ClickZ News Blog http://blog.clickz.com/ For-the-record observations, notes, and commentary from ClickZ editors on interactive advertising and marketing news and trends. en Copyright 2009 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:57:13 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=4.25 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Those Filthy Scrubbing Bubbles

Shiny Suds from People Against Dirty on Vimeo.

Method's perfectly executed parody of old-time bathroom cleaner ads, released this week, makes other house cleaners look positively filthy. The magic happens at the end of a send-up of Dow's Scrubbing Bubbles commercials (example from 1978 below), when mom pops into the shower only to find those same bubbles still lingering, transformed into creepy chemical voyeurs. The video resides at PeopleAgainstDirty.com, which Method created to support two Household Product Labeling Acts in the House and Senate. The tag line: "When did clean become so dirty?"

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091120-115713.html http://blog.clickz.com/091120-115713.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:57:13 -0500 Facebook Lets Page Owners Target Content by Region adidas-chile-fb.jpg

Facebook has added an important new feature for Page owners with large numbers of geographically distributed fans. The capability allows Page admins to target content by location and language, offering brands, celebrities and major media orgs the promise of more relevant messaging.

Using the function, a large brand like Adidas (above) can publish details about an event in Chile to its acolytes in that country.

Facebook's blog post about the feature has a few additional details:

A dialog box will appear in which you can enter locations and languages. You can begin by entering a country in the "Locations" field. Based on the country you enter, additional options for state/province and city may also appear. Next, you may want to enter a language in the "Languages" field. You can enter multiple locations and languages based on the fans you are interested in reaching with your post.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091120-104317.html http://blog.clickz.com/091120-104317.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:43:17 -0500 Facebook Ads Product Has Customer Service Issues A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Facebook Ads Has Customer Support Problems
aimClear Blog
A rant about one agency's struggle to obtain decent service from Facebook.

The Counterculture Club
FT.com
A compelling profile of Vice, the multiplatform media and advertising company that started as a hipster magazine.

Google Promotes Content Network "Blast"
AdWords Agency Blog
Previously used mainly by political ad buyers, the company is now promoting its network blast ad buying option to commercial marketers.

Adknowledge Buys Ad Network SocialMedia
TechCrunch
Acquires SocialMedia.com -- a specialist in ad campaigns on social media apps -- for an undisclosed sum.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091119-110729.html http://blog.clickz.com/091119-110729.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:07:29 -0500 Google Branded Phone a Reality A few stories of note from around the Web:

The Google Phone Is Very Real. And It's Coming Soon
TechCrunch
Google-branded phone to be sold directly through retailers. Will be produced by a major manufacturer and available in early 2010.

Microsoft, Yahoo Poised to Sign Search Deal
AllThingsD
Once official deal is signed, the only barrier to its implementation will be regulatory approval.

Yahoo Go to be Shut Down
TechCrunch
Once a mainstay of Yahoo's mobile strategy, the Go application may have outlived its usefulness.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091118-115726.html http://blog.clickz.com/091118-115726.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:57:26 -0500 EVB's Impressive Stop-Motion Video for Orbit Gum
EVB made the above stop-motion animated video for Wrigley's Orbit gum. The ad features 500 drawings that depict a rolling ball of paper, which morphs into a swarm of mouths that clean up a dirty old house. The ad camn be viewed at the OrbitCleanItUp YouTube channel, where it has picked up 37,000 views.

EVB was one of three digital agencies to win Wrigley's business, the company said last week. The digital account previously belonged to Tribal DDB, Digitas, and Agency.com, AdAge reported.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091118-114757.html http://blog.clickz.com/091118-114757.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:47:57 -0500 Will AOL Try to Replace TMZ? As you may have read, TMZ will no longer be part of the AOL family once it splits from Time Warner, which will operate the site instead. AOL confirmed this with me today.

So, is this a blow to AOL from an advertising sales perspective? Well, TMZ took ad sales in-house in July. So, it may not even be a boon for Time's sales staff.

However, TMZ has been a nice jewel for AOL to show off when hyping its owned properties, at least from a branding perspective. In May, comScore Media Metrix ranked the celeb gossip site second in its entertainment news category, with 9.2 million unique visitors - second to Omg.com's 12.5 million in May.

The company in January unveiled its MediaGlow publishing unit, which included TMZ, Moviefone, and others. The firm said at the time they'd roll out 30 new sites this year.

In its positioning in front of advertisers and agencies, AOL has made a big deal of its plans to ramp up its owned content. It's pointed to MediaGlow traffic growth on sites like FanHouse, BlackVoices, AOL Health, StyleList.com, and Engadget.

And consider this: AOL downplays TMZ in its own site navigation. Clicking "Celebrity News" takes users to its pop culture site Popeater.com, while TMZ is far below that link on the nav.

Still, even if AOL intends for Popeater to compete with TMZ, or plans to acquire or build out another celeb gossip property, it will have a lot of catching up to do. According to Quantcast's direct measurement, TMZ grabbed 4.4 million uniques last week, while Quantcast's estimated weekly traffic for Popeater.com since 2007 is pegged at 806,000 uniques.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091117-171347.html http://blog.clickz.com/091117-171347.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:13:47 -0500 RockYou Raises $50 Million in VC Funding A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

RockYou Raises $50 Million In Venture Capital (TechCrunch)

Google Strikes YouTube Deal With Univision (Dow Jones Newswires)

The Problem With AOL's Media Strategy (Business Insider)

Does the Industry Need Big Digital Agencies Anymore? (AdAge)

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091117-122000.html http://blog.clickz.com/091117-122000.html Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:20:00 -0500 SEM Gets Juiced Wow, has search marketing come a long way. I just did a Google search for "Flu preventions" and one of the top advertisers is the Florida Department of Citrus. "Fight those nasty cold and flu bugs by drinking Florida orange juice!" exclaims the ad, linking to FloridaJuice.com.

Vacuum maker Oreck is also running ads against flu prevention searches, promising "Free Gifts & Free Shipping."

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091116-155332.html http://blog.clickz.com/091116-155332.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:53:32 -0500 Millennial Media Gets $16M in New Funding A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Millennial Media Gets $16M in New Funding Money will be used to fuel growth and international expansion. (Baltimore Sun)

Is Marketing a Strategic Resource or a Procured Commodity? Interactive Advertising Bureau CEO Randy Rothenberg pens another screed on the importance of the big idea, among other things. (I, a Bee)

In Detroit, Agencies Compete to Sell City as a Creative Haven (New York Times)

Mobile Ads: Wait Until Next Year (AdWeek)

President Obama Admits He Has Never Used Twitter (TechCrunch)

How Microsoft's Verizon Deal Got Hijacked (AdAge)

YouTube Succumbs To Branding As Warner Music Begins Its Return (TechCrunch)

Annals of Weird Advertising Dead body spam appears in World of Warcraft (MIT Advertising Lab)

Class-action Suits Could Hit Facebook, MySpace Over Scam Offers (Venture Beat)

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091116-122200.html http://blog.clickz.com/091116-122200.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:22:00 -0500 Guitar Center Breathes New Life Into Dull 'Wish List' Genre GCenter_Headline[3].jpg


Guitar Center is spicing up the worn-out genre of wish lists with an interactive tool that lets people say "gimme" with a bit of style and attitude.

Visitors to the music retailer's Web site can use the Wish List poster generator to create online rock posters in one of a number of styles, including indie, 60s, garage, new wave, rockabilly, punk, and metal. The application lets musicians drag guitars, amps, cables and other products into the template of their choosing; upload their own image; and disseminate the final product on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

Poster creators are also sent a coupon for 10 percent off a single item. Which is a good thing, because hey, at least you'll get a few bucks off your next box of picks when your dad fails to spring for that $999 Bass Pro Power Amp.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091113-104847.html http://blog.clickz.com/091113-104847.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:48:47 -0500 Search Evangelism A poster seen on a NYC subway for Marble Collegiate Church.

GoogleGod.jpeg

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091113-101904.html http://blog.clickz.com/091113-101904.html Google Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:19:04 -0500 Google Adds Analytics to DoubleClick for Advertisers Google has unveiled two incremental changes to DoubleClick for media planning and analytics. It's all part of Google's hope to attract more display ad dollars.

The company described its new DFA Analytics tool as similar to Google Analytics. It will allow marketers to get regular campaign performance updates, in chart and graph form, and broken down by advertiser, campaigns, site, etc.

Also, for media planning, trafficking and reporting, marketers can now access Google Ad Planner within DFA. Both changes are available only in DFA 6.

Google called the new offerings, "just the beginning to a more unified, efficient, and effective advertising platform."

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091112-140624.html http://blog.clickz.com/091112-140624.html Advertising Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:06:24 -0500 Seafood Industry Fights NYT Story with AdWords Campaign A few stories ClickZ's editors are reading:

Seafood Industry Fights NYT Story with AdWords Campaign (Nieman Journalism Lab)

Wrigley Drops Tribal DDB, Digitas and Agency.com for Digital (AdAge)

Murdoch could block Google searches entirely (Guardian)

AOL Laying Off 100 Today (ValleyWag)

Twitter Hit Sh*t My Dad Says Heads to TV (Hollywood Reporter)

RIM Unveils Advertising, Payment and Location Services for BlackBerry Developers

Squatters Take Over Twitter Names (AdAge)

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091110-164443.html http://blog.clickz.com/091110-164443.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:44:43 -0500 Free Wi-Fi the Latest Battleground in Search Wars? Remember when the search engine wars were about search? These days, it's a given that Google won on that front, but that's not stopping Yahoo and Microsoft from trying to beat Google at another game: free Wi-Fi. But, as usual, Google's getting involved too.

Yahoo is providing free Wi-Fi in New York's Times Square, complete with a landing page chock-full of links to Yahoo Local listings, Flickr photos, Yahoo News, and ads for Yahoo's new home page. There's also local events content from the Times Square Alliance, Yahoo's partner in the deal.

Microsoft has teamed up with Wi-Fi directory provider JiWire in its Ads for Access program. Under that program, Wi-Fi users at any participating hotspot (mainly in airports and hotels) can get free access, if they agree to perform a search on Microsoft's Bing search engine.

Google is offering free Wi-Fi at 47 U.S. airports, and on every Virgin America flight. Beginning next week, Google will run a photo contest on its Picasa service, where users can submit photos of themselves using Google's free Wi-Fi service to win prizes. Google is also matching donations to participating non-profits, made through Google Checkout from those Wi-Fi locations.

All of these services are temporary, running through the holidays and ending in early January.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091110-110512.html http://blog.clickz.com/091110-110512.html Search Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:05:12 -0500 Tagged Settles with New York and Texas Over E-Mail Offenses Tagged has settled with two states over allegedly deceptive e-mail invitation practices, reported here in June.

The company will pay a total of $750,000 in penalties and legal fees to New York and Texas, and has added new privacy and security controls to its invite-a-friend system.

Over the summer New York Attorney General Andy Cuomo filed an intent to sue against Tagged, alleging the social networking site fraudulently induced people to sign up by indiscriminately sending e-mail invitations to its existing users' contacts. It said Tagged then falsely informed those contacts that the account holder had sent them photos.

In both New York and Texas, the e-mail blasts were called as a violation of deceptive trade laws.

Under terms of the settlements, Tagged agreed to pay New York $500,000 in penalties and legal costs. Texas will get $250,000.

More information is available on Tagged's blog, and on the New York AG and Texas AG Web sites.

]]> http://blog.clickz.com/091110-103339.html http://blog.clickz.com/091110-103339.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:33:39 -0500