Article Link:  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=109038

Article Author: Laurie Sullivan

Article Date: 1-Jul-09

From the Article:

“Geier recalls how Laura Christine, vice president of direct marketing and e-commerce at shoemaker Skechers USA, told attendees at the Internet Retailer 2009 conference in June that she put 94% of the company’s entire online budget into retargeting. Christine reduced Skechers’ partnerships to seven ad networks from 20. While Geier couldn’t recall her exact return on investment, he says the ROI exceeded 200% on more than $2 million in revenue.”

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=109038

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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.

Apps Are Booming as Companies Seek a Place on Your Phone

Article Link: New York Times

Article Author: Jenna Wortham

Article Date: 07-June-09

From the Article:

Developers of programs for the iPhone have already managed to make a decent living selling hundreds of thousands of copies of games from their living rooms or garages.

But now, a new way to profit from writing software for the iPhone is emerging: Sell the apps, then sell your company.

With the number of downloads through Apple’s App Store topping one billion and more than 40 million iPhones and iPod Touches sold since 2007, an increasing number of companies are seeing the mobile industry as a source of sustained revenue. Recently, IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Internet media conglomerate founded by Barry Diller, and Amazon.com, have bought app developers. Smaller companies have begun to assemble properties.

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.

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.”

The iPhone casts a giant shadow on the Web

Article Link: Fortune Blogs

Article Author: Philip Elmer-DeWitt

Article Date: 27-May-09

From the Article:

Here’s a pie chart that should warm Steve Jobs’ heart. That big blue slice covering 59% of the pie represents Apple’s (AAPL) share of the U.S. smartphone traffic in April as measured by AdMob, the world’s largest purveyor of ads on mobile apps and websites.

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

Do You Know Where Your Data Are?

Article Link: WSJ

Article Author: BRUCE SCHNEIER  

Article Date: 28-Apr-09

From the Article :

Do you know what your data did last night? Almost none of more than 27 million people who took the RealAge quiz realized that their personal health data was soldto drug companies, who in turned used that information for targeted e-mail marketing campaigns.

There’s a basic consumer protection principle at work here, and it’s the concept of “unfair and deceptive” trade practices. Basically, a company shouldn’t be able to say one thing and do another: sell used goods as new, lie on ingredients lists, advertise prices that aren’t generally available, claim features that don’t exist, and so on.

Disney Expert Uses Science to Draw Boy Viewers

Article Source: New York Times

Article Link: NYTimes – Disney

Article Author: Brook Barnes

Article Date: 14-Apr-09

From the Article :

“LOS ANGELES — Kelly Peña, or “the kid whisperer,” as some Hollywood producers call her, was digging through a 12-year-old boy’s dresser drawer here on a recent afternoon. Her undercover mission: to unearth what makes him tick and use the findings to help the Walt Disney Company reassert itself as a cultural force among boys.”

Ford Takes Online Gamble With New Fiesta

Article Source: Wall Street Journal

Article Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123915162156099499.html

Article Author: Matthew Dolan

Article Date: 08-Apr-09

From the Article :

“Auto makers must boost fuel economy under new government regulations, and a sure way to do that is promote small cars. But that poses a challenge for Detroit: How can the Big Three battle back in a market segment dominated by foreign rivals such as Toyota and Honda?

The latest attempt is just getting under way at Ford Motor Co. The company has picked 100 young, Web-savvy drivers to get behind the wheel of its new Ford Fiesta subcompact for six months and post their impressions on sites such as YouTube, Flickr and Twitter.”

“Ford selected the 100 participants from more than 4,000 video submissions viewed more than 640,000 times online. Ford assigned applicants two scores: a “social vibrancy” rating based on how much they were followed online and across how many platforms; and an overall grade based on those factors plus creativity, video skills and their ability to hook a viewer within the first five to 10 seconds.”