Meebo: We’re making bank

Article Link: CNet News

Article Author: Rafe Needleman

Article Date: 09-June-09

From the Article:

I got an impenetrable pitch from Meebo Monday about some new features in the company’s “Community IM” program that we covered in October. The note said, “Content sites interested in increasing the volume of content sharing, but without their own social graph, can use the multi-network IM feature to expand their reach and drive social interactions.”

Following up — because I do love a puzzle and I remain curious about Meebo’s business — I learned that Meebo is expanding its chat product that sites like CafeMom are using with a few features that link those users into the broader Meebo network and into new Meebo features. And also that Meebo’s making money, which I never expected.

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Digg Plans Social Ads

Article Link: Adweek

Article Author: Brian Morrissey

Article Date: 04-June-09

From the Article:

NEW YORK Social news site Digg is rolling out its first major ad product, borrowing a page from Facebook by designing units that mimic the site experience itself.

The new Digg Ads will look much the same as other site content: a headline, thumbnail photo and link to another site. They will appear within the stream of headlines on Digg pages and provide the same options for users to “Digg” or “bury” links and leave comments.

Move Over, Q Scores

Article Link: Adage

Article Author: Wayne Arnold

Article Date: 01 -June-09

From the Article:

As Simon Clift of Unilever made clear at the Ad Age Digital Conference recently, brands no longer have total control of the communications surrounding their products or even the positioning of them. That power is now in the hands of the digital consumer. Ford agrees. It’s just asked 100 bloggers to launch the Fiesta in the U.S.

Every week I read about a campaign headed in that direction. Skittles and Land Rover had their respective Twitter experiments, and while we are yet to find out if candy flew off the shelves and more 4x4s hit the road, I applaud their willingness and bravery in stress testing what I, too, think are the new rules.

MySpace Experimenting With Interactive Ads Powered By SocialMedia

Article Link: TechCrunch

Article Author: Jason Kincaid

Article Date: 01 -June-09

From the Article:

At this morning’s Conversational Marketing Summit in New York, SocialMedia CEO Seth Goldstein revealed that the advertising company had been working with MySpace to develop and deploy ‘Interaction Ads’ – an advertising product that can prompt a MySpace member for input and use that, along with MySpace’s social graph, to tailor the advertising shown to their friends.

Twitter Proves Its Worth as a Killer App for Local Businesses

Article Link:  Ad Age 

Article Author:  ABBEY KLASSEN

Article Date:  18-May-09

From the Article :

“Naked Pizza, a New Orleans healthful-pizza shop that’s hoping to go national — Mark Cuban is a backer — has been marketing itself via the microblogging service. And recently it has started to track Twitter-spurred sales at the register. In a test run April 23, an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day’s business.”

 

http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=136662

TV’s 2009 Branded Entertainment Deal Style: Crew Cut Or Mullet?

Article Link:  Media Post

Article Author: WAYNE FRIEDMAN

Article Date: 4-May-09

 

From the Article :

“I don’t feel that we really are in the hands of the sponsors,” Cowell recently told The Hollywood Reporter. “Let’s put it this way: We don’t get any orders. So I’ve got a Coke cup in front of me. Who cares? I don’t like Coca-Cola.”

But here’s the deal: If more TV networks take on more reality shows — due to reining in TV production costs — you can bet there’ll be more product placement this fall. That’s just a fact.”

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=105323

Same Cow, No Matter How You Slice It?

Article Link: New York Times

Article Author: KIM SEVERSON

Article Date: 29-Apr-09

From the Article :

The idea was simple. Dig around in the carcass and find muscles that, when separated and sliced in a certain way, were tender and tasty enough to be sold as a steak or a roast. “People know how to cook steaks,” said Dave Zino, executive director of the cattlemen’s Beef and Veal Culinary Center.

The Denver was invented after meat and marketing experts spent more than $1.5 million and five years on the largest study anyone had ever done on the edible anatomy of a steer.

Ad network Collective Media raises $20M more, targets the big three

Article Source: http://venturebeat.com/

Article Link: http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/12/ad-network-collective-media-raises-20m-more-targets-the-big-three/

Article Author: Matt Marshall

Article Date: 12-Apr-09

“Collective Media, an ad network you probably haven’t heard of, has been slowly rising through the ranks of ad networks. It is the 19th largest ad network, according to the most recent Comscore data (February), up from 21st last year.

It has just raised $20 million more in a financing round led by Accel Partners, with iNovia Capital participating.”

Display Is Not The Problem; The Scoring Methods Are

Article Source: http://www.paidcontent.org

Article Link: http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-interview-scott-howe-msfts-ad-pub-group-display-is-not-the-problem-the-/

Article Author: David Kaplan

Article Date: 25-Feb-09

“This industry shouldn’t feel bad about anything. At the end of the day, we have to keep things in perspective. The economy around us is bad and the ad sector is being hit hard. Within that online is still a bright spot. Eyeballs are still moving to online media, and in many sectors, spending is increasing dramatically. And so, yes, is it disappointing, absolutely; is it a catastrophe? Absolutely not. This is just a bump in the road to where we’re going – and that is to a world where advertising is digital and media is accountable, allowing creativity to flourish. “

Making Great Online Ad Creative

Article Source: http://www.davechaffey.com

Article Link: http://www.davechaffey.com/Internet-Marketing/C8-Communications/E-tools/Interactive-Advertising/online-advertising-creative-tips/

Article Author: Dave Chaffey

The questions to ask are … Is the ad…

A. Consistently branded?

• Is every frame in the advert branded?
• Is the product name clearly referenced?
• Would the branding be consistent without the logo?
• What interest or value does it offer? Particularly effective are:
  • Time limited offers (this week only, final week)
  • Unique web offers – only available online
  • Surveys / polls / questions

B. Clear? With a…

• Clear primary offer / message ?
• Clear secondary offer / message ?
• Have you communicated message in 3-4 frames or less?

C. Response driven

Will the advert drive response?

• Is the call to action in every/most frames?
• Which product / theme is the ad about
• Which search would it prompt : “Brand” + ??
• Does it include URL (www.domain.com) if creating awareness of a newly launched site?

D.Interactive

Is the ad interactive:

• Prompting rollover if it is an expandable banner (the example below doesn’t do this)
• Encouraging interaction through mouse rollovers – those it give a feedback loop
• Encouraging interaction through data entry or slider controls.

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