Online Advertising News

Feeds

19052 items (19052 unread) in 24 feeds

• AdExchanger.com: Exchanging Ideas On Digital Media Optimization (778 unread)
• Mike On Ads (16 unread)
• Oxyfish (13 unread)
• JayWeintraub.com - Internet Advertising Analysis and Commentary (21 unread)
• Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) (39 unread)
• cliqology (42 unread)
• JohnDeMayo.com: Internet Advertising Insight (13 unread)
• Greg Hills (10 unread)
• Home - ClickZ (2547 unread)
• WebProNews Feed (4480 unread)
• Darren Herman (109 unread)
• Lies, Damned Lies... (15 unread)
• Advertising Age - Digital (1011 unread)
• Adweek.com - Digital News (1272 unread)
• eMarketer Articles and Blog Posts (718 unread)
• AdOperationsOnline.com (696 unread)
• Local Media Watch - BIA/Kelsey (622 unread)
• Inside the Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog (251 unread)
• digiday:DAILY Stories Feed: (1703 unread)
• MarketingProfs Daily (763 unread)
• JackMyers.com Top Stories (163 unread)
• MediaBizBloggers (798 unread)
• Posts from the Econsultancy blog (1666 unread)
• Mobile Marketing Watch (1306 unread)

Unread items (100)

• February 04, 2012
• 14:43

  Google Wallet On Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S (AT&T), According to Reports

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Several reports have come out indicating that AT&T has quietly begun allowing users of the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S NFC-enabled smartphones to download Google Wallet. Slashgear reports that the download requires that an AT&T SIM be loaded into the …
• 13:49

  Pizza Hut Super Bowl Infographic Compares Pizza To Search, Social Media

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  It goes without saying that Pizza Hut will sell a lot of pizza over Super Bowl weekend. To illustrate this, however, the popular pizza chain has put out the following infographic making some interesting comparisons. They posted it to their …

• 13:20

  How Honda's Super Bowl Ads Got 12M Views

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Ad agency RPA describes what happened behind the scenes.

• 12:24

  Google Shows Twitter Results In “Search Plus Your World” Fashion

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Ian Lurie at Conversion Marketing claims to have seen Twitter results appearing in Google search results in “Search Plus Your World” fashion. He shows a screen cap to back up his claim. It’s not the People and Places box or …
  
• 11:52

  Madden 12 For Android, iPhone On Sale For 99 Cents Ahead Of Super Bowl

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Update: The game is on sale for 99 cents on both Android and iOS. EA Sports has decided to reduce the price of Madden 12 for Android ahead of the Super Bowl. It’s usually $4.99, but if you go the …
• 11:35

  Best And Worst Super Bowl Ads: Vote On Facebook

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Facebook and USA Today are hosting an “Ad Meter” at facebook.com/sports, where people can go to express who had the best and worst Super Bowl ads by casting votes. The voting starts at kickoff, and runs until 6PM ET on …
• 11:20

  Madonna on Google+: MDNA #1 On iTunes, Publicist: No Girls Gone Wild For Super Bowl

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Madonna is set to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime Show this weekend, on Friday, she released her new music video for Give Me All Your Luvin’ (Feat. M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj) on YouTube. Google says she’s supposed to be …
• 10:53

  Anonymous Hits Law Firm From Haditha Killings Defense

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  On Friday, Anonymous released documents (including 3GB worth of emails) from the law firm that defended marine Sgt. Frank Wuterich. Wuterich is allegedly responsible for leading the charge in the killings of unarmed civilians (including women and children) in Haditha, …
• 10:12

  Copyright Reform or ACTA?

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Which method is best for combating piracy and other forms of Internet related intellectual property infringement? If you were to listen the average European Union citizen, the reaction towards ACTA has been understandably negative. However, various governments of the European …
• 10:08

  Café Kauko Brings New Meaning to Internet Café

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  In Helsinki, Finland, there’s a new café called Café Kauko. It’s an Internet café in a different sense that what you’re probably used to. The actual experience of the café itself is controlled by the Internet. Here’s a look: Patrons …
• 9:41

  Chrome Market Share Down Following PageRank Penalty

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  This is some unexpected news. Chrome’s market share has actually fallen? That’s the case according to new data from Net Applications. document.getElementById("na634639479235823277").src="http://www.netmarketshare.com/report.aspx?qprid=1"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qptimeframe=M"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpsp=146"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpnp=11"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpdt=1"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpct=4"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpcustom=Microsoft+Internet+Explorer%2cChrome%2cFirefox"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpcustomb=0"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpf=16"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpwidth=616"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpdisplay=1111"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"qpmr=10"+String.fromCharCode(38)+"site="+window.location.hostname The firm attributes the loss in Chrome market share to the penalty Google placed on it after the …
• 8:37

  Google Privacy Changes: Google Won’t Pause Rollout For EU / CNIL

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  This week, the European Union and France’s National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL) asked Google to pause the rollout of its new privacy policy changes. The reason? To provide time for the EU’s Article 29 Working Party, which …
• 8:10

  Facebook Mobile Ads Are Not In Pilot Testing [Updated]

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Update: False alarm, apparently. A Facebook spokesperson says: “We want to clarify that we are not working with any agency to create paid ads on our mobile platform.” Gelb clarified further: “I would like to clarify a statement I made …
• 8:02

  Firefox 11 Gets SPDY

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  It was just last week that Google was talking about SPDY gaining adoption. Google announced SPDY in 2009 as a protocol for transporting content over the web. SPDY, Google explained, was designed for minimizing latency through features like multiplexed streams, …
• 7:23

  Facebook Sponsored Stories: Unavoidable For Brands?

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Facebook is going public soon. You already knew that I’m sure. You probably also know that Facebook makes most of its money from ads. Not all of it, but a very significant portion. If the company’s relationship with Zynga ever …
• 5:06

  EXCLUSIVE: Salesforce Talks Desk.com, Its New Customer Service Platform

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Earlier this week, Salesforce announced the launch of a new customer service platform called Desk.com. The service is cloud-based and integrates social media as well as traditional channels including email and phone.

• 4:07

  Pepsi Rewards Social Check-Ins on Super Bowl Sunday

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Offers stickers and rewards to GetGlue users.

• 2:00

  Links for 2012-02-03 [del.icio.us]

   » ‎ Inside the Marketers Studio - David Berkowitz's Marketing Blog
  • ConnecTV - Welcome to Social TV
    Yet another social TV app to check out. Yay. "Television gets social with ConnecTV - the most comprehensive 2nd screen television app that allows you to automatically sync with your favorite shows, share the greatest TV moments with a singe touch and play along and chat with your friends in real-time."
  • Dacuda – Inventor of the Scanner Mouse
    Scanner built into a mouse - will be released by LG
  • Obvious Engine
    Excited to check this out: Obvious Engine is a vision-based augmented reality engine for indie games companies, digital artists, developers and brands. The engine can track the natural features of an image, which means you no longer have to use traditional markers and glyphs.
  • Ticket Buying Intelligence | Sports, Theater and Concert Tickets | TiqIQ
    Ticket buying engine

  

• February 03, 2012
• 23:47

  TV Ratings: Gimmick, Chicanery or Currency Manipulation? - Jonathan Steuer-TiVo

   » ‎ MediaBizBloggers
  How delightful! The New York Times has provided me with a perfect opportunity to continue my ranting! The February 2, 2012 front-page piece by Bill Carter on TV network ratings trickery provides a perfect illustration of just how broken the current TV ratings environment is. I'm appreciative of his generosity in providing a perfect follow-up to my last post, but unfortunately, he stops short of considering potential solutions, or of offering examples of the ways frustrated advertisers are trying to work through this problem.
• 23:47

  Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown and OMG! Gossip Girl Revealed - Top Moments from TVGuide.com

   » ‎ MediaBizBloggers
  What were your top moments?
• 23:47

  Abundance - The Future is Better Than You Think - Shelly Palmer

   » ‎ MediaBizBloggers
  This is why I am very excited about this new book Abundance - The Future is Better Than You Think, written by my friend Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, X PRIZE Foundation Chairman/CEO, and Steven Kotler, Science Journalist.
• 23:47

  Trim The Excess Fat From Your Media Plan - DailyTRA

   » ‎ MediaBizBloggers
  On January 17th, Paula Deen revealed that she was diagnosed with Diabetes three years prior. This startling revelation many claimed will have an adverse effect on Deen’s empire but that remains to be seen. In the meantime, Paula’s Best Dishes and Home Cooking programs continue to air on the Food Network.
• 23:47

  Facebook Reveals its Ad Revenues: "Wow This is A Massive ad Sales Business." Not at $100B Valuation it isn't - Matthew Kearney

   » ‎ MediaBizBloggers
  Anyone who saw the movie Social Network – fiction I know but pretty faithful to key facts – will know that there was an early disagreement between the founders: build ad revenues or traffic? Mark Zuckerberg didn't flinch and went for traffic, and the other guy (whose name I can never remember but nor can anyone else) headed to the exit door. Traffic exploded, – people's personal information, views and opinions became networked – investors poured in, and now, eight years on, comes the $100 billion IPO.
• 23:47

  Your Facebook Fans are "1 Percenters" - Ed Keller

   » ‎ MediaBizBloggers
  A growing legion of large brands is proud of the huge numbers of fans – often tens of millions –they have accumulated on Facebook. Social media pundits often liken them to an army of advocates, ready to engage on a moment's notice.

• 23:47

  Worth Reading: The Era of Constant Connectivity

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  Richard MacManus, editor-in-chief of ReadWriteWeb, explains how marketers and publishers need to get ready for the over-connected world.
• 23:47

  Social Data Shows Most Want Giants to Win

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  Looks like most people want the New York Giants to win this weekend, according to pre-game Super Bowl data from Clearspring.
• 23:47

  Is Yahoo Serious About Right Media?

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  Yahoo's got a new deal with AOL to use the Right Media Exchange. New Yahoo ad-trading boss Brian Silver thinks critics have it wrong about Right Media.
• 23:47

  5 Agency Facebook Pages With Personality

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  Check out Digiday's picks for five agency Facebook pages that do a good job of showcasing the agency's personality and creativity.
• 23:47

  Facebook Plans to Finally Run Mobile Ads

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  New rich-media ad formats will run across the social network’s mobile and desktop properties, according to an agency briefed on the offering.
• 23:47

  HuffPo’s $30M Bet on Streaming Video

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  AOL introduces the Huffington Post Streaming Network; a $30 million streaming video experiment.
• 23:47

  Worth Reading: Facebook’s Threat to the Open Web

   » ‎ digiday:DAILY Stories Feed:
  

  The Web is awash in data, but the move by big players like Facebook and Apple to colonize corners of the ecosystem are a threat to its free movement, warns Federated Media's John Battelle.

• 22:11

  NFL Stars Using ‘PlayUp’ to Connect with Fans on Super Bowl Sunday

   » ‎ Mobile Marketing Watch

  On Friday, the folks behind social network app PlayUp announced their partnership with St. Louis Rams Running Back Steven Jackson and Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stevie Johnson to give fans “a unique real-time interactive mobile experience around Super Bowl XLVI.”

  “I am extremely excited to be able to hang out and bond with my fans in the PlayUp app in real-time during the premier event on the sports calendar,” said Johnson. “I love being able to use social media to relate with my fans in ways never before possible, and the PlayUp app is great in that it lets me connect with them over our shared passion – football. It should be a remarkable game. Hopefully next year football fans will be using PlayUp to praise my team while we’re on our way to a Super Bowl victory!”

  Both stars have selected PlayUp as their preferred social media platform to interact with football fans during the biggest sporting event of the year.  On Super Bowl Sunday, Jackson and Johnson will be corresponding with fans in “interactive virtual hangouts” where fans can join and message with them about the action transpiring in Indianapolis.

  In addition to engaging with fans in their own public chat rooms, Jackson and Johnson will also be hopping to other rooms and chatting with additional football addicts. Jackson will be using his PlayUp username “sj39” and Johnson will be using “StevieJohnson13”.

  “We are thrilled that both stars are choosing PlayUp to engage with passionate football fans over the Super Bowl,” said Dennis Lee, PlayUp USA CEO. “PlayUp is making it easier than ever before for sports fans to connect with each other, along with their favorite athletes. We know football fans will love having the chance to interact with these outstanding players. Both Stevie Johnson and Steven Jackson are great partners for PlayUp given their love for their fans and the way they have successfully used social media to connect with them.”

  

  

  

  

• 17:59

  Adweek Video Exclusive: That Huffpo SD Sizzle Reel

   » ‎ Adweek.com - Digital News
  Adweek Video Exclusive: That Huffpo SD Sizzle Reel

  
  

  

• 17:24

  Interview: Does Facebook’s IPO Make Good Business Sense?

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Companies file for IPOs all the time, but the recent filing by social networking giant Facebook has seemed to connect with nearly everyone, and in a big way. On Wednesday, Facebook filed for its IPO in hopes to raise $5 billion or more, which would make it the largest initial public offering from an Internet or technology company.

• 16:49

  VW's 'Bark Side' Ad Loses Social Momentum

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Social activity involving the video dropped, but the video still had lots of views.

• 16:44

  Budweiser Super Bowl ad: something new or just another flash mob

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Yesterday, Budweiser released a video on YouTube of two amateur hockey teams surprised with pro treatment as screaming fans, cheerleaders and mascots attended their pick up game. This two minute spot is the extended version of their new ad premiering in Canada during the Super Bowl.

  Compared to the other Super Bowl ad promos bouncing around the internet, this one seemingly created an emotional connection with consumers that the other more gimmicky and "clever" ads, aren't delivering. But is this just another tired use of flash mobs in advertising?

  Budweiser's marketing manager, Ben Seaton, says no.

  "I'm not concerned that it will be labelled as another flash mob. That's not why we made it and that's not what it is. It's not the theme that makes it relatable and relevant. It's the fact that it is so touching and it's a great story."

  As flash mobs are mainly considered the thing of the past, why this approach? According to Seaton, Budweiser are big fans of hockey and part of its marketing strategy is to help provide more excitement and give more guys the opportunity to experience the game. The team behind the ad asked themselves how they could go and honour those guys who dedicate their lives to recreational hockey and give them an experience they'll never forget. This is the result:

  Ameer Khan was one of the players on the ice.

  Some guy shows up to watch one of our regular League games and later calls our team rep to say they would like to do a documentary about beer league hockey and if we would be interested in playing an exhibition game. So we show up at Port Credit Arena still not sure what's going on. The producer says just play and enjoy the game.

  After the 1st period we notice the Budweiser Zamboni. Then by the 2nd period there are mascots, play by play announcers and 500 screaming fans wearing our jerseys. The noise was insane, couldn’t even hear the ref's whistle.

  Rhys Howell, who saw the video as it made its rounds yesterday, said: "When I first saw the Budweiser video I was choked up because I instantly thought about how awesome those guys must have felt. How awesome would I have felt if I was on that rink when it happened? I guess that's what Budweiser want me to think and they want me to love Budweiser for changing my life if only for a moment."

  "One of the powers of this spot is that everyone dreams about playing in front of fans," comments Seaton. “So this has legs around the world. We've left it to the consumer and it is travelling quite well. We will drive traffic to see it during the Super Bowl and then put out new content, including a four minute behind the scene piece, every two or three days. The campaign will be supported through Facebook, Twitter and traditional digital marketing."

  Though there is growing attention around this video (which is at nearly half a million views in less than two days), not everyone is convinced of this approach. Leigh Caldwell of Inon states:

  If they'd done it eight years ago it would have been original, heart-warming and surprising. We'd have watched it over and over on that new "YouTube" thing and emailed it to our friends on AIM. In 2012, it's trite, obvious and more likely to lead to a bunch of quickly-edited parodies on YouTube than to any genuine affection. Anyone who doesn't already love hockey isn't going to be swept up in a magical storm of teary manly joy by this fluff.

  Howell isn't convinced he will change his mind about the brand but believes by sharing the video, "some people could be converted to the Bud side and really that's all that was required of me."

  For Khan, being a part of this moment will become a central part of his own story. "Budweiser has made an emotional connection with me that will last a lifetime. Everyone on twitter is saying it brought them to tears and cheers. From now on every Budweiser I have will have a story."

  This is exactly what Seaton and the Budweiser team were hoping for. "I would love if every person who watched it would feel the same way. We created a bond with those guys on the ice. Hopefully, their story has created the bond with the consumer. If that's what they take away, it's a positive view of the brand. And that's all that we wanted."

  Budweiser has never seen the type of media and consumer interest as they’ve had so far through this video. Internally this is already being touted as best practice for them and they credit the story, rather than the delivery.

  The big question is did it work for you? Do you think marketers need to focus more on the story in their campaigns? Or was this execution better left for the 2009 marketing vaults?

• 16:43

  Facebook Hires Former Levi's, Apple Exec Rebecca Van Dyck to Lead Marketing

   » ‎ Advertising Age - Digital
  
  Ms. Van Dyck spent the last 10 months as Levi's global CMO, where she oversaw the company's global "Go Forth" campaign.

  
  

  

• 16:31

  Bing Hints At Better Utilization of Facebook, Twitter In Near Future

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  It’s well known within the Internet industry that Bing has special access to Facebook and Twitter that Google doesn’t. They pay for such access. Google thinks it can do better by putting Google+ content all over its results with Search …
• 16:26

  Android, iOS App Celebrates 75 Years Of Dr. Seuss

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Seventy-five years ago a cartoonist and poet by the name of Theodore Seuss Geisel decided to try his hand at writing children’s literature. The first result was a wonderful little book about a boy letting his imagination wander as he …
• 16:23

  $500 Million Spanish Treasure Recovered

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, Georgia denied another motion from the Odyssey Marine Exploration Company to keep over $500 million in recovered treasure. The treasure was recovered by Odyssey in 2007 from a sunken ship off …
• 16:22

  Snake, Classic Phone Game, Turns 15

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Do you remember Snake, the oddly addicting cellphone game introduced on Nokia phones? The game turned 15-years-old today. Nokia Connects has a list of 10 Snake facts to celebrate the event. Snake first appeared on a Nokia device in 1997 …

• 16:15

  BMO Analyst Salmon Discusses Data-Driven, Digital Ecosystem; Sees More Focus On Sell-Side Ahead

   » ‎ AdExchanger.com: Exchanging Ideas On Digital Media Optimization
  Dan Salmon is an equity research analyst at BMO Capital Markets and covers advertising and marketing services. With earnings season beginning to wane, Salmon shared a few thoughts with AdExchanger on the latest machinations in the data-driven ecosystem including today's announcement regarding Aol selling remnant display inventory through Yahoo!'s Right Media Exchange. AdExchanger.com: You suggested [...]

• 16:11

  Where Is The Universe?

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Have you ever asked yourself “Where am I?” “What am I?” “Who am I?”; Have you ever just stopped to ask “where is the universe?” Let us deviate from conventional thinking; as children we are taught that the universe is …
• 16:11

  Super Bowl Pizza Deals Come To Foursquare With Super Swarm Sunday

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  If you’re an American Express user and a pizza lover, Foursquare has a deal for you. It’s safe to assume that plenty of people will order pizza during the Super Bowl. It’s also pretty safe to assume that a high …
• 16:08

  Study: Amazon Gains Momentum, Kindle Fire Less Satisfying Than iPad

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  A new study has been published that shows Amazon as king of the hill among online retailers. The study, conducted by ChangeWave Research, looked at the planned online shopping activities of over 2,600 North American shoppers. According to the survey …
• 16:02

  Google Panda Update Addressed In New Google Announcement

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Google today listed changes it made to its algorithm in January. As previously discussed, the biggest takeaway from that (at least in my opinion) was an increased focus on freshness through not only updates to the “Freshness Update,” but also …
• 16:00

  Game Day With Google Gets You Ready For the Super Bowl

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  It’s Super Bowl Sunday, you’ve got a big party brewing, but you’re unsure of how to prepare. If this describes your last second scrambling, all in an effort to throw a passable Super Bowl party, Google has you covered. Game …

• 15:56

  Heineken Runs Global Facebook Ads for Valentine's Day

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  The romantic customizable campaign also includes a live YouTube event.

• 15:53

  Save Community PSA Video, Donald Glover Needs Your Help

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Firefly, Arrested Development, Veronica Mars, Freaks & Geeks — R.I.P. So many taken before they came into true fruition; it’s always a shame to see a TV show ended before true completion. Sometimes there are valid reasons for this – …

• 15:50

  Will Facebook help or hurt the startup economy?

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  When Facebook filed to go public earlier this week, you can be sure that the excitement in the halls of Facebook's offices was palpable. After all, the company's wild ride is going to make a lot of people very wealthy.

  But the excitement around Facebook's IPO isn't just being felt amongst Facebook's employees. It's creating increased excitement for technology entrepreneurs, some of whom hope their startups could be the next Facebook.

  There's certainly reason to believe that Facebook's public debut will help the startup community. After all, Facebook is probably going to be the largest technology IPO ever.

  But it's about more than that. Consider the following:

  • A company that was started in a university dorm room has quite literally changed the world in less than a decade. From culture to marketing, even if you don't 'like' the world's largest social network, it's hard to deny its impact.
  • In eight years, Facebook has not only grown into a multi-billion dollar business, it has spurred the creation of other multi-billion dollar businesses.
  • It came through the Great Recession unscathed, and just a few short years after the world's financial markets collapsed, could be valued by investors at as much as $100bn.
  • Facebook's CEO is a 27 year-old Harvard dropout who, for all intents and purposes, never had a 'real job' before he started Facebook with his university buddies.

  Facebook may not be perfect, and it could very well be significantly overvalued when its stock begins trading, but make no mistake about it: it's perhaps the strongest case study for 'Internet FTW!' and should help convince investors who still need convincing that few markets today offer the opportunities that technology does. That, logically, should promote more investment in technology, an apparent boon for startups.

  But will all of that investment really go to startups? And of the portion that does, which startups will capture the greatest amount? The answers to these questions aren't really clear.

  On both, it's worth considering that the Facebook IPO could actually take some money out of the startup ecosystem. While some of the funds that invested in the company will certainly take their IPO gains and put them into new companies, a publicly-traded Facebook could gobble up investment of its own. Case in point: in the run-up to the company's IPO, we saw numerous funds purchasing Facebook stock on secondary markets. Without those secondary markets, at least some of that that capital might have gone to younger startups.

  With that in mind, it's worth considering that a successful public debut may push some investors to focus on mature startups with the potential to follow Facebook into the public markets in the next couple of years. That would benefit large, already well-funded startups like Box.net, Dropbox and AirBnB, but not necessarily younger startups whose futures are still far from certain.

  Finally, some are pointing out that, flush with newly-liquid and highly-valuable stock, Facebook could help push the acquihire craze to new heights. In acquihires, larger companies like Facebook and Google buy small, young startups not for their products, but rather for their people. That's good for the well-connected investors who sometimes put in as little as five-figures for a stake in these companies, but it isn't necessarily good for entrepreneurs and the startup economy. After all, the entrepreneurs go to work for the acquirer and promising products which could be the next Facebooks usually die, leaving fewer and fewer 'good' startups to invest in.

  Which brings us back to the original question: is Facebook good for the startup economy or not? As Facebook itself would say, "It's complicated."

• 15:35

  Social Media At College: The Good & The Bad

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  I was in college the first time I heard about Facebook: class hadn’t started yet but I was already sitting in my desk, doodling or whatever I did to pass the time. Across from me, a couple of girls were …
• 15:31

  Viral Video: SWOG!

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Ryan Higa has several videos on YouTube that have gone viral. Some have millions of views each. Higa has over 5 million subscribers to his YouTube channel. It is the second most-subscribed YouTube channel of all time. Snappy editing and …
• 15:29

  Google’s Latest Algorithm Changes (Freshness Update Gets Updated)

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Google rolled out “Search Plus Your World” in January, but that’s not the only change they made to how they deliver search results. Not even close. If you’ve been following, you may know that Google has been putting out blog …
• 15:23

  Madonna’s Super Bowl Show Under Threat Of Lawsuit From Girls Gone Wild’s Joe Francis

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Here’s a little Super Bowl, aging pop star, naked girl on camera drama for your Friday afternoon. Girls Gone Wild creator Joe Francis is threatening the Queen of Pop with a lawsuit if she goes through with her Super Bowl …
• 15:19

  Xbox Co-Creator Turns To iPhone For New Gaming Experiences

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Seamus Blackley, the co-creator of the Xbox, is launching a new start up called Innovative Leisure. The company is a collaboration of classic Atari designers from ages past making new games for the iPhone and iPad. Blackley, with his partner …
• 15:08

  iCloud Recovers iPad For Sales Manager

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Hennie Stander, a sales manager was pleasantly surprised by the swift reaction of police officers after he lost his iPad at the airport. He boarded a plane headed for a business meeting carrying his iPad and a briefcase and forgot …
• 15:04

  Super Bowl Stuff: Indy For Eli Goes Viral

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Well, the concept went viral on a local level, anyway. What we have here is a city, Indianapolis, rooting for the brother of their team’s franchise quarterback, Peyton Manning. Peyton’s brother, Eli, is the starting quarterback for the New York …
• 15:01

  Yahoo Right Media Exchange To Show AOL Inventory

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  Yahoo and AOL announced a partnership where AOL will use Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange to provide access to AOL inventory as part of the display ad agreements announced last year. “The inventory AOL makes available under the display advertising agreement …
• 14:59

  Zuckerberg’s One-Dollar Salary: Why Do CEOs Do That?

   » ‎ WebProNews Feed
  With Facebook’s IPO filing this week, lots of little tidbits of information about the company came to light. Josh Wolford has reported on the fact that, as of 2013, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s salary will be set at $1 per …

• 14:53

  What we've been reading this week: US edition

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  These are some of the stories and links we’ve tweeted, posted, and passed around the office. Nothing's ever secret with us.

  Now how about you? What was the most talked about video, article or spectacular blunder in your office this week?

  Official 2012 Honda CR-V Game Day Commercial - "Matthew's Day Off" Extended Version

  All day every day for over a week now, our heads have been filled with everything Super Bowl. We're not too sure about the new Ferris Bueller ad that Honda has released. The promo ad they did for it was perfect, but the ad itself isn't nearly funny enough. One of our team thought Broderick has lost his charisma. Another commented "Plus he's grown moobs. What does that say to their target audience? "you're getting old, give up now and buy a Honda" What do you think?

  Posted on January 26, 2012

  Social graph-iti: There's less to Facebook and other social networks than meets the eye

  With all the talk about Facebook's IPO, we went back, way back, to see what the Economist thought about Facebook and its "social graph" 5 years ago. Very interesting comments from Google's Eric Schmidt who compared Facebook's linking and mapping of users to an address book. Pshaw.

  Posted on October 19th 2007

  David Choe Just Made $200 Million For Painting Facebook Office with Erotic Art in 2005

  Talk about being in the right place at the right time.

  Posted on February 1, 2012

  The 2015 Digital Marketing Rule Book. Change or Perish

  Though this came out a couple weeks ago, it may take you that long to absorb this epic post. Avinash Kaushik looks 3 years ahead to predict what our future may look like. Take a deep breath before you dive in. As one person commented: "This has made my eyes bulge and awe and the magnanimous task ahead." The UK team mentioned it as well but it was too good to not tell you again.

  Posted on January 9, 2012

  What Kind of Buddhist was Steve Jobs, Really?

  We were in a reflective kind of mood and looked back on this post on Buddhism and Steve Jobs. "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." Words to live by.

  Posted on October 28, 2011

  P&G To Lay Off 1,600 After Discovering It's Free To Advertise On Facebook

  Named as a cost cutting exercise, the move to cut 1600 people seems to be rash if it is a reflection of advertising through social media. Someone has to run the accounts don't they?

  Posted on January 30, 2012

  Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising

  Sadly this hasn't been updated for a while but these quotes should be plastered over every marketer’s desks. Or at least handed out to CMOs everywhere.

  Twitter Releases Hilarious Budget Recruitment Ad

  Taking recruiting into its own hands, Twitter has made something so deliberately bad, it could be classified as good. With nearly 750,000 views, someone must have thought so.

  Posted on January 31, 2012

  15 Free EBooks about User Experience and Interface Design

  For those looking for some light reading this weekend, here are your very own list of eBooks about UX. Report due on Monday.

  How do rounded corners affect usability?

  In case you get through all 15 UX eBooks (link above) and don't catch this tidbit, you can read how rounded corners on buttons and containers affect usability. We know you like it.

  The most painfully obvious spelling mistakes ever seen in tattoos

  Remember everyone; there are worst things than a spelling error in an ad. Tattooists don't come with spell check.

  Posted on January 25, 2012

• 14:48

  Twitter Ads Pushed Komen Change of Heart

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Pro-choice groups ran Twitter and Google ads, while the abortion topic heated up social media sites this week.

• 14:06

  'Digital IQ' crucial to business: report

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Just how important are things like mobile technology, social media and cloud computing to businesses today?

  Can a business expect to survive and thrive if it doesn't stay on top of the latest trends in technology? According to a new report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the answer is, not surprisingly, 'no.'

  The firm's 4th Digital IQ report (PDF) involved surveying just under 500 U.S. companies with at least $500m in annual revenue, with a focus on those with more than $1bn in annual revenue. It looked at how these firms are adopting technology and addressing the "consumerization of IT."

  It found that there are four key trends that are forcing executives at these companies to "rethink their strategies":

  • The growth of mobile. While many companies are adopting mobile tools for their employees, just 45% are using mobile significantly to engage with their customers.
  • The use of social media as a source of customer data. Despite all of the hype around social media in the past several years, well under half (37%) of the businesses PwC surveyed are investing in social media tools to interact with customers.
  • The rise of public cloud-based business applications. Cloud-based applications give employees the ability do things they never could before, like perform sophisticated processes while on the go. Not surprisingly, adopting public cloud applications is something many businesses have done slowly, but PwC sees broad investment in this area in 2012 across the companies polled.
  • The constant and increasingly rapid creation of data. For most businesses, data is a valuable competitive asset. The good news is that there's more and more of it. The bad news is that there's more and more of it. As PwC notes, "According to some estimates, the world today creates as much information every couple days than was created from the dawn of civilization until just a few years ago." So it's no surprise that over half (56%) of the companies participating in the 4th Digital IQ survey plan to collect more consumer data this year, and nearly half (45%) will collect more data around operational performance.

  According to PwC, the good news is that "strategic IT remains a viable and vital business differentiator." The bad news is that "IT organizations that can serve customers and their firm, deliver projects on time and on budget, and distill mountains of bits into meaningful insights are as rare as ever."

  To succeed, companies will increasingly need to boost their 'digital IQs' by plotting out a long-term technology strategy, mobilizing the organization to act on it and focusing on "back-to-basics" execution.

• 13:53

  Ogilvy Working With Susan G. Komen for the Cure in PR Crisis

   » ‎ Advertising Age - Digital
  Who's the PR agency for Susan G. Komen for the Cure? Ogilvy, which was brought on eight months ago and now has its hands full trying to manage crisis communications for the charity now under fire.

  
  

  

• 13:45

  Google to EU Privacy Watchdogs: You Can't Stop Us

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Despite a request to suspend privacy policy plans, Google said it would proceed with its agenda.

• 12:32

  Blue Cross Adds Blue365 Health and Wellness Deals

   » ‎ Local Media Watch - BIA/Kelsey

  

  We’re seeing more vertical players trying to leverage their brands with deal offerings and advertising. The latest one is Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Twenty-two Blue Cross state organizations around the U.S. are working with Analog Analytics to launch Blue365, a deal program offering health and fitness discounts, as well as adjacencies like tax prep.

  SnapFitness, eDiets.com, Reebok, H&R Block and others are charter deal providers for Blue Cross. The launch will be supported via a media campaign launching in late spring. “Health and fitness is the quintessential loyalty program,” says Analog CEO Ken Kalb. He notes that consumers are making more of their own health decisions, so a health marketplace makes more sense in this climate.

  Besides health, Analog has made a move into travel, working with Travelsavers Partner Services, a mega-booker working with more than 17,000 hotels and representing 20 percent of all travel bookings. Kalb says the biggest problem with travel as a deals vertical is sourcing new deals all the time. While destination deal sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial are scoring very well with travel, smaller sites do well to hook up with a one-stop such as Travelsavers. ‘They have 1,000 people trying to find travel deals,” he says.

  

• 12:17

  Generation Y and Facebook: infographic

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Facebook has moved beyond family and friends as shown by new research into the Facebook usage of 18-29 year olds.

  After looking through four million Generation Y Facebook profiles on Identified.com's database, Millennial Branding came up with this handy infographic on how millennials use Facebook professionally.

  Apparent trends include job hopping, identification by school rather than by job and high employment by startups rather than Fortune 500s.

  Does this match up to how you use Facebook? Any surprises?

  

• 12:07

  Yahoo!’s Right Media Exchange Adds Aol Remnant Display Inventory

   » ‎ AdExchanger.com: Exchanging Ideas On Digital Media Optimization
  The Yahoo!-Aol-Microsoft deal, which lets each of the partners sell the other's remnant display ad inventory has born its first fruit. Read the release. New Right Media Exchange North America chief Brian Silver explained to AdExchanger yesterday that Aol now has a seat on the exchange in order to sell it's "Class II" remnant ad [...]

• 11:19

  Mobile May Be The Big Winner on Super Bowl Sunday

   » ‎ Mobile Marketing Watch

  According to Velti, a global provider of mobile marketing and advertising technology, a freshly published nationwide poll shows that nearly 60 percent of mobile users will “look at or use their mobile device during this year’s Super Bowl.”

  The study, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive last month, surveyed 1,428 U.S. adults who have mobile devices and plan to watch this year’s Super Bowl.

  83 percent of viewers who plan to use their mobile device expect to use it as much or more than they did during last year’s Super Bowl.

  What’s more, 30 percent of viewers under the age of 45 will be watching the game with their device in hand, and about half (47%) of all viewers age 18 and older say they expect to check or use their device up to 10 times during the game.

  Veli’s analysis finds that the “second screen experience” afforded by mobile devices may be threatening the effectiveness of traditional – and expensive – TV ad campaigns.

  During the famous, and sometimes infamous, halftime show, men are twice as likely as women (26% vs. 13%) to turn their attention to their mobile devices.

  “This survey is indicative of how integrated the mobile device has become during the biggest television event of the year in the U.S.,” said Krishna Subramanian, Chief Marketing Officer of Velti. “Viewers are sitting in front of the television with a mobile device in their hand and they’ll likely check that ‘second’ screen often. There’s no going back now from the fact that the Super Bowl is truly a two-screen experience. Mobile is the second screen that completes the full circle of user engagement — turning advertising into content.”

  What role – if any – will your mobile device play this weekend on Super Bowl Sunday?

  Please weigh in with a thought or comment below.

  

  

  

  

• 11:10

  AOL turns to Yahoo's ad exchange to move inventory

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  How to compete with Google in the display advertising space? Late last year, three unlikely allies, Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, forged a pact that would allow each company to sell certain display ad inventory for the others.

  At the time, Yahoo and Microsoft decided to use different ad exchanges, while AOL remained undecided.

  Today, AdWeek is reporting that AOL has decided to use Yahoo's Right Media Exchange (RMX). As AdWeek notes, this is somewhat unexpected, as there was a general perception that RMX was too closely connected with Yahoo, and consequently, Microsoft's exchange partner, AppNexus, would probably wind up handling AOL's inventory:

  The Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft partnership has been widely perceived as an effort to counter Google’s advertising exchange, but many expected that Microsoft’s exchange would emerge as the partnership’s primary platform with the possibility that Yahoo would sell or shut down RMX. Insiders in the ad tech world often heap praise on AppNexus' technology, while often criticizing RMX.

  One big question is how this could affect AOL's ad network, Advertising.com. Advertising.com SVP David Jacobs told AdWeek that AOL's RMX agreement "provides for Advertising.com to continue to access AOL inventory for our existing advertisers while providing increased competition through additional demand sources," but it's possible that advertisers, when given the choice, will be more inclined to buy through RMX.

  That said, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong doesn't appear worried, stating that, thanks in large part to "machine-learning", Advertising.com can be thought of "as more of a Goldman Sachs-type player on top of the exchanges where we spend a lot of time, energy and technology trying to figure out the value of individual things being traded and we have a proprietary set of technologies around that."

  Some might suggest that Armstrong is a tad overconfident for invoking the name Goldman Sachs in his description of Advertising.com, but one thing is clear: in an effort to move inventory and compete with Google, companies like AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft will probably continue to weave increasingly tangled webs.

• 11:03

  Jumptap Says Tablet Traffic Jumped 229% Post Christmas

   » ‎ Mobile Marketing Watch

  According to new information published Friday by the targeted mobile advertising gurus at Jumptap, tablet network traffic jumped 229 percent over an average projected for the day after Christmas, based on historical network traffic.

  January 2, 2012 also saw a bump, with a 263 percentage traffic increase – most likely from recipients uploading holiday photos and getting familiar with their devices.

  In Jumptap’s freshly released January MobileSTAT report, Jumptap found that the Kindle Fire experienced the greatest tablet growth throughout December.

  In the big picture, though, tablets of all shapes and sizes were popular at year’s end. In fact, the new device held 10 percent of tablet market share on December 1 and finished the year with 30 percent market share.

  “Mobile is quickly becoming the primary access point of the internet. Advertisers have seen this movie before with PC based digital advertising and are allocating mobile budgets that are larger and larger,” said Paran Johar, Chief Marketing Officer, Jumptap. “The surge in tablet adoption rates and rise in mobile subscribers support the expectations that mobile will eventually outpace online.”

  

  

  

  
• 10:42

  comScore: Android Strengthens Smartphone Market Share

   » ‎ Mobile Marketing Watch

  On Friday, comScore released the latest data from the comScore MobiLens service, which reports key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending December 2011.

  The study found that Google Android strengthened its lead in the smartphone market during the period to capture a 47.3 percent market share.

  All told, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices during the three-month period ending in December.

  97.9 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in December, representing 40 percent of all mobile subscribers.

  Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, followed by LG with 20 percent share and Motorola with 13.3 percent share.

  Apple, comScore found, continued to gain ground in the OEM market with 12.4 percent share of total mobile subscribers (up 2.2 percentage points), while RIM rounded out the top five with 6.7 percent share.

  To check out the comScore MobiLens service for yourself, click here.

  

  

  

  

• 10:33

  Selling With Intelligence

   » ‎ Local Media Watch - BIA/Kelsey

  
  We have been meeting with a number of media salespeople, tracking articles about the transformation of the sales process, developing a number of theories specific to transforming the media sales process plus what is needed to support the transformation. We will be exploring a number of these theories and observations supported by sales rep interviews and an upcoming survey to be presented in a new Advisory in the coming months.

  CSO Insights recently completed its annual global sales force survey and has come to some interesting conclusions. While sales objective achievement has increased overall, 2012 sales objectives are being projected at their highest level in recent years coupled with the lowest confidence levels in actually achieving them. One of our core beliefs with sales objectives is you can’t expect increased performance without increased support. CSO Insights’ data seem to support this:

  “Increases in revenue goals need to be backed by investments in sales rep efficiency and effectiveness,” added Jim Dickie, managing partner, CSO Insights. “The study uncovered a wide variety of factors that can positively impact sales performance including optimizing lead generation, better alignment of the sell cycle and the buy cycle, and leveraging CRM 2.0 technologies such as sales collaboration, sales management analytics, and sales intelligence. Best-in-class sales organizations that focus on formalizing their sales process and deepening their relationship with customers are significantly outselling their competitors.”

  From our point of view, those organizations willing to provide updated training on a more consistent and effective sales process, coupled with better market intelligence, are the ones winning in the local media space. So much of what we are seeing are inconsistent sales methods, lack of central management control over the sales process, more managers who are player/coaches, and a void in preparing media salespeople to have a deep strategic discussion on how digital media works with their core media or how digital media supports a small and medium-sized businesses’ needs and goals.

  Recently, BIA/Kelsey has developed many new tools and research to help support managers and salespeople with market intelligence, education on the value of digital media and, more important, how digital media and traditional media can be sold side by side. Our core philosophy is that media salespeople should be the value experts with any of their portfolio products. As the value expert, they need to understand the customer’s challenges and the industry’s challenges so they can translate their portfolio of solutions to the customer’s needs and goals.

  Sales is becoming less about personal relationships and more about information relationships. There is too much information on digital media available for SMBs and even brands to process which means the salesperson has to fill the role of information interpreter to become the valued consultant. Translating the myriad technical functions and features of digital media into concrete value messages, supported by simple to understand facts and figures, is what SMBs crave.

  So while contemplating how to move the sales needle, think about how best to support the sales team and what support is needed to achieve even higher goals in 2012.

  

• 10:27

  P&G sheds 1,600 jobs as it cuts ad spend

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Procter & Gamble (P&G) is to lay off 1,600 staff as part of a cost cutting exercise that will also include a re-evaluation of the company’s $10bn ad budget.

  It comes as P&G chairman Robert McDonald revealed to analysts that the company had somewhat belatedly recognised the cost efficiency of digital marketing.

  Under McDonald P&G’s ad spend increased by 24% over the two years up to October 2011 despite only seeing a 6% increase in sales.

  According to Business Insider, McDonald told analysts that though the company had traditionally spent 9% to 11% of sales revenue on advertising: “Over time, we will see the increase in the cost of advertising moderate.”

  He said that P&G was quickly moving more of its businesses into digital to take advantage of the different media channels.

  In the digital space, with things like Facebook and Google and others, we find that the return on investment of the advertising, when properly designed, when the big idea is there, can be much more efficient.” 

  McDonald cited the Old Spice adverts as an example of a campaign that achieved 1.8bn 'free' impressions online.

  P&G’s move to digital is exactly what the company should be doing, particularly if it equates to savings - and a broader reach.

  But the realisation comes quite late in the day for the world’s largest marketer, which up until now has chosen to plough a vast majority of its ad budgets into traditional ad channels.

• 9:55

  What we've been reading this week: UK edition

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Here are the stories and links we’ve tweeted, posted, passed around the UK office and shaken our heads at.

  Check back later to get the skinny on what our US team has been reading too.

  ---

   

  The net closes on cyber-snoopers

  Ian Burrell looks closely at personalised advertising in The Independent

  Originally posted 1-Feb-12

   

  Gone Google? Got Concerns? We Have Alternatives

  Microsoft’s punchy retort to Google’s new privacy guidelines.

  Originally posted 1-Feb-12

   

  Zynga CEO responds to copycat accusations from Nimblebit and others

  The Verge talks to Mark Pincus

  Originally posted 1-Feb-12

   

  8 Ridiculous Examples of Press Release Fails

  Copypress explores the oh-so-painful world of badly written releases.

  Originally posted 31-Jan-12

   

  For Or Against?

  Vogue analyses KCD Worldwide’s digital fashion show service

  Originally posted 31-Jan-12

   

  The 20 Most Beautiful Bookstores in the World

  20 absolutely stunning examples of bookstores from Flavorwire

  Originally posted 31-Jan-12

   

  How the Sainsbury’s Customer Service Letter went viral; my theory

  Laurence Borel looks into why a letter from a little girl to Sainsbury’s regarding its Tiger Bread, and the subsequent response from a store manager, went viral again this month. This week the supermarket pulled off a fabulous PR move, changing the name to 'White Giraffe Bread' as suggested by 3 (and a half) year old Lily.

  Originally posted 25-Jan-12

   

  The 2015 Digital Marketing Rule Book. Change or Perish.

  Avinash Kaushik 2012 guide from back in January on Occam’s Razor

  Originally posted 9-Jan-12

   

  Usable Sites vs. Sites People Want To Use

  Nick Russell highlights the differences between planning for suability – and planning for a site to be used.

  Originally posted 3-Jan-12

   

  Klout scores: Do they belong on résumés?

  The New Post dips into the world of social media influence scores, and whether they should be used as a benchmark of success. Doing the rounds again this week.

  Originally posted 14-Nov-11 

• 9:01

  Three steps to keeping email marketing simple but effective

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  The online space has opened up creative avenues marketers could only have dreamt about.

  While you’re thinking up the latest bells and whistles to make your emails stand out, consider a few simple steps that should form the building blocks of any successful campaign.

  Quick wins can be gained from analysing the time you send your communications; finessing the sender address and subject line; and, most importantly, testing your messages. 

  1. "Test! Test! Test!” should be a mantra for all email marketers

  Ensuring you hit your audience with relevant, personalised and timely messaging is crucial. Think of it like a driving test. All the theory in the world, the hours spent memorising the Highway Code, won’t help you when you’re out on the road.

  The only way to pass that test is to practice.

  In order to hone the effectiveness of email, delve into all the precious data you collect on the people you’re trying to reach, to provoke them into action.

  Take insights from people’s preferences and purchase history (if available), and experiment with length and tone of subject lines, and different types of content.

  Consider HTML, the length of copy, size and colour of images, embedded links and video. Even the choice of vocabulary and use of punctuation are important elements in avoiding the spam trap (don’t over exaggerate by using too many exclamation marks!!!!).

  Continuous testing and data analysis will enable you to tweak your strategy for communication and additionally provide greater insight into your consumer segments and how they respond to your communications.

  As a result, you can begin to segment your audience in more detail and refine and personalise the types of content you send them. It’s important to use the data to understand the likes and dislikes of individuals to boost brand advocacy.

  Compare the results of your email tests 

  For example, subject line length, type of offer or call to action included, or response to keywords used, with metrics for your website, SEO and PPC, mobile engagement and offline activities, and you will begin to see trends.

  Which targets were receptive? Which didn't respond? Is the offer right? An in-depth analysis of campaign responses enables you to improve effectiveness and optimise the return on investment.

  This information can then be used to strengthen knowledge of the target audience, influencing future communication strategies and marketing plans.

  Testing means making the most of data to devise and send your campaigns, and the virtuous circle will be completed by response data that underpins improved email marketing the next time out.

  Amazingly, we’re beginning to see marketing plans change every quarter and in some instances every 30 days! All the more reason to “test, test, test” to see how your audience is engaging with your brand and to ensure you keep ahead of the pack.

  2. Time of day

  People engage with brands in many different ways, so there isn’t always a “one size fits all” approach to timing. It’s important that you review the data in detail to find the optimum time to target people.

  Don’t just look at how many people opened your emails, look at who opened them and when.

  As a rule of thumb, many marketers send emails between 7am and 10:30am, targeting subscribers as they wake up in the morning or when they reach the office.

  Another popular distribution time is noon, to engage people during lunch breaks, or early evening when users typically jump back online to purchase the goods they have been researching in the office.

  To be honest, these times have collectively shown good results for most brands, but to really ensure you reach your targets at the right time, look at your response data and the time stamp on your opens (also compare this to the ‘delivered’ time to analyse the gap between send and open, you may be surprised to see some of your emails being opened 3 to 4 days later).

  Finally, you can cross-reference the email address and offer code to understand how effective your email communication was in driving revenue.

  An example of good practice was the activity of an online retailer which used an innovative tactic to work out the ideal time to send emails to individual users.

  Their theory was that if users were available to sign up to an email list at a certain time, they would be more receptive to receiving an email at the same time on subsequent days.

  The company’s campaigns resulted in 20% uplift in click-through, approximately 65% increase in conversion and average revenue per recipient boosted by almost 200%.

  On the flip side to ‘push’ email campaigns are customer-initiated interactions. Responding to these with immediate and relevant messages and offers, again implemented through the use of existing data, can greatly enhance the relationship and strengthen loyalty.

  3. From and subject lines

  These are two very important elements. The first thing a subscriber will do is scan the 'from' address to ensure the email is being delivered by a reputable source (i.e. a brand they recognise) then they perform a final pass on the subject line.

  Subjects need to be punchy and enticing, short and simple (try to keep it to less than 50 characters). It is important to ensure that you include some type of personalisation and the organisation’s name.

  Try to keep the WIFM (What’s In It For Me?) front of mind, as people generally respond well to “Offer”, “Sale”, “Attention” and “Invitation”.

  Not all communications are about sending offers, so if this is the case make sure there is a value exchange and that the intent of the email is clearly stated, e.g. “Company Name Newsletter: December 2012” or “Company Name Newsletter: Important Information”.

  Ultimately, a combination of context and content is vital to drive successful email communications.

• 8:58

  Kia Taps Celebs for Super Bowl Spot Based on Their Social Graphs

   » ‎ Advertising Age - Digital
  
  Securing the services of a supermodel to wear minimal clothing is standard for a Super Bowl advertiser, but hiring her based on her social-media credentials is a sign of the times.

  
  

  

• 8:53

  US job moves: Mercedes-Benz, Sony, Dow Jones, Apple, Dell

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  It's Friday and with that comes our coverage of the big moves, hires and fires in the US this week.

  We've seen promotions from Mercedes-Benz and Sony, while News Corp. has poached a new CEO for Dow Jones and Apple and Dell are looking to expand their retail and software services with new prominent hires.

  News Corp. brings former Bloomberg Ventures CEO Lex Fenwick in as the new CEO of Dow Jones to fill the role Les Hinton left in July. This marks Fenwick’s first move after a 25 year career at Bloomberg.

  Mercedes-Benz USA has appointed Bernhard Glaser as Vice President of Marketing. He will be responsible for market research, marketing communications, and product management of the Mercedes-Benz and Maybach brands in the US.

  Sony promotes Kazuo Hirai to President and CEO to replace Howard Stringer effective from April. Stringer will retain a place on the board.

  As reported by our UK team, Apple hires former Dixons CEO John Browett as their retail chief. He is joining just as Apple enters the planning phase of a new prototype Apple store in Palo Alto and will be responsible for their global retail efforts.

  Dell has brought on former CEO of Computer Associates, John Swainson, to run their new Software Unit. He formerly rejected a similar role from HP.

  TMS International Corp., the leading provider of steel mill industrial services, has named Dr. Sara Hornby as the Director of Marketing - Optimization Group. Hornby was formally a principal at Global Strategic Solutions.

  Outdoor Channel Holdings appointed Tom Allen as Chief Operating Officer as an expansion of his role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

  Telmar Group, advertising media software and services provider, has promoted Corey Panno to President of the company to replace Chairman and CEO Stanley Federman

  Fenton created their first dedicated marketing role with the promotion of Susan McPherson to Director of Global Marketing. McPherson has been senior vice president at Fenton's for 20 months and was previously vice president of CSR services at PR Newswire

  SquareTrade hires former Hotwire CMO, Ty Shay, as their new Chief Marketing Officer. Before Hotwire, Shay has a history of growing brands such as Esurance, Clorox and Procter & Gamble.

• 8:42

  Former MySpace, MTV Exec Nada Stirratt Joins Data Giant Acxiom

   » ‎ Advertising Age - Digital
  
  Former MySpace, MTV and AOL exec Nada Stirratt has a new job: she's joined former Microsoft advertising chief Scott Howe at Arkansas-based data giant Acxiom.

  
  

  

• 8:37

  Google fined £415k in France for providing a free mapping tool

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Google has been fined £415,000 by a French court for offering Google Maps to businesses as a free service.

  Bottin Cartographes successfully sued for the damages after claiming Google was abusing its dominant position and stifling competition against companies that charged for the service.

  Google France and its parent company Google Inc. must now pay €500,000 in damages and interest to the French mapping company, plus a €15,000 fine.

  A Paris court upheld a claim that Google’s strategy is to undercut competitors by temporarily swallowing the full cost of its maps service until it gains control of the market.

  The lawyer for Bottin Cartographes, Jean-David Scemmama told AFP:

  We proved the illegality of (Google's) strategy to remove its competitors... the court recognised the unfair and abusive character of the methods used and allocated Bottin Cartographes all it claimed.” 

  It is believed to be the first time Google has been convicted for its Google Maps application, which is now the most-used feature on Android phones behind voice and text.

  

  Google France said it plans to appeal the decision and remains committed to providing a free mapping tool.

  It seems astonishing that Google could be convicted for providing a free service – surely the same accusations could be levelled at Hotmail, Skype or any one of hundreds of free online services.

  And the implicit suggestion is that Google will begin charging for its maps once it has crushed the competition.

  In December Google’s VP of product management Marissa Mayer confirmed that it was looking to monetise its maps through check-ins and vouchers.

  The company does have previous in France though – last year it was fined €100,000 for collecting private information while compiling its Street View service.

  As Google keeps getting bigger and rolling out more services, it seems inevitable that it will end up in court again fighting further anti-competition or privacy charges.

• 8:14

  Net Promoter launches social measurement, but will it be valuable?

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Net Promoter is to add social media measurement to its existing customer loyalty metrics, launching a new product called SparkScore that takes mentions of a brand on Facebook and Twitter into consideration.

  Parent company Satmetrix confirmed last night that like Net Promoter scores, it will rate companies on a scale of 0-100 and average detractors, promoters and passives - but use a different methodology.

  In Net Promoter's case, it asks; “would you recommend this product to a friend?” and assigns a rating of 100 to someone who says yes and a “-100″ to those who say no.

  SparkScore’s ratings interpret comments in social media, on blogs and in customer reviews from Amazon among others.

  Satmetrix is working with Metavana to provide a “rigorous and reliable sentiment engine” on which to analyse sentiment.

  The validity of sentiment analysis is always up for discussion, and social influence scores like Klout, PeerIndex and Kred are even more so.

  eModeration marketing and communications manager Tia Fisher said that automated sentiment analysis is notoriously inaccurate, but it'll take some time to see how Net Promoter's methods differ from others. Plus how it keeps up with changes and trends in language.

  The ‘would you recommend’ question is the most popular measure of customer satisfaction for a brand, but is too black and white to give any real meaning. It doesn’t take into account variables (‘the food was amazing but the service was average’). Not much use for brands who want to learn from social conversations and improve their service."

  While the credibility of the Net Promoter name will give it an advantage in terms of selling this brand-specific sentiment analysis to its existing clients, with the result be any better? Though for many it's a strong starting benchmark, Net Promoter itself also has flaws.

  Online PR consultant Michelle Goodall pointed out that the key here is how good the sentiment analysis actually is and we won’t know that until we can properly review the results.

  But it might have been far more logical to mine recommendation data and provide scores based on actual numbers of indisputable brand recommendations that people make to close friends and peers, i.e. those people that really matter to us as individuals and whom we really wouldn’t want to give a wrong steer to.”

  This could have been based on an algorithm that includes the length and strength of connection, frequency and recency of contact, use of familiar/friendly verbs, topics discussed, use of emoticons and such.

  

  PeerIndex CEO Azeem Azhar agrees on this point, saying that though tracking social sentiment can give brands a numerical picture of how many people are making positive or negative comments on the social web, it ignores a far more important metric - influence.  

  One hugely influential commentator making a negative comment can outweigh 1000 less influential comments, so a simple sentiment metric can give a misleading picture.  If brands were to incorporate an influence metric into a calculation of this sort then you’d get a far more accurate picture of your true sentiment status.”

  PeerIndex actually refers to this as 'net promoters with friends', where a net promoter who can refer you to hundreds of people who trust their opinions on a given topic is more valuable than a net promoter with none.

  The other point here is that Net Promoter is playing catch-up. There are many other services that do this for brands now, and though Satmetrix's announcement talks about no other services having "proven linkage to growth" - it isn't clear exactly how SparkScore does.

  Co-founder of Sociagility Niall Cook is surprised that this move wasn't made sooner.

  The Net Promoter methodology has a great legacy, so it makes sense to apply it to social media chatter. It will be interesting to see what value another sentiment analysis tool can add to brands that are realising they need a more multi-dimensional approach to measurement."

  What are your thoughts? Does Net Promoter have more of a chance of getting this right because of its history in this area - or this too little too late?

• 7:20

  Super Bowl 2012 Ads: 3 Trends to Watch

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  In advertising, what a difference two years makes.
• 7:15

  Distracting Users From Buying

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  By combining the e-commerce experience with the brand experience are you just distracting your consumers?
• 7:10

  Solving the Mystery of Google's Q4 CPC Drop

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  An in-depth look at what happened with Google's drop in average CPC in the last quarter of 2011.
• 7:05

  Stepping Backward Moves You Forward in Digital Publishing and Mobile Apps

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Create an innovative user experience that leverages content from archives of a strong brand or legacy.
• 7:00

  Going Mobile and 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Use Transcoders

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  Transcoding is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to optimize a website for mobile, but there's a catch…or five.

• 6:52

  The changing role of the web analyst

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  The role of the web analyst has changed dramatically, with a diversity of work that didn't exist two or three years ago. 

  For the sake of our sanity I set about trying to define the role of the web analyst.

  I have our most recent hire to thank for this train of thought. Adam joined us in summer 2011 and was quickly consumed by the whirlwind merry-go-round that is agency-side web analytics.

  One day Adam came up for air and attempted forlornly to quantify his new career. In his email to me he expressed surprise (and delight) at the diversity of work that lay ahead.

  In Adam’s words, this is what a web analyst does:

  1. Set up site tracking.
  2. Set up profiles.
  3. Set up reporting.
  4. Analyse and evaluate PPC traffic.
  5. Analyse and evaluate organic traffic.
  6. Analyse and evaluate referral traffic.
  7. Analyse and evaluate navigation through and use of the site.
  8. Advise on web design/content issues on any given site in as far as they affect points 4-7.
  9. Behavioural modelling of online consumer behaviour.
  10. Evaluate market landscape for online product. What are primary competitor sites, what are important secondary sites in the user ecosystem?

  The web analyst will one day rule the world

  My point here is two-fold:

  1. The role of the web analyst is not easily defined.
  2. It is diverse and diversifying all the time.

  Platforms, channels, apps and tools

  As agency-side analysts, much of the time we get a call when things are going badly, meaning all of the below are common features at the point where we get involved:

  • Poorly implemented analytics tool.
  • Lack of important technologies for tracking specific aspects of the website (e.g. e-commerce).
  • Badly tagged campaigns.
  • Incomplete or fragmented marketing plan.
  • Disconnect between multiple tools (e.g. marketing platforms & website or WA & CRM).
  • No definition of different user populations and how to segment to analyse each one individually.

  Thinking about what this means to the analyst, it’s easy to build a picture of the skills and disciplines required:

  • Implementing the primary tool(s): html, javascript, cookies, in depth knowledge of the primary tool. 
  • User population segmentation or ‘persona creation’: knowledge of online survey tools, customising tracking on primary tools, heatmapping, call tracking, ecommerce platforms, payment platforms, CRMs, CMS, SPSS.
  • Marketing plan: in depth knowledge of the characteristics and mechanics of SEO, PPC email platforms, affiliate, social media, offline media etc.

  We haven’t even discussed what happens when we go multi-platform with tailored content and marketing plans for each channel and each platform.

  Art & Science

  Once the data has been collected we must apply as much science to its analysis as possible. Where science reaches limitations, art, intuition and experience take over.

  The pay-off for analysis is of course the point where we come up with some improvements to our understanding of our customer base or to the website or one or more marketing channels.

  We then go into optimisation mode. Optimisation mode requires in depth knowledge of the latest testing platforms, web design trends, apps, technologies and widgets and then lashings more art, experience and intuition. 

  Our plucky web analyst must now be able to communicate all of his ideas eloquently and persuasively in order that his client /colleagues implement his recommendations in order for any of this to have been worthwhile.

  Shift online

  Despite sustained economic difficulties, digital marketing and most forms of online advertising have continued to enjoy very healthy growth thanks to increasingly large proportions of marketing and data collection moving online.

  With this move database marketers have had to learn online, applying their segmentation and persona building methodologies to the world of web analytics. And so more critical business decisions are made by online teams.

  Who ties it all together? If it isn’t already, it certainly could be the web analyst.

  Quantifying the Issue

  I’m conscious that some may believe I have gone beyond the role of the web analyst and into some kind of overarching online consultant role.

  My belief through experience is that this is the reality for all but the very biggest web teams where an expert in each discipline can be sustained by the web traffic and revenue created.

  Through necessity and the skill of a talented web analyst, the role has gone far beyond the archaic paradigm of the web analyst as database cruncher/spreadsheet geek. Where a big team isn’t possible, the web analyst becomes the lynchpin of these diverse disciplines and the strategy of the business.

  Being a web analyst I thought what better way to try and define this role than with data. The below table, courtesy of itjobswatch.co.uk, is a great attempt at describing this role with data.

  To my mind it tells a similar story to the above; anything from SQL to SEO to project management are commonly required skills for web analysts as suggested by data gleaned from web analyst roles posted on their site.  

  

• 6:45

  AOL to Lean On Right Media in 'Big Three' Ad Deal

   » ‎ Home - ClickZ
  AOL sticks with Yahoo for real-time bidding in mega display ad agreement.

• 6:30

  AOL to Make Inventory Available on Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange

   » ‎ Adweek.com - Digital News
  

  AOL,Yahoo and Microsoft recently became ad sales partners, with Yahoo electing to stick with its own ad exchange while Microsoft decided to work with AppNexus. AOL was the one partner that had yet to pick an exchange partner in the alliance.

  As it turns out, perhaps surprisingly AOL has chosen to throw its lot in with Yahoo's, not Microsoft's exchange platform. The company has decided to make its non-reserved display inventory available on Yahoo’s Right Media Exchange (RMX). AOL took a seat on the exchange in December, said Brian Silver, Yahoo’s vp of ad platforms for the Americas.

  The addition of AOL “helps to dispel some of the myths [around RMX such as the perception that] Right Media is so aligned with Yahoo that there’s this unfairness sort of occurring, and that’s not true,” Silver said.

  Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft said in November that the three companies would share their nonreserved inventory via RMX and the Microsoft Advertising Exchange -- which is powered by AppNexus. Silver denied any impact from today's announcement on Microsoft.

  The Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft partnership has been widely perceived as an effort to counter Google’s advertising exchange, but many expected that Microsoft’s exchange would emerge as the partnership’s primary platform with the possibility that Yahoo would sell or shut down RMX. Insiders in the ad tech world often heap praise on AppNexus' technology, while often criticizing RMX.

  It is uncertain how today’s announcement may impact AOL’s Advertising.com, although the ad network holds its own seat on RMX. David Jacobs, svp of Advertising.com, said in a statement that the announcement "provides for Advertising.com to continue to access AOL inventory for our existing advertisers while providing increased competition through additional demand sources."

  AOL chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong said, during a conference call with reporters following the company’s fourth quarter earnings release on Wednesday, that AOL’s advantage in the network and exchange space resides with “the machine-learning we do and have done with Advertising.com.”

  “You can think of us probably as more of a Goldman Sachs-type player on top of the exchanges,” Armstrong added, “where we spend a lot of time, energy and technology trying to figure out the value of individual things being traded and we have a proprietary set of technologies around that.” However, it's certainly easy to see some buyers eschewing Advertising.com for Right Media's exchange, assuming the same ad inventory is available through both channels.

  Armstrong also said during the conference call that AOL is beta testing an ad product with a partner that will “basically both help the ad exchanges as well as offer another version of non-reserved inventory for them, and we’ll go into more detail over that in this quarter.”

  
  

  

• 6:25

  Wishi combines f-commerce with collaborative consumption

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  As collaborative consumption grows in popularity, here's another another example of a start-up that's built around the trend for part-owning or sharing goods.

  Wear It Share It (Wishi) is a Facebook app that allows people to upload photos of their clothes and accessories – then share these with selected friends.

  Users can create new looks by mixing and matching pieces of their own with their friends’ virtual wardrobes – or items within the Wishi community. 

  People can also then share fashion or styling tips - and sell or exchange items through an online marketplace.

  

  Wishi co-founder Lia Kislev told AllFacebook that the app was inspired by co-founder Hila Angel peeking in her friend’s closet and realising that bringing that sort of action to Facebook would enable the three Israeli co-founders to create “the world’s biggest closet.”

  Though the ability to poke about in someone else's wardrobe probably taps into the inquisitive side of human nature, it's the commerce aspect to this that makes it interesting.

  While ASOS' Marketplace for vintage and independent retailers, Etsy and eBay's renewed focus on fashion have all created places for fashionistas to sell their wares, an app that allows anyone to easily 'exchange or sell' from within the confines of Facebook, is a different spin.

  There's a huge amount of potential here, particularly if Wishi integrates with Facebook's Open Graph to create socially-driven recommendations.

• 5:57

  Zynga offers players 'energy boost' for watching ads

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Zynga is trialling ‘reward advertising’ on CityVille that allows players to refill their energy bar by interacting with an advertiser.

  Sponsors involved in the trial, which began in December, include Coca-Cola, MasterCard and the 20th Century Fox film ‘What’s Your Number?’.

  The ads appeared when a player was running low on energy – some were offered the option of watching the film trailer or completing a MasterCard survey in return for a boost.

  Zynga’s main source of income is virtual currency but it has offered players rewards for similar brand interactions before. In June FarmVille players were given ‘Double Mastery’ points if they placed a Capital One statue on their farms.

  Though stats haven't been released, this newer rewards trial was obviously positive, since Zynga plans to roll out similar ads to FarmVille and Empire & Allies soon.

  Zynga has been investigating other ways of diversifying its revenue streams recently, even touting a possible move into online gambling.

  

  While it is a profitable business, there is some uneasiness around the fact that even though it has 152m monthly users, only 6.7m of them provided its revenue during the first nine months of 2011. This means that in theory, only 4.4% of Zynga’s users think the games are worth paying for.

  The value of Zynga’s freemium games was given a boost in the documents filed for Facebook’s IPO.

  Zynga contributed $445m to Facebook’s $3.71bn in sales last year, which equates to 12% of the social network’s revenue, and the IPO documents state that Facebook’s financial results would be harmed if it fails to maintain its business relationship with the gaming company.

  The millions of dollars come from the 30% cut of transactions Facebook takes from in-game purchases and from money Zynga spends on its advertising platform.

  The filing cites a study which says the virtual currency market will generate $15bn in 2014, up from $7bn in 2010.

  News of Facebook’s reliance on Zynga led to a near 20% jump in the gaming brand’s stock price on Thursday.

• 5:33

  Google Briefing With House Members Falls Short

   » ‎ Adweek.com - Digital News

  Google executives have their work cut out for them in explaining how the company's new privacy policy is the right move for consumers. Even a two-hour closed-door briefing between Google executives and a bipartisan group of House members seemed to fall short of the mark.

  "Today, Google carefully pointed out there are tools at the user's discretion to opt out of all sorts of things and customize their preferences. But the question Congress continues to have is whether the changes benefit Google, or benefit the consumer," said Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), chairman of the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee.

  Bono Mack and ranking member G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), who called the meeting, were two of the 10 House Energy and Commerce Committee members who met with Google's Mike Yang, the company's deputy general counsel, and Pablo Chavez, director of public policy.

  Although a senior adviser characterized the meeting as "productive," the group still came away with unanswered questions. "There was a general feeling that Google's new privacy policy may not be ready for 'prime time' on March 1. Clearly, there continues to be a lot of confusion by consumers, as well as by Congress," the adviser said.

  One area the lawmakers wanted more clarity on was Google's policy for deleted emails and materials. "We got no less than three different answers today and that's troubling," said Bono Mack's senior adviser.

  Whether users can opt out remains a big sticking point with lawmakers. Google's answer is that users opt out when they sign out.

  Bono Mack plans to follow up with another letter to Google and invite company officials to testify at the subcommittee's next privacy hearing this spring.

  Other members who attended the meeting were Representatives Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Joe Barton (R-Texas), Charlie Bass (R-N.H.), Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.).

  
  

  

• 4:56

  Recommendations help drive 27.9% holiday sales growth at John Lewis

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  John Lewis says the new personalised recommendation tool on its website was a key factor in driving a 27.9% increase in sales over Christmas.

  The tool, created by RichRelevance, provides customers with recommendations on fashion items by analysing shopping behaviour alongside the relationships between products and product categories.

  John Lewis head of online delivery and customer experience Sean O’Connor said the tool helped increase sales in the five weeks to December 31 2011 beyond the usual spike expected during the Christmas period, and in comparison to the previous year.

  When any shopper comes to our website, we want to provide them with the same personalised customer service we would if they visited us in one of our shops.”

  He said that the recommendation and email personalisation platform delivered tangible results by offering customers relevant products.

  Product recommendation works particularly well in the fashion category as it recognises shopper behaviour, patterns and recommends items of interest not only by product type, but by brand as well.

  The tool is not integrated into social media so recommendations do not take into account what the customer's friends have bought or viewed – something John Lewis should possibly consider enabling as it has almost 317,000 Facebook fans.

  However O’Connor said the tool and its recommendations are tuned in to "crowd shopping". 

  This takes into account not only what the individual customer is doing on the site at that moment in time, but what other shoppers who are similar in product views have done before. 

  

  We feel this is the very essence of social shopping: taking into account not just the individual customer's experience but those of the wisdom of the crowds."

  At the moment the tool is only accessible via web, but O’Connor said the retailer was looking at introducing it to mobile.

  We want our customers to have the same level of service and to provide a personalised shopping experience across all shopping channels.”

  John Lewis has been quick to adopt mobile technology, launching a mobile optimised site in 2010 and trialling a virtual QR code store in Brighton in December.

  It also introduced free Wi-Fi into its stores, a move which O’Connor says has been a big step forward in helping customers make an informed choice.

  They can quickly and easily access our mobile optimised website, or use our iPhone app. Customers are free to access the whole of the web, including competitor sites to test our price commitment, however it primarily enables us to extend our John Lewis online content and services into our physical shops in a way that is convenient for them.”

• 4:49

  10 amazing Google infographics

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  I've rounded up ten recent infographics on Google, with lots of stats, tips on searching Google, the most expensive keywords, and 2011 revenues.

  Where possible, I've added the infographics to this post in a readable size, but for others you can click on the image to see a larger version... 

  Google's 2011 revenues (via scoop.it)

  

  How big is Google? (via smashing apps)

  

  Google algorithm changes of 2011 (via infographics showcase)

  

  What does it take to get a job at Google? (via Search Engine Land)

  

  Is Google making us e-tards? (via Daily Infographic)

  

  How to search Google more efficiently (via Mashable)

  

  The constantly connected customer (via buzzintechnology)

  

  Google's most expensive keywords (via StateofSearch)

  

  Who's using Google+? (via flowtown)

  

  Intelligence on Google apps (via Cloud Infographic)

  

• 4:22

  UK job moves: Apple, MyDeco, Npower, We Are Social

   » ‎ Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  Once again we compile the most senior, surprising and influential job moves in the UK.

  This time we cover several prominent hires for Apple from the British corner, a loss for MyDeco, a new direction for Npower and new blood at We Are Social.

  --

  Amazon has appointed former News International digital executive Alex Hole as advertising sales director.

  Apple has hired John Browett, Dixons’ retail chief executive and also one-time Tesco.com head, to lead its retail strategy and the expansion of Apple stores around the world.

  Apple has also appointed Robin Burrowes to lead the marketing efforts for the App Store in Europe. Burrowes has been at HMV, MSN, and most recently was the head of Xbox Live marketing in EMEA. He joins several other Brits in the gaming team at Apple, including former Xbox PR manager Nick Grange and former Nintendo PR manager Robert Saunders.

  Future Publishing has brought in IPC's Keith Walker to take the newly created role of head of audience development for its games and film online properties.

  LivingSocial, the deals site, has hired Nigel Clarkson as head of sales for the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Nordic region from his position as sales and marketing director at Primesight.

  Mindshare has brought Nick Adams back to the fold, who is returning to the WPP-owned agency after three years at rival Aegis.

  MyDeco’s Nicole Vanderbilt has stepped down from her role as CEO just three months after the company relaunched as a direct e-commerce store. Current director of e-commerce Peter Bakker will fill her shoes from April.

  Npower has hired former AXA marketer Debbie Britton as director of customer marketing, with the charge of “rebuilding trust in the brand”.

  The Hut Group has appointed Time Out’s marketing director Andrew Booth as its own.

  We Are Social has brought in former associate director at Skive Tom Ollerton to be marketing director, alongside promoting Jim Coleman to managing partner. This will allow founders Robin Grant and Nathan McDonald to focus on the agency’s global expansion.

• February 02, 2012
• 23:05

  AdExchanger: The Facebook IPO

   » ‎ AdExchanger.com: Exchanging Ideas On Digital Media Optimization
  A weekly comic strip from AdExchanger.com that highlights the digital advertising ecosystem... More AdExchanger: Click Here To Get The AdExchanger iPad Comic Book! AdExchanger: Origins AdExchanger: Crisis In Ad City (Part I) AdExchanger: Crisis In Ad City (Part II) AdExchanger: Enter Malware (Part I) AdExchanger: Enter Malware (Part II) AdExchanger: Enter Malware (Part III) AdExchanger: [...]
• 23:03

  NYT’s Paywall Looking Up, About.com Struggles; Social Spend Trend

   » ‎ AdExchanger.com: Exchanging Ideas On Digital Media Optimization
  Here's today's AdExchanger.com news round-up... Want it by email? Sign-up here. Banging On The Paywall The New York Times reported its Q4 2011 earnings yesterday and the subscriber numbers were at 390,000 - that's 20% higher that Q3. A nice quarter-over-quarter increase it would seem. Did you get/give a subscription as a holiday gift? Ken [...]

• 22:01

  Article: Integrating Cross-Media Measurement to Build Multichannel Marketing Strategies

   » ‎ eMarketer Articles and Blog Posts
  Article: Integrating Cross-Media Measurement to Build Multichannel Marketing Strategies
• 22:01

  Article: Marketers in India Turn to Social Media and Email

   » ‎ eMarketer Articles and Blog Posts
  Limits to SMS promotions have more marketers in India using email and social media to reach customers
• 22:01

  Article: Online Ad Spending Consolidates Among Search, Banners, Video

   » ‎ eMarketer Articles and Blog Posts
  Three ad formats will get at least 80% of online dollars through 2015

• 16:22

  Vote for the Best Super Bowl Spot at YouTube's Ad Blitz

   » ‎ Adweek.com - Digital News
  

  USA Today has long had a stranglehold on ranking the Super Bowl spots through its Ad Meter. But last year's total fail by the paper's 282 volunteers (Bud Light's "Dogsitter" and Doritos' "Pug Attack" tied for first place, with the eventual Emmy winner, Chrysler's "Born of Fire," deemed to be the 44th best out of 61 spots) has people eagerly seeking an alternative. They may well find it in YouTube's Ad Blitz, which is asking viewers to vote for their favorite spots after the final whistle is blown. Voting will continue through Feb. 13, and the winning spot will be featured on the YouTube homepage on Feb. 18. So, let's recap. With Ad Blitz, you have hundreds of thousands of visitors to the world's top video site voting over the course of a week. With the Ad Meter, you get knee-jerk reactions from a couple hundred people who wouldn't know a good ad if it hit them in the crotch like a can of PepsiMAX. Your choice.
       UPDATE: Actually, USA Today has moved its Ad Meter over to Facebook, where they'll get a much bigger group of people voting on the ads through Tuesday night. A smart evolution.

  
  
  See Adweek's full Super Bowl coverage here.