Fifth Network Innovates Ad Charging August 31, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentFifth Network Innovates Ad Charging
Companies are constantly trying to find new and innovative ways to sell ad space. Fifth Network has rolled out its newest method which measures the time a viewer will pay attention to a page and sell based on these numbers.
Fifth Network will supply the data for advertisers to choose the placement of their ads on the pages that may give them the longest exposure.
The method is meant for brand advertisers intent on putting a campaign in front of users that will view it the longest. To measure the results of attention targeting, Fifth Network will be using InsightExpress and Dynamic Logic.
Behind the Numbers: Can Behavioral Hit the Target? August 29, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment| Behind the Numbers: Can Behavioral Hit the Target? |
| by Lynn Russo Whylly, August 2007 issue |
Relevance is critical, but reach is still an issueIn some ways, behavioral targeting – the ability to serve online ads to visitors based on their viewing habits – is seen as the ultimate in efficiency. After all, marketers want to target their messages to the audience who will find the ads most relevant. At the same time, targeting ads to specific audiences means they won’t be seen by as many people – a drawback for those marketers who think of advertising as a numbers game whose goal is to reach as many people as possible. While the benefits of behavioral targeting are likely to spur growth in the next few years, the perceived drawbacks mean the growth will come from a small base. The result: Behavioral targeting won’t be anywhere near achieving critical mass by the end of the decade. In fact, according to the eMarketer report “Behavioral Targeting: Advertising Gets Personal,” just 33.8 percent of Web sites offer behavioral targeting. That’s not much of a jump from 2005’s 24.4 percent in a market where relevance is key to improving customer lifetime value. “Brand marketers are looking at behavioral targeting to establish awareness of a new brand, so reach is critical,” explains eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman. “It’s going to need to take off more in order for additional publishers to offer it as a capability and to be included in different networks.” The other sticky issue, Hallerman says, is that publishers don’t want their ad inventory to be limited to a certain category. “If the ads are being sold to a company targeting [a specific group] and a site does a good job of delivering them, they’ll wind up getting an imbalance of ads from companies wanting to target that group, even though they may reach other groups equally as well.” Adding insult to injury, Hallerman says, advertisers are being asked to pay a premium for behavioral targeting when in effect they’re buying remnant space. “It seems to some that those pages aren’t necessarily in context, and the idea that ads need a proper context to be effective is a mindset that, for many advertisers, is hard to overcome.” Still, advertiser adoption is moving faster than publisher adoption. Behaviorally targeted ad spending will grow at exponential percentage rates until at least 2011, according to eMarketer, with 64.3 percent growth in 2007 and 73.9 percent projected for 2008. Thirty-eight percent of respondents to a Forrester Research report are using behavioral targeting, while 36 percent said they were piloting or expected to pilot behavioral targeting within the next 12 months. Fifty-two percent of respondents to an American Advertising Foundation survey ranked behavioral targeting as “most effective,” compared with 32.9 percent for demographic and 30.5 percent for contextual. Not everyone agrees. A MarketingSherpa survey conducted at Ad:Tech revealed that behavioral targeting ranked among “best” performing online tactics for 36 percent of respondents in 2005 and 34 percent in 2006, while it ranked “worst” for 23 and 21 percent, respectively. Just 21 percent said it was “very effective;” 63 percent said it was “somewhat effective.” And while 31 percent of respondents to a Dynamic Logic/MediaPost survey plan to heavily invest in behavioral targeting this year, it ranked fifth behind investing in search, e-mail, online video and social networks.
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Dynamic Logic uncovers the top performing online campaigns and shares what they have in common August 28, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentLessons on achieving branding goals
Dynamic Logic uncovers the top performing online campaigns and shares what they have in common.
Dynamic Logic recently announced the most effective online advertising campaigns, based on research that evaluated how well each campaign achieved its branding objectives. Reviewing the campaigns measured in the United States during 2006, we determined the top overall campaigns, which successfully generated the greatest branding impact.
Top U.S. campaigns
The top campaigns were led by CPG products, including four Kraft campaigns: Oreo, Honey Bunches of Oats, Kraft Singles and Crystal Light On-the-Go. Other brands that also achieved high scores- To Read the rest of this iMedia article about Dynamic Logic Please click HERE
MediaPost Accounts on the Move August 27, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment| Mon, Aug 27, 2007 |
| Sports Authority |
| DeVito/Verdi |
| Following a six-month review, Sports Authority tapped DeVito/Verdi to handle its $35 million advertising account. The agency will be responsible for retail collateral, print, broadcast and online advertising. |
| Ronzoni |
| Dailey & Associates |
| New World Pasta awarded its Ronzoni brand to Dailey & Associates, West Hollywood, CA, following a review. The agency will handle several Ronzoni brands, providing strategic development, creative development for offline and online advertising, and media planning and buying. |
| Colorado Lottery |
| Cactus Marketing Communications |
| The Colorado Lottery awarded Cactus Marketing Communications a three-year contract following a state bid process that narrowed the competitors to three agencies. The $8.8 million annual advertising budget includes creative work, media buying, Web site management, research coordination and special event planning. |
| Guinness Atkinson Asset Management |
| Hunt Adkins |
| Without a review, Guinness Atkinson Asset Management tapped Hunt Adkins Minneapolis to handle its brand advertising, previously created in-house. Work consists of newspaper, magazine and online advertising targeting both direct investors and financial advisors. Spending was not released. |
| Mount Airy Casino Resort |
| Stand |
| After a two-month review, Mount Airy Casino Resort named Stand Advertising its first agency of record to handle the casino resort’s pre-opening advertising campaign. Spending was not released. |
| Monster.com |
| In Review |
| Monster.com placed the creative portion of its $150 million account in review. Brand Content currently handles the work. |
| New Balance Canada |
| Teehan+Lax |
| Teehan+Lax was named digital agency for New Balance Canada. The agency is tasked with creating the company’s first Canadian Web site. |
| LG Electronic Worldwide |
| In Review |
| LG Electronic Worldwide opened a review for an agency to handle a global corporate brand campaign. |
| Harlem Globetrotters |
| WONGDOODY |
| The Harlem Globetrotters named WONGDOODY as its creative agency of record to handle all creative efforts for the 2008 “Magic As Ever” World Tour. Work includes TV, print, radio, Internet and outdoor advertising. |
Confessions of a Linkedin Network user August 22, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentConfessions of a Linkedin Network user
By Mark Blei
Part one of a 3 part series on Social Networking.
I am a networking junkie. It started out innocently enough, as all addictions do, when I was hired to do business development. There were certain contacts in specific companies that I wanted to access. Since at times a phone call depending on whom and when can be a little bit intrusive, I looked into expanding my then small LinkedIn network.
Through the LinkedIn network, I could find the names of various people that I wanted to get in touch with through media articles or different resources, and then send a small invitation to join my network with a brief explanation of why I was contacting them and what I did. If they accepted my invitation, I took that as a tacit approval to make the next step and reach out to them directly. This proved an excellent vehicle for me, and so as I delved deeper and deeper into expanding my network I found an interesting phenomenon. Even while keeping a closed network (meaning that I do not allow people who join my network to stroll through my list of contacts) I found a cavalcade of other people who wanted access to my network who started sending me invitations…three to four a day. What spurred these people to decide to link with me? I noticed two major and one minor subset of groups reaching out to me. People whose profiles, careers, goals or needs had no synergy with my needs or goals or experience were group one. Group two were recruiters who understandably would want to have the greatest scope of contacts even though my LinkedIn profile says very clearly that I’m not in the market for a job. And group three were the smallest fraction of my network who are my actual business contacts and or people who might be doing business with me in the future.
I can tell you that from a virtual nerd standpoint there is nothing quite so ego boosting as having hoards of people sending you invitations to simply stand in the shadow of my virtual awesomeness. But was there any way for me to take advantage of people contacting me whose goals were completely different from mine?
Is there really any value in having multiple people who really have no synergy with me hooked into my network? How much business networking is too much? Let’s look at an average day for an example.
Among the requests that I received today to join my network was a Latvian Wastewater management specialist, 4 recruiters that had nothing to do with my field at all, 6-10 job seekers who had no synergy with anything that I had ever done, and 1 or 2 connection requests that were viable contacts for my current business.
What’s the possibility that my new Latvian friend in Wastewater management will any in way, or at any time, provide something of value to me? None that I can think of, but that’s just the rub. It is frequently not the things that I can think of that turn out to be viable opportunities for me, instead, it is often things that seem to come out of left field.
A few months ago on the advice of my good friend and networking guru Vincent Wright I decided that I would take 2 hours a week and allow people within my LinkedIn network to call me up and get 15 minutes of my time to not only ask me questions about what I do, but also what I know about media in general from my various and sundry jobs and experience in the industry. I didn’t require that anyone had to have a specific opportunity for me but rather wanted to do what any good Biz Dev guy does and make friends. There are many people who have small businesses or have relatives or friends that don’t have the time or money to get the ear of someone who has any decent knowledge about online media.
Through these relationship and these brief 15 minute phone calls, people just like my Latvian Wastewater friend have introduced me to new publishers interested in my product line, new advertisers taking their first plunge into online marketing, and even agencies internationally and nationally that I had no traction in previously. As it turns out my friends have friends. And when I make friends with people they want to be friendly back and that’s where the true value of networking comes into play.
I’m one of the few people who I know who have actually drawn money out of LinkedIn. Over the last year and a half I can trace over $75,000 of direct sales that were initiated through LinkedIn contacts that I had connected with through my various networking efforts. Now keep in mind that $75,000 is certainly no great shakes in the overall amount of business that I do, but I also don’t turn away business. But what’s even more important is the potential that one of these small publishers, advertisers, or agencies will one day become a powerhouse- maybe the next P&G or maybe the next Time-Warner. All I know is that I remember the people who helped me when I was a small fish in a big pond and to this day those are the people who have my trust, and if possible, my dollars.
As a business development guy I’m not always looking for the quickest sale or the lowest hanging fruit, but I do know potential when I see it. When I see potential for long-term business I certainly feel that it’s useful for me to take a few minutes out of my day to explain the value of what I provide, so that when that first big deal comes knocking and they’re looking for some sort of third party analysis to validate the effect of the media that’s being exposed through their campaign, they will turn to me. And they do.
I now receive between 20 and 30 requests to join my network every day. I am now the official moderator of one of the LinkedIn Media forums, assisting in the development of a specific media measurement forum within LinkedIn for Dynamic Logic , and at some point early this year I officially became one of the Top 500 people to know on LinkedIn.
I have beyond a doubt reached critical mass. I am a member of
no less than 20 clubs on LinkedIn, all proudly displayed on my profile.
I also now receive daily invitations to join new business networks such as Xing, Ecadamy, and various others that go on ad infinitum, and frankly, ad nauseum.
Is LinkedIn the total sum answer to my business networking needs. No. in fact the LinkedIn model has several problem areas that I’ll get into in the last article in this series.
This posting is a personal opinion article by Mark Blei who is in International Business Development for Dynamic Logic Inc and the author of this blog. None of the content of this article is meant to be an opinion of Dynamic Logic, It’s parent company Millward Brown or anybody but the writer.
Is Facebook taking over the world? -Part two of a 3 part series on Social Networking. August 22, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a comment
Is Facebook taking over the world?
By Mark Blei
Part two of a 3 part series on Social Networking.
When Facebook opened up to the general public earlier this year I decided to conduct a small experiment, to see the difference between the admittedly stodgy LinkedIn environment and a more fluid, cozier one like Facebook. So I exported my LinkedIn contacts, uploaded them into Facebook, and started sending out invitations. I very quickly realized that the one thing I needed was two Facebook accounts- one for business, and one for personal use. I certainly didn’t need my business contacts seeing any of the off-hand or off-color remarks that good friends make to each other. If you remember from my last article I’m a very well known LinkedIn user with over 2000 connections in a “closed network”, meaning that I don’t allow my contacts to go through my list or network of contacts. As of now I have 300 Facebook contacts in my business profile and that number , while significant, was still fractional compared to the amount of contacts that I had as a whole on other sites. As I sent out my first round of Facebook invitations I got an email from one of my LinkedIn contacts asking me why I was befriending him on Facebook. I explained that I wanted to see the difference between the two networks. He sent me back an email asking me how it was going. My reply to him was this. “You have been a LinkedIn contact of mine for 2 years now, and beyond the initial request to link, we’ve never spoken to each other.” Think about that for a second. Just that dialogue right there should say a lot about why other social networks should be very scared of Facebook.
Let me lay some facts on you. In Canada, where over 10% of the total Facebook population resides, one third of all Canadians are members. Not one third of all Canadians online, but one third of the entire populace of the country of Canada. There was a recent article in Techcrunch discussing whether Facebook might be the next Microsoft. I think that they will be, and here’s why. Out of those 300 + connections in my Facebook business account, I have never received one piece of unwanted mail. I can definitely tell you that I can’t say the same for LinkedIN- as a matter of fact, I get spammed by one of my LinkedIn contacts at least every day. Up until recently you couldn’t send out email to people that were not in your friend list which also means that every single person who mails you through the interface has to be pre approved by you. That is up until recently when Facebook announced that they would start allowing people to email outside the interface. But still, because of the way the interface is set up it’s virtually impossible for someone to spam me. That’s right not one email trying to get me to use V1@G7A or any of the various other scams that spammers pull. And that’s actually very pleasant.
The open application development area is in its infancy, and while I’m swamped with invitations to become a zombie or werewolf, or to load or use any number of childish and stupid
applications, Facebook allows people to design applications which only work in the Facebook environment. And while the zombie application might be nothing but annoying, six months from now when a new application for a shared calendar is developed that allows small companies to not only share appointments but perhaps share spreadsheets, files, PowerPoint presentations etc., Facebook is going to be a major contender in the marketplace, in part because their applications cannot be used on any other platform. Already there are human resources applications for recruitment companies where other people who know me can score me on the effectiveness of my work, therefore allowing possible recruiters to see how I’m thought of by other people who I’ve worked with. Already, Facebook has much the same newsreader functionality as well as the IGoogle all in a one page linkage that it took Google years to come out with.
And what’s more interesting is my wife. My wife, who, while being an internet junkie and long-term nerd, (who would you expect would have me, Kate Moss?), hates all things mainstream and pop culture. Hates them with such vehemence that when she saw me playing around with the Facebook application loudly groaned and exclaimed “Oh, no- not another stupid social network tool.”
My wife now spends a significant portion of her day turning people into Pirates, sending virtual drinks, and writing notes on the walls of her friends who live within blocks of us. I don’t think that my wife is the exception- I think that she’s the norm. And I think that we should all be watching Facebook to see what they are going to do in the future. It may just be the next “killer app.” if you have a thought then please leave it on this blog or …look me up on Facebook.
This posting is a personal opinion article by Mark Blei who is in International Business Development for Dynamic Logic Inc and the author of this blog. None of the content of this article is meant to be an opinion of Dynamic Logic, It’s parent company Millward Brown or anybody but the writer.
Has Social Networking Reached Critical Mass? Part three of a 3 part series on Social Networking. August 22, 2007
Posted by Mark Blei in : Uncategorized , add a commentHas Social Networking Reached Critical Mass?
Part three of a 3 part series on Social Networking.
By Mark Blei
Facebook, MySpace, Xing, Ecademy, Plaxo, Yahoo360, and the various and sundry failed Orkut type websites out there... I get invited to these every day. Today alone I was invited to two new social networks that I had not heard of before. One of them, called Quechup, which I luckily did not join, automatically harvests every email address in your files, and without permission spams everyone you know with invitations to join. ( That Link does not go to Quechup) Is there room for more than one social network for both business and personal use?
Probably. But just like six years ago when we had a host of search engines available to us- Excite, Lycos, Dogpile, Yahoo, Hotbot, and the new and upstart strangely named Google, the herd has a way of thinning itself out. How many of you even bother with anything more than Google, Yahoo, or the Microsoft search product if you need to search for something? When was the last time that you looked at a MySpace profile? The last time that I did any looking around that site, aside from noticing that Tom was a pretty popular guy, I noticed profiles that were pimped out so much that they were completely unreadable, profiles that blare music wantonly, waking up my entire house when I hit them. I do not think that the answer is necessarily allowing people to do whatever they want on their profile. Now I know that MySpace is not necessarily going after the 30 plus 50k demographic very heavily, but think about where the money is.
I do think that when I talk about Facebook ruling the world in terms of social networking that they have a very good chance of doing that, and I believe that all other social networks if they want to survive the next few years of the culling process should beware. If I find the experience of being on your website to be unpleasant, visually difficult, and intrusive, then I’m not only going to refuse to join that network, I won’t even bother visiting links that people send me on that network. If Google Video did not allow you to view MySpace videos within the Google Video portal there would never be any bandwidth dedicated to MySpace again from my PC.
LinkedIn, formerly the leader of business networking, has had long-standing customer service issues for even people paying the highest of premiums. And also, what is now being widely known as the “LinkedIn Lockout”. Well, ok it’s not really widely known as “LinkedIn Lockout” but I had to put a name to it and I thought it sounded cool. Who knows it might catch on.Pardon me if I’m wrong, but from my understanding, the purpose of networking sites like LinkedIn is to enable you to meet new people that you would otherwise not know in order to determine if there is any business synergy and to engage in possible deals. LinkedIn, in their wisdom, decided that they would put both an option within their invitations for the recipient to indicate that they did not know the person who was inviting them, and also made a rule saying that if 5 people pressed that button indicating that they didn’t know me, that I would lose my privileges to invite people into my network on LinkedIn, thereby effectively stagnating it. Of course they don’t know me. If they had known me, I wouldn’t have had to use the darned tool to send them an invitation to invite them to get to know me. If I had had their email address or phone number I would have contacted them that way. What’s worse is that once you enter the LinkedIn Lockout Zone, it’s virtually impossible to regain your invitation privileges.
This hasn’t happened to me because I only send invitations to those people who I know would have at least a name recognition of my company if not me, and people who while may not always be customers of mine are certainly by both our standards good candidates to be customers. Like any salesperson I don’t waste my time reaching out to unqualified people. But even if you have an existing list of contacts you can still get locked out! It’s happened enough that it’s already hit the Blogosphere like in this post by Blogger Scott Allen.Also, there is no real difference between a free membership on LinkedIn versus the top-level membership which costs almost $50 U.S. a month other than more chances to get yourself locked out of the system by trying to meet new people.
Meanwhile, easy to use applications like Xing are growing exponentially. Plaxo, who entered the social networking market earlier this month, is already a product that almost every person in my industry uses in one form or another, and has used for at least the past four years. I know 2 people who don’t use the Plaxo network, and that’s it. One is my wife and the other is my IT guy ( and I’m pretty sure my IT guy was lying to me). When Plaxo released their social networking tool, within 24 hours I received over 100 invitations from people within my Plaxo contact list to join the Plaxo Business Network. LinkedIn should be shivering in fear.
Is there room for more than one social networking tool? There may be. Look at the last 10 internet searches that you did. How many were on Google? How many were on Lycos? Social networking sites should learn from the past and realize that even the most savvy web-users are willing to give up a good deal, up to and including their privacy, for a good, reliable functionality, and dependable results. If we don’t learn from the past, it will only repeat itself.
This posting is a personal opinion article by Mark Blei who is in International Business Development for Dynamic Logic Inc and the author of this blog. None of the content of this article is meant to be an opinion of Dynamic Logic, It’s parent company Millward Brown or anybody but the writer.
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