it on your MySpace page."

Posted by MatthewNelson at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

WSJ's Discordant Holiday Promotion

Actually, it probably is too late.

With Murdoch dropping hint after hint that his newly-acquired "Wall Street Journal" is likely to become free, why is the marketing department sending these e-mail promotions? This is the second one I've received this week.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 11, 2007

Verizon Gets Evil-er

Net neutrality opponent Verizon is busy on other fronts in its efforts to break the Internet -- and to profit in the process.

Last June, the broadband provider announced a plan to "help" users who mistype domain names into their browsers by redirecting to an "Advanced Web Search" page bearing Yahoo search results -- and Yahoo Publisher Network's ads on Verizon's own pages. This DNS redirect service allows the ISP to profit off of its users' errors (but they aren't always errors, as I'll illustrate below), while at the same time overriding other search pages and, as Verizon acknowledges, causing other potential technical problems.

Recently, many of Verizon's high-speed FiOS customers in varying pockets of the country have fallen victim to the hijacking, which seems to be spreading. My Brooklyn-based friend (and Verizon DSL customer) Steve shot me an enraged e-mail the other day full of examples of how Verizon is hijacking not mistyped URLs, but rather the "naked domains" (to coin a phrase) virtually all experienced users have been trained to type in the address fields of their browsers.

The examples he provided include typing "google" (rather than painstakingly typing "http://www.google.com"), "gmail," "apple" and "gawker." As Steve put it, "It goes to a Verizon page with a bunch of clickly links and the URLs in eensy-teensy type below...I can type other things and it behaves normally...but this thing is a freakin' ROADBLOCK."

And it happened out of the blue. My friend is no Web savant, but he's reasonably Web savvy. Verizon is quite obviously overriding his Firefox browser.

Verizon's DNS redirects are not, as the company claims, helping customers who make typos. They're leveraging -- and hijacking -- established Internet user behavior. Overwhelmingly, users type naked brand names directly into their browsers' address fields, confident they'll get to their intended destination. Unless, of course, they're Verizon customers. The redirects can strike anywhere, anytime.

Oh, but Verizon is playing the opt-out card. Only way too subtly, and making opting out of these redirects way too difficult for the average user. See any opt-out instructions on this Advanced Web Search page? Hint: click the "About This Page" button in the upper right hand corner. The link takes you to an about page with yet more links for opting out (depending on the type of service you subscribe to. You're then presented with a long list hardware options, each with its own set of opt-out configuration instructions.

But wait -- it gets even worse. For kicks, I clicked on the Westell Ethernet Modem Verizon provided me with for my DSL service, only to find the message "to change the DNS server settings in this modem to opt out of the DNS Assistance, you must change your DNS settings in your operating system."

Another click to find those instructions reveals a dead end. Verizon only provides information for changing DNS settings for various Windows platforms. Mac owners (like Steve and I) have just followed six links to nowheresville. As he put it, "somewhere {there's an opt-out option, but then it seems unduly complicated."

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Pop-Up Ads in E-Mail? Eeek!

An e-mail confirmation of a booking made on Orbitz just generated a moment of cognitive dissonance.

The first line of the message (and hence the "preview" visible in my online Gmail account) reads:

"Your pop-up blocker is preventing you from viewing this content. Override the program by holding the Control key while clicking the link."

OK, so it's not actually as bad as pop-up ads in e-mail. The message is very obviously generated directly from the purchase confirmation page, which does bear that header because (duh!) pop-ups are pretty much blocked by default in every contemporary browser version.

So why doesn't Orbitz cut out the practice on its site, and thus improve the quality of its e-mail program?

Curiously, while the pop-up message is very prominent in my Web-based Gmail account, it doesn't appear at all in the version that landed in my e-mail client. Strange.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

IHT and Reuters Partner on New IHT Biz Section, Will Sell Ads Jointly

The International Herald Tribune has entered a deal with Reuters to create an "enhanced financial news offering" on its print and Web properties. Under the collaboration, Reuters and IHT will jointly offer print and online sponsorship and ad opportunities.

The fruits of the Web collaboration will appear at www.iht.com/business and will include multimedia and regular content from Reuters and IHT. With the new daily business report, IHT plans to cease publication of two Bloomberg-created editorial products: Marketplace by Bloomberg and Business Asia by Bloomberg.

One thing that's ambiguous in the news release is whether IHT and Reuters will be able to cross-sell inventory on one another's Web platforms. Certainly there's an opportunity to create value for both parties without competing... sort of a two-way ad network. I'm trying to learn more and will post again as I hear back.

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

December 3, 2007

Was Ad Shyness a Factor in Six Apart Sale of LiveJournal?

Six Apart has sold blogging and community platform LiveJournal to SUP, a Russian concern that already runs LiveJournal's Russian version and has several online ad-related businesses, including an agency and an ad network.

Let's hope for SUP's sake the company's comfort with digital marketing won't alienate LJ's largely anti-advertising user base.

Six Apart acquired LiveJournal in 2005, only to discover many of its users don't really dig on the whole monetization thing. Partly to cope with that reality, the company tried making its marketing incursions more oblique, offering ad-free paid accounts and sponsored communities. Its first such effort promoted the Michel Gondry flick Science of Sleep.

The official line from Six Apart is that it wants to focus on its in-house products, including MovableType, TypePad and Vox, and that may well be the case. But I wouldn't be surprised if the ad sensitivity of those millions of users was a factor as well. SUP opened a San Francisco presence to run its new U.S.-based holding, and announced it will set up a user advisory board "to oversee the community’s interests." So the company appears well aware of the touchiness of its new blogging constituents and eager to put anxious minds at ease.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 29, 2007

EyeWonder Offers Ad Widgets. Are Your Ads Worth Sharing?

Here's one for all you marketers with widgets to promote. EyeWonder
has begun offering multi-function, sharable (a.k.a. "widget") ads within display units through a partnership with Gigya.

Gigya does not create the widgets. Rather it has the technical chops to guarantee existing widgets can be syndicated to numerous blogging platforms and social networking sites. It offers reporting as well.

In other words, if you already have a widget or want to let EyeWonder create a multi-paned video widget for you, you can stick it in a rich media ad and rest easy in the knowledge that it will be able to talk to Facebook, MySpace, Blogger, WordPress and other platforms.

Here's a sample:

Pretty nifty. Yet the ads aren't quite slick enough. The syndication features in particular ask a tad too much of the user. For instance, the "quick post" function for Facebook requests that I add a widget called "My Stuff" from Gigya. Come again? I thought I was installing an EyeWonder widget.

Anyway, the first client to use the product is Samsung's Juke phone, courtesy of ad agency Cheil USA.

It bears repeating that while widgets are certainly a notable trend this year, and it makes sense to retrofit your cooler ads with this kind of functionality, bloggers and social networking users deploy this stuff for very different reasons. Therefore it may be a mistake to lump them together in a single "widget ad buy."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 28, 2007

Major U.K. Broadcasters Team up for Landmark Partnership

Three of the U.K.'s largest broadcasters are to join forces in launching an On-Demand entertainment service, potentially presenting marketers with new online advertising opportunities.

Subject to approval from their respective board members, BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 will launch a three-way on-demand TV content service in 2008.

The project, temporarily titled "Kangaroo," will initially be launched as an online-only service, before rolling out to other platforms. An official name and brand for the service will be unveiled at a later date.

The joint venture will be equally owned by all three broadcasters, with each taking a share of revenue.

Although specific details of the revenue model are not detailed in the press release, it states that viewers will have access to free content, as well as having the option to rent or buy.

Presumably, therefore, the free content will be supported by advertising.

Quoted in the press release, Andy Duncan, Channel 4 chief executive described the deal as "good news" for advertisers and viewers alike.

Lesley MacKenzie, previously director of Channels and Operations at BSkyB, has been appointed as launch CEO.

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

Rockin' the Facebook Ads

Considering the hubbub about Facebook ads invading user privacy, I thought I'd see what a search for "Facebook ads" returned in Google search results. Nothing anti-Facebook popped up on the first page of results. No Facebook ad competitors, either.

What did come up was an ad for Facebook ads: "Reach the exact audience you want with relevant targeted ads," read the sponsored search result, linking to www.facebook.com/ads/.

The exact audience, eh? Well, in my spare time, I sell an item that has a very niche audience. And, indeed, it could be and has been advertised online. So, I figured I'd try an experiment advertising my punk rock cookie cookbook and electric guitar cookie cutter, Cookie Chaos!, on Facebook.

Being such a big spender, I agreed to run a text ad for the day with a $5 maximum spend on $.10/per click ads. Sure, the ads aren't the same ones Facebook is catching all the heat for, but what the heck.

I told the system what audience I want to reach, choosing keywords to show user interests, and picking gender, age, relationship status and political persuasion. It spit out the following: "I want to reach liberal, moderate, and conservative people age 15 and older who are single, in a relationship, engaged, or married in the United States who like baking, guitar, punk, or punk rock."

Based on who I said I wanted to reach, the system began tabulating how many users would be in that audience: 185,960. But what's interesting is the more demographic groups I added, the fewer people in the pool. For instance, when I don't choose "liberal," "moderate" or "conservative," the number of people in my target audience goes up to over 386,000.

So, I'm running the ad from now until midnight PST. I'll keep you posted.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 4:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 19, 2007

Google Video Units Hit the U.K.

Google has today announced the availability of its AdSense Video Units in the U.K. and Ireland, following the U.S. launch in October.

As reported by ClickZ News last month, the units allow publishers to display YouTube content within an embedded player on their site. Content-relevant text overlay ads are then displayed within the lower portion of the unit, with ads rotated every 20 seconds. Ads are sold on a CPM or cost-per-click basis.

Publishers can choose categories of video to target their site, specify individual YouTube partners, or have video units automatically target their site with relevant video. In theory this will allow U.K. sites to display U.K.-only content if required or desired. Other than that, the units themselves are identical to their U.S. equivalents. In a press release, David Thacker, group product manager for Google stated the program will "create a new revenue opportunity for publishers and content owners, and help advertisers reach their target audiences in new and innovative ways."

Posted by Jack Marshall at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

MySpace Targets Ad to Print Sibling

Online media giant MySpace is using a print newspaper ad to push its new hyper-targeting capabilities. Can you guess which paper has a half-page ad touting "HyperTargeting by MySpace" today? That's right, The Wall Street Journal, another subsidiary of the ever-expanding News Corp..

The ad even subtly promotes another News Corp property, Fox's Family Guy.

"HyperTargeting, the new advertising solution available only through MySpace allows marketers to tap into the largest global social network like never before," reads the ad.

Superimposed over a park full of people are bubbles featuring declarations like, "I love hip hop," "I love hybrids," and "I love Family Guy."

The ad for the "World's Largest Ad Targeting Platform" also claims, "HyperTargeting helps you to: Target self-expressed user interests and passions/Connect with your desired audience on a massive scale/Achieve significant performance increases vs. traditional targeting campaigns."

What many of us see today on MySpace, however, is anything but hyper-targeted. Visiting the site just now, I was served two generic lead gen ads. One was for the ubiquitous "Crush Calculator," urging me to "Calculate the exact name of [my] perfect lover," despite the fact that my MySpace profile lists me as married. Crush Calculator, a lead generator for the official-sounding mobile entertainment firm National Telephone Advisory, lures users to subscribe to paid cell phone content like predictions.

Another ad seen on my profile page was for a credit report service PrivacyMatters.com.

By the way, MySpace HyperTargeting has 43 friends. I suppose MySpace's ad platform will put them in the "I love hypertargeting" audience category.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 16, 2007

Ron Paul Gets Web Ad Hug from Freedom Loving PAC

It looks like some of the first online ads endorsing a specific presidential candidate bought by a non-campaign entity ran last month. And they were placed by those rabidly loyal fans of Congressman Ron Paul -- go figure.

Americans United for Freedom PAC ran 12,000 impressions of this ad endorsing the Web grassroots phenom's presidential bid on Drudge Report, according to Nielsen Online, AdRelevance. The ads linked to the GOP underdog's official campaign site. The organization has also run TV spots for Paul.

There's tons more about what candidates ran what ads where in October here.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 1:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 15, 2007

Traditional Ad Agencies, an Endangered Species

Traditional ad agencies have the most to lose during the transition to digital advertising. At least that's the assessment of 44 percent of those executives interviewed by consultancy Accenture.

One in three say broadcasters could be the biggest losers. And, they aren't referring to the reality show.

"The dual challenges of technology and cultural adoption create a pessimistic perspective on the fate of the traditional advertising agency," warns Accenture's media and entertainment team in its global digital advertising study released this week.

What's more, the consultancy says some business leaders contend that traditional agencies are incapable of adapting to the digital era, thus clearing the way for technology savvy upstarts to fill the void.

Businesses with the most to win during advertising's evolution? Online search companies and digital advertising specialists, say survey respondents. The consultancy interviewed 70 business leaders from advertisers, media companies, ad agencies, and technology providers earlier this year.

Survey respondents predict advertising will be viewed on three screens -- television, computer, and wireless handset. And, advertising agencies must be prepared to support all three.

Advertising will become more performance based. "In effect, this change will put TV advertising on the same basis as the film industry's weekend box office -- with accurate measurement of results, rapidly delivered," the Accenture team says.

Advertising agencies, to survive, must master technology to target advertising, perform customer analytics, measure performance, and interact with customers. Fewer than one in four respondents said their companies are equipped to do so now.

The global annual spend on television advertising is currently pegged at more than $150 billion, almost 10 times larger than expenditures for online advertising. Still, more than two in five business leaders say they expect digital media will become the primary form of programming and advertising content within the next five years.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Role Reversal: Dick Cheney is Your Puppet

Working Assets, the telco with a heart and lefty politics, has relaunched its Credo Mobile wireless service -- an MVNO built on Sprint's network. Clever digital elements in the integrated camaign include projection screens in San Francisco and Seattle that let people put words in the mouth of Dick Cheney. By sending a text message, passersby can populate a speech bubble over our sneerer-in-chief's head in a Tom Tomorrow-style single-pane comic. See above for a detail of the projection plus a photo of it in action. The call-to-action accompanying the projection is "Text 'say' and your message to 30644 to see your response above."

The campaign plays off the presidential primaries in more ways than one. A video sharing site lets users upload their video expressions of "what our next president should believe in." The results to date are rather lame, consisting almost entirely of uncomfortable-looking Working Assets employees and leading me to think the firm isn't doing enough to promote the video feature.

Other digital elements include bus shelters with an SMS call to action and a display campaign with six creatives spread across local and progressive properties, plus general interest sites like weather.com. Accoridng to Working Assets, the campaign is aimed at liberal 30- to 55-year-olds "whose progressive values drive their consumption."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

Online Ads: Still Sleazy After All These Years

You hear a lot about the Web's legitimization as a marketing medium, but a quick glance at the biggest online ad buyers shows just how far it has to go. Last month, the top two advertisers in terms of raw impressions were Whohasacrushonyou.com, a horoscopes and ringtones service, and dating and online chat provider Zencon Technologies, according to AdRelevance. That's not so awful in itself -- digital sites and services have always relied heavily on remnant online inventory. What's disappointing is that both companies are using deceptive pitches and shady billing tactics to push their wares.

In the case of Whohasacrushonyou.com, the company uses a bait-and-switch offer to register customers, mentioning the service's $5.99 per week (not per month, mind you) cost only in the smallest of small type. According to Compete, the site scored a 7 percent conversion rate in July, which sank to 4.5 percent in August and September. At the same time, the number of ads it's buying has skyrocketed, shooting up 176 percent last month. In other words, the firm's propping up conversions with loads of new ads. As for Zencon Technologies, well, a Google search on its name will tell you all you need to know.

Bonus Smarm: I can't finish this post without mentioning Anastasia International, ranked eighth in AdRelevance's list of top advertisers for the month. The company's top search terms include gems like "russian+models," "mail+order+brides" and "russianbrides.com."

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

eBaum's World, Gorilla Nation to Offer Video Overlays

Alliances to support in-video advertising, and especially video overlays, are coming fast and furious. This week we learn that eBaum's World, the flagship site for ZVUE Corporation, will work with ScanScout to identify brand-safe video inventory and deliver contextual overlays to it. And ad rep firm Gorilla Nation has partnered with video ad delivery specialist Panache to offer its publishers the ability to run numerous formats, including overlays. Truly no one can claim rights to the overlay format any longer, if they ever could. VideoEgg has claimed to be the first, and if they're right hen good on 'em, though I suspect the cable nets might have something to say about that.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 13, 2007

Santa Goes for the Wallet

Three Santas are dancing their way through the holiday season in an ad that appeared on AOL.com this week.

"House Payments Fall Again!" reads the ad for LowerMyBills.com, which promises to match consumers with up to five lenders once they disclose their home value, mortgage balance, ZIP code and other information.

Clearly aiming for cash-pinched homeowners during the holiday season, the dancing Santas looked like they're having a jolly good old time. What about poor Rudolph?

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 12, 2007

FreeRice.com Tests Your Vocabulary

A sister site to Poverty.com, FreeRice.com offers an adaptive vocabulary quiz and donates 10 grains of rice through the United Nations for each correct answer. The site's goal is to help end world hunger. Advertisers include Toshiba, Apple, iTunes, Radisson Hotels & Resorts, American Express, Macy's, Fujitsu. Ads rotate below each vocabulary screen where site visitors are asked to pick the word that matches the vocabulary term, such as alveolate (which means honeycombed); prestidigitator (magician); and adjuration (appeal).

Posted by Enid Burns at 2:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

November 8, 2007

Quote of the day: optimizing to the Nth

"Everyone's coming out with these solutions that are trying to optimize something to the Nth level, but if you can't get the basics right, there's no point in the Nth level. You'll see these behavioral targeting firms that say they get a 200 percent lift... but that's often because the client wasn't doing anything to begin with."

-Dave Murphy, general manager of Sapient's BridgeTrack division, during an interview at ad:tech.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 7, 2007

Helium.com Builds Direct Sales Force, Ad Safe Areas

Post written by Fred Aun

Helium.com, which cuts its writer-contributors in on a share of ad revenues, is on the verge of hiring a direct sales team.

Helium aims to begin selling direct in the early part of 2008, and its goal is “to build tighter partnerships around brand advertising,” according to President and CEO Mark Ranalli. The site is visited by two million unique users monthly, up from 100,000 six months ago, but it's still trafficking inventory largely through ad networks.

Ranalli says the site and its writers are “building little buckets of community” where people will gather to read and write about their passions. He adds the site’s story-ranking system creates havens of content where advertisers "can feel far more confident they are advertisng next to high-quality content and content packaged into the brand."

Unlike many other sites that are based on user-generated content, Helium offers contributors a share of ad revenues based on the popularity of their articles. It just unveiled a new member benefit and referral program called “Invite a Writer,” where members can introduce friends to the site earn an extra 5 percent of article earnings for every article written by the people they invite. Helium also allows members to donate to non-profit organizations some or all of their earnings.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interview: Denuo's Tim Hanlon on dynamic ads in time-shifted TV content

While researching a feature on advertising in time-shifted television content, published on ClickZ today, I spoke with Tim Hanlon, EVP of Ventures at Publicis-owned strategic consultancy Denuo. Hanlon had a lot to say about various impedances to advanced targeting and optimization of campaigns for VOD content. A few of his comments below:

On the lack of dynamic ad insertion in on-demand TV content:

In VOD environments, I’m incredulous that the cable community still operates in a ridiculous fashion, with two and three month lead times to insert an ad into the stream. The ability to measure it on the back end is months after the fact.

It's less an issue of the advertiser and the programmer. It's almost squarely the fault of the intransigence and slowness of the cable operator, for whatever reason.

On the inevitability of dynamic ad placements in VOD:

The ability to do more real time ad insertion in non-linear video environments including those of television is an absolute inevitability. The advertisers have gotten very comfortable with that process online. The ability to real time insert, real time optimize... we're starting to see the beginnings of that in online video as well. But again, that bigger nut, what if we could do that in classic television environments -- not only in linear, tune in now, but also non-linear viewing.

As Nielsen has shown, people watch television on their own time frames. It stands to reason that dynamic ad insertion in non-linear video environments is absolutely crucial for the financial underpinnings of the television business. Television advertising cannot be just a linear event; it also needs to be a non-linear event.

On who owns the client dollars:

Broadband video has been an interesting jump ball in the agency world in the last few years, particularly television groups that want to own video across multiple touch points.

How VOD comes into play is similarly challenged. You're going to see interactive people and classic television people grapple for the stewardship of that behavior. It's both. It's not like buying CPMs in the TV environment. A lot of the data are a little more optimizeable and adjustable.

It's going to be an interesting battle, and maybe an ugly one, because of these ridiculous little silos that exist in the agency world. Perhaps among other things it finally forces the melding of that which is digital and that which is classic media once and for all.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 6, 2007

Bad Ad Targeting Happens

I'm in the ClickZ office in Manhattan. It's cold. It's rainy. It's November 6. I just got served this ad on NYTimes.com. It's for Andersen's TruScene Insect Screens. Not only is it not the right time of year for this ad here in the northeast, there's an Arizona-like landscape displayed beyond the insect screens. Not exactly what I see when I look out the window here or anywhere around here.

The ad is certainly inappropriate geographi