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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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 search engine Topsy launches with $15M

Article Link: VentureBeat

Article Author: Camille Ricketts                  

Article Date: 01-June-09

From the Article:

Topsy.com, launched last week, is a brand new search engine focused exclusively on Twitter content. Like Google, it presents its results based on popularity metrics, namely the popularity or influence of the tweeter in question — a factor determined by how many followers the user has and how many time his or her messages have been re-tweeted.

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

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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Crisis? What Crisis?

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

Article Link: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3629741

Article Author: Fred Aun, June 2nd 2008

“According to a summary of IDC’s new “U.S. Internet Advertising 2008-2012 Forecast and Analysis: Defining Economic Crisis,” Internet advertising will boom during the coming years despite a general “contraction in ad spending overall.” IDC believes overall Internet advertising revenue will double from $25.5 billion in 2007 to $51.1 billion in 2012, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 14.9 percent.

The company predicts the Internet’s share of the overall U.S. advertising market will increase from 8.6 percent to 15.6 percent during the period and will be second only to direct marketing by 2012, blowing past broadcast television and newspapers along the way.

“Even though spending on advertising overall will contract this year, spending on Internet advertising still increases,” said IDC Program Director, Digital Media and Entertainment Karsten Weide, who authored the new report. “What that means is that advertisers are accelerating moving budgets out of the old media and into the new.”

IDC believes search ads will remain at the top of the Internet ad hierarchy with revenue, pegged at $10.4 billion last year, to reach almost $18 billion in 2012. But search will lose a bit of its market share as other formats, primarily video, gain ground. IDC believes search, now having almost 41 percent of the market share, will have just above 34 percent by 2012. ”

 

CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

Brands Embrace Online Video, But Play It Safe

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

Article Link: http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630320

Article Author: By Anna Maria Virzi

Are Big Brands Risk Averse?

Some brand advertisers are establishing microsites on the Web and developing their own YouTube channels. Others are running ads accompanying streaming television shows and movies appearing on Hulu, a joint venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.

“Most of my clients are fairly conservative,” explained Chris Allen, vice president/director of video innovation, Starcom USA. “We have not seen a rush to support user-generated content.”

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Web video advertising: awaiting the boom

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

Article Author: By Kenneth Li and Paul Thomasch, (Additional reporting by Kate Holton in London and Nicola Leske in Paris; Editing by Braden Reddall)

Article Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2249916320080522

Thu May 22, 2008 7:44pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Any conversation about hot spots in advertising inevitably swings toward online video, with marketers anxious to reach a huge audience watching their favorite TV show or homemade videos on the Web.

Why, then, did U.S. marketers spend just $471 million on online video advertising last year, according to Forrester, representing only 2.6 percent of all interactive marketing?

Executives attending the Reuters Global Technology, Media and Telecoms Summit this week cite inexperienced creative and sales staff and fear of the unknown among the roadblocks for online video advertising.

They widely agreed, however, that it was only a matter of time before it takes off.

“You have some terrible ads which we could be ashamed of and you have some great ads,” Publicis (PUBP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) Chairman and Chief Executive Maurice Levy said.

TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE CLICK HERE: http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUSN2249916320080522