SMB Ad Spend Undaunted by Economy

An overwhelming majority (81 percent) of US small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) say they will maintain or increase…

Ffwd Brings Online Video You’ll Like — Straight to You

Co-founder Patrick Koppula of iLike conceived Ffwd, a video aggregation site that launches today. The company manifesto is “your…

US Catches Up to W. Europe in 3G Mobile Device Adoption

After a slower start than Western Europe, the United States caught up in adoption of 3G mobile, with…

Online Community Pros are Happy, Could Use More Dosh Employees involved in building online communities — via software companies, community sites, platform providers, or in the interactive… Yahoo Revamps its UK Ad Network, Claims 80% Coverage Today Yahoo relaunched and rebranded its ad network. The freshly-monikered Yahoo Network purportedly now reaches 80 percent of… Older Demos Use Green Products Most Often Bucking the belief that environmentalism is a youth movement, a new survey finds that male and female consumers… ‘Mirror World’ Twinity Goes into Public Beta Metaversum announced the launch of Twinity in public beta. Twinity is a virtual “mirror” world based on existing cities…. Microsoft Ad Campaign Stirs Wrath of Blogosphere Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which won Microsoft’s $300 million creative account in February, has released its debut ad… Chrome Penetrates 2.57% of Global Browser Market, ‘Incognito’ Inflates Unique Visitor Figures Chrome’s the new kid in town. It’s gaining popularity fast. To see just how fast, log in to… Online TV Viewership Doubles in Two Years Online TV viewing has been steadily gaining in popularity – nearly one-fifth of American households that use the…

Obama Cuts Back on August Web Spend; McCain Raises Stakes

Sen. Barack Obama drew slightly more buzz than Sen. John McCain over the course of the Democratic and…

Marketers’ Top 10 Wish List for Agencies of the Future

Greater knowledge of the digital space is at the top of marketers’ list of what they want from…

Majestic SEO Proclaimed ‘Most Advanced Backlink Analysis Tool’

Backlink analysis service Majestic SEO was proclaimed the most advanced backlink analysis tool by Ann Smarty, in-house SEO…

Marketing Vox is a great source for industry news and newsletters subscribe by clicking HERE

Chrome Penetrates 2.57% of Global Browser Market, ‘Incognito’ Inflates Unique Visitor Figures

Chrome’s the new kid in town. It’s gaining popularity fast. To see just how fast, log in to…

Online TV Viewership Doubles in Two Years

Online TV viewing has been steadily gaining in popularity – nearly one-fifth of American households that use the…

Palin Acceptance Speech Draws 37M Viewers, Utterly Outshines Biden

Governor Sarah Palin’s debut as Vice Presidential incumbent on the Republican ticket drew 37 million viewers, dramatically outstripping…

Email’s Effectiveness Erodes Against Texting, SocNets, Mobile

Use of online social networking, text messaging and cell phones is diminishing the effectiveness of email marketing, especially…

Rodale Syndicates Print Content to Glam Media

Rodale shall partner with women’s online network Glam Media to provide branded articles, slide shows and videos from…

Comcast Challenges FCC’s Net Neutrality Ruling

Comcast is challenging the FCC’s demand that it cease slowing internet speeds to heavy bandwidth users. In early…

AdWords Debuts Geo-Performance Reporting Feature

Google AdWords has released a new reporting feature: the Geographic Performance Report, which tells users where their impressions,…

Big Spenders Spend Less as Inflation Congeals, Home Values Slip

Consumers in all income segments are cutting back spending, and doing so to a greater extent recently than…

Email Nightmare: Carat Staffers Get Talking Points on Job Cuts

An unfortunate email blunder alerted Carat staffers that their jobs could be in peril, and shared with them…

Global Mobile Sales to Grow 11% in 2008

Worldwide sales of mobile phones will reach 1.28 billion units in 2008 – up from 1.15 billion units…

Industry Buzz & Snippets: 9/2/08

Ad Networks and Analytics: Google is preparing a measurement system for display advertising on YouTube, comparable to the Quality…

AutoTrader, Cars.com Yield Best Leads to Auto Dealers

AutoTrader.com ranks highest among online buying services in satisfying auto dealers with new-vehicle leads, while Cars.com ranks highest…

NebuAd Loses CEO, Pursues Less Controversial Pastures

Battered by bad press, recent Congressional probes and the loss of ISP clients, CEO Bob Dykes of NebuAd…

Online Behavior Changed by Financial Worries

Brands that fail to embrace and engage in online consumer dialog are set be among those most severely…

Marketing Vox is a great source for industry news and newsletters subscribe by clicking HERE

Satirical ‘Onion’ Debuts the ‘Decider’

Tongue-in-cheek news source The Onion has launched a local site that provides event listings and restaurant information for…

Streaming TV Network TheWB.com Goes Live Today

Today marks the debut of TheWB.com, Warner Brothers’ contender to existing streaming show and movie sites like Hulu. The…

How-To: Increasing Crawl Visits and Site Indexability

Fact: Google’s search engine spiders visit some sites more often than others. Oft-indexed sites are thought to be…

Adobe Releases Photo-Sharing App for Smartphones

Point, click, upload, share: Adobe’s new mobile app lets smartphone users transfer photos from handhelds to Photoshop.com. Specialized apps…

Payoneer Blazes Trail in Global Payment Market

With increased internet access, improvements to VoIP and technology like Skype, employers are finding it easier to outsource…

B2B International Marketing Budgets Swell

More than half of B2B marketers surveyed plan to increase international marketing budgets but are confronting attendant challenges,…

Amazon Snaps Up Book-Lover SocNet Shelfari

Amazon.com has acquired social library network Shelfari for an undisclosed amount. Shelfari lets users showcase books they’ve read on…

Nielsen Issues Presidential Campaign Scorecard

Last week the Nielsen Company released an overview of the presidential campaign’s summer progress, providing a look at…

Gorilla Nation Hitches Ride on Thomas the Tank Engine

HiT Entertainment has selected GNKids, the kiddie-brand arm of Gorilla Nation, to sell ad inventory for its websites…

Marketers Reduce Ad Budgets in Hard Times

Marketers from a cross-section of categories and industries are feeling the pinch of budget belt-tightening – over half…

Consumer Confidence Improves in August

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index, which improved moderately in July, made more gains in August and now…

mtvU Unveils 25 Local Sites for College Students

mtvU has launched a set of 25 localized websites geared to students at individual US colleges. The sites…

Google Ad Manager Goes Live

Google Ad Manager, which has been in beta since March, made its public debut today. Ad Manager is a…

MarketingVox Industry Buzz & Snippets 8/26/08

Ad Networks and Analytics:

• Brand.net, an ad network for brand advertisers, raised $10 million in its second round of funding, led by Norwest Venture Partners. This brings its total funding to $13 million. The money will be used to build a technology platform for display and video advertising.

Agencies and Marketing Execs:

• Kelly Brett is now Head of Original Productions at Bebo. Prior to that, Brett worked on Bebo’s KateModern web series for over a year.
• The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) extended its submission deadline for the Multicultural Excellence Awards to September 15.
• WPP sold its 25 percent stake in a Zimbabwean ad agency involved in President Robert Mugabe’s reelection. The stake sold for $1, and the exiled Zimbabwean unit agreed to remove any references to Young & Rubicam.

Biz Buzz:

• Google cut b
  ack on its culinary program. While breakfast and lunch remains free to all Googleplex workers, dinner is now reserved for engineers.
• Ebay believes modeling itself after Amazon, slashing sale items and better marketing “Buy It Now” sets, will make it a viable business again.
• Google is purportedly on the verge of announcing a major deal in the TV advertising arena.

E-commerce:

• Hoping to draw attention to its improved line of white-label sportswear, Calvin Klein added an e-commerce microsite to calvinklein.com.
• PhotoShelter, an online community of independent photographers, launched PhotoShelter Prints, a set of poignant images for sale as art pieces.

Gaming:

• WPP purchased a minority stake in IGA Limited, the parent company of InGame Ad Interactive Technology. The latter is a major dynamic in-game ad network in China.

Legal, Government and Regulation:

• Overstock.com lost a lawsuit against SmartBargains, which it alleges displayed unsolicited pop-up ads to its visitors. The lawsuit is about four years old.
• Canadian regulators are increasingly concerned about the Google/Yahoo sponsored search pact.

Mobile:

• Google may close a mobile search deal with Verizon Wireless.
• JumpTap closed a fourth round of venture funding for $26 million, led by AllianceBernstein. JumpTap will use the money to expand the global ad sales and operations division for its mobile search offerings.

Overseas:

• In the first half of 2008, ad spend in China grew to a record 244.9 billion yuan — that’s $34.99 billion, 17 percent more than the same period last year. TV netted 84 percent of total spend; print, 14 percent (compared to last year). Pharma, medicine, healthcare and women’s skincare topped product category ad spend.
• According to marketing search firm Romir, 85 percent of Russian internet users shop online. 70 percent of them pay in cash upon delivery.

Publishing:

• Lad labels Maxim and Blender chose Steak, an SEM firm, to manage their search marketing campaigns.
• Brad Fredricks, former head of marketing at VICE, has launched a digital marketing blog. One post explores digital marketing outsourcing and its implications for interns — which will need to juggle more balls for less money in order to compete.

Search:

• Google is taking Search Suggest out of beta. The feature works like typical “Did you mean…?” services. Its ultimate goals are to help form more coherent queries, reduce spelling errors and minimize the number of keystrokes needed to search.

User Experience:

• Observing that over 52 percent of US Hispanics are online and highly receptive to search marketing, Search Engine Land laments marketers’ neglect of this demographic.

Marketing Vox is a great source for industry news and newsletters subscribe by clicking HERE

Top Internet Portals to Weather Economic Storm

Google’s strong financial results for 2Q08 – including 27 percent growth in net US advertising revenues – is…

Online Marathon for Olympics Fans, NBC Web Audiences Peaking at Noon

More than half-way through the 2008 Beijing Olympics, US fans continue to follow the games online in strong…

New-Vehicle Multimedia Systems and Features in High Demand

Some 55 percent of new-vehicle owners say they have satellite radio capability in their audio systems and 25…

Steepest Declines in U.S. Ad Sales in Five-Plus Years: Bernstein

A slump in local newspaper and television advertising is spreading to national categories, helping speed a Q2 decline…

Rocky Road Ahead, Say Agency Execs

The downturned economy may have finally rocked the agency world, as industry execs observe a decline in client…

Sprint Lands Live NFL Mobile Deal

Sprint will deliver live radio broadcasts of all NFL games, plus television broadcasts of eight Thursday night games…

‘Extreme Gamers’ Play 45 Hours of Videogames a Week

“Extreme Gamers” spend an average of 45 hours a week playing videogames and have purchased 24 titles in…

Tech Purchasers Committed to ‘Green,’ Women More Environmentally Conscious

Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of business technology purchasers agree that being perceived as “green” helps their brand image,…

Yahoo + Intel ITV Efforts = YaHell?

Intel and Yahoo – both perpetrators of several failed interactive television efforts in the past – have come…

Microsoft Ups Business Search Efforts

Microsoft is adding a new Search Business Group, which may indicate an increased sense of importance around certain…

MarketingVox Industry Buzz & Snippets 8/21/08

Football on my fone

Ad Networks and Analytics:

• ContentNext, now a Guardian Media property, has released its 2008 Online Advertising Deals Report. Order a copy for a mere $399.

Agencies and Marketing Execs:

• Kent Brownridge has left his role as Maxim/Blender CEO.
• WPP’s GroupM appointed Stephen Allan as worldwide chairman and CEO of MediaCom.
• Another one flees the ‘hoo: Todd Teresi, SVP of Yahoo’s publisher network, has left the company.

Biz Buzz:

• Target has decided to focus more on value and convenience in its marketing, so as not to alienate price-sensitive consumers in a rough economy. This puts the cheap chic darling back on Wal-Mart’s turf.

Legal, Government and Regulation:

• Rockville, MD-based Hillcrest Labs filed a complaint against Nintendo Wii for patent infringement for a hand-held 3D pointing device and another for a navigation interface display system.
• FTC Commissioner Jon Leibowitz expressed awe at the effectiveness of cross-promotional online marketing campaigns targeted towards children, saying that $77 million really gets the job done.

Mobile:

• Sprint made an exclusive deal to represent the NFL brand across its mobile units.
• GPS giant Garmin has partnered with uLocate, maker of Buddy Beacon, the program that uses GPS tracking to find your friends – if they want to be found.

Search:

• Marchex won the “Best Search Engine Marketing Technology Platform for SMBs” award at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose.
• Google Sites swallowed the Indian search market, nabbing 81% of the market with over 1 billion searches. Indian portal Rediff.com ranked fifth, getting just 1.5% of searches.

User Experience:

• Comcast announced plans to slow internet service to its heaviest users for up to 20 minutes during internet “rush hour” after being ordered to find a new way to manage web traffic.
• American Airlines now offers full in-flight broadband service on long-haul domestic flights.

Marketing Vox is a great source for industry news and newsletters subscribe by clicking HERE