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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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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 (7) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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.

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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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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) | TrackBack

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 a