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.

Advertisement

Revenue at Craigslist Is Said to Top $100 Million

Article Link: Nytimes

Article Author: Brad Stone

Article Date: 09-June-09

From the Article:

As the newspaper industry and its classified advertising business wither, one company appears to be doing extraordinarily well: Craigslist The Internet classified ads company, which promotes its “relatively noncommercial nature” and “service mission” on its site, is projected to bring in more than $100 million in revenue this year, according to a new study from Classified Intelligence Report, a publication of AIM Group, a media and Web consultant firm in Orlando, Fla.

Microsoft Hopes Bing’s Richer Results Will Drive Ad Dollars

Article Link: ClickZ

Article Author: Jack Marshall

Article Date: 03 -June-09

From the Article:

Microsoft says its new ad offerings will “go beyond the blue links.” The engine will integrate results from other Microsoft properties, such as shopping information from Ciao, and mapping content from Multimap, and offer display and cost-per-lead ad products in addition to keyword-driven sponsored search listings.

For example, a search for shoes will return Web results, sponsored listings, and cost-per-lead driven shopping results on the same page. Likewise, searches for geographic destinations will return sponsored location listings within mapping information. In addition, Microsoft plans to offer demographic and geographic search targeting capabilities, alongside location specific content and results.

Microsoft’s Bing Makes Ad Entry

Article Link: Adweek

Article Author: Adweek Staff

Article Date: 03 -June-09

From the Article:

NEW YORK Microsoft positions Bing as the cure for digital information overload and search-results clutter in a campaign breaking today from JWT.

The first spot in an estimated $100 million ad push makes a point of calling Bing a “results engine,” while employing narration and visuals designed to portray the new service as providing more directed and focused data for users.

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.

Hulu Will Be Profitable “Very Soon,” Says NBC CEO

Article Link: Silicon Alley Insider

Article Author:  Nicholas Carlson

Article Date: 29-May-09

From the Article:

NBC CEO Jeff Zucker took the stage at the All Things D conference for an interview with Kara Swisher. We’ve embedded the clip below. Toward the end of the interview, Jeff says he expects Web TV startup Hulu, which NBC owns along with News Corp, Disney and Providence Equity partners, to be profitable “soon.”

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

What Talent-Agency Merger Could Mean for Brands

Article Link: AdvertsingAge

Article Author: CLAUDE BRODESSER-AKNER

Article Date: 28-Apr-09

From the Article :
“So with the declining influence of movie stars and plunging ratings in network TV, Ogilvy’s Mr. Scott said, “agents from all the [Hollywood talent] agencies are getting more and more involved in the brand deal-making process,” entering territory that was once the provenance solely of corporate-advisory agents.”

http://adage.com/madisonandvine/article?article_id=136304