Posts Tagged ‘Advertising’

New Mobile Marketing Guidelines Open for Public Review

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Mobile marketing is going to become increasingly hard for businesses to ignore. Just look at how much mobile advertising is already going on.

The key of course (which could really be said of other kinds of marketing), is to not be annoying about it. WebProNews recently interviewed former Yahoo executive and current Chief Revenue Officer of mobile marketing firm Crisp Wireless, Tom Foran, about this.

There are some new guidelines for mobile marketing in the works from none other than the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), whom I like to think of as kind of like the Interactive Advertising Bureau for mobile marketing. The MMA consists of agencies, advertisers, hand-held device manufacturers, carriers and operators, retailers, software providers and service providers, and other companies focused on marketing with mobile devices.

Sidenote: See our interview with MMA President and CEO Mike Wehrs below:

The MMA has opened up a public review period for the guidelines, which runs through the end of the month. They new guidelines will be published in September. News updates and additions to the guidelines include:

- The MMA's new Universal Mobile Advertising Package (UMAP), which provides industry-standard ad units.

- The Mobile Application section has been expanded from North America only to worldwide.

- An expanded MMS section, including new ad units and guidelines.

- An expanded Mobile Video & TV section with new ad units and guidelines.

- An expanded Mobile Applications section with new ad units and guidelines

"The MMA's Global Mobile Advertising Guidelines are designed to provide the timely, actionable guidance and insights necessary to continue mobile advertising's phenomenal growth," said Mike Wehrs, MMA president and CEO. "By making each new version of the Global Mobile Advertising Guidelines available for public review, the MMA ensures that this resource meets the needs of the entire mobile advertising ecosystem."

eMarketer estimates that there will be 280.8 million mobile phone subscribers by the end of the  year, while comScore says there will be 29 million smartphone users. Meanwhile, AdMob is getting ready to serve its 100 billionth mobile ad.

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That’s a Lot of Mobile Advertising!

Friday, August 7th, 2009

If you need any more evidence that mobile advertising is booming, AdMob is getting ready to serve its 100 Billionth ad. The firm notes that this is over 14 times the entire world population (as of 2008), 107 times the distance (in miles) to the sun, and about half to a quarter of the number of stars in the galaxy. Suffice it to say, that's a lot of mobile advertising. And that's just from AdMob.

A spokesperson for AdMob tells WebProNews that smartphone shipments worldwide are projected to grow 13% this year. You can expect a lot more mobile advertising to come.

eMarketer estimates that there will be 280.8 million mobile phone subscribers by the end of the  year. comScore says there will be 29 million smartphone users. eMarketer also projects that US mobile advertising spending will reach $760 million in 2009.

US Mobile Advertising Spending, 2008-2013 (millions and % change)

"Not that long ago, mobile used to mean simple WAP sites or worse, trying to view a traditional website with a sub-par transcoded experience," says AdMob. "Remember how fun it used to be to squint your eyes to try to read web sites intended for PC viewing as they slowly appeared on your old flip phone?  Mobile websites have come a long way since then and now provide a rich user experience optimized specifically for mobile."

"More and more people are getting smart (with a smartphone) and mobile has become a real medium for advertisers & publishers," Admob says.  "No longer for just early adopters, as smartphones have become mainstream, having a strong presence in the mobile landscape has become essential for both mainstream brands and emerging developers alike."

WebProNews recently interviewed a former Yahoo executive, who is now the Chief Revenue Officer for mobile advertising firm Crisp Wireless. He says we're going to see nearly all major brands embrace mobile in some fashion this year. According to him, the most successful mobile campaigns recognize what will appeal to consumers while they're on the go.

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When Irrelevant Ads Cost You Money

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Digg is putting a new spin on targeted advertising. It is always the goal of advertisers to target their ads as well as they can, but when you advertise with Digg, it will cost you if they're not relevant enough.

Digg announced earlier this year that it would be introducing ads. It was hard to tell if users would find this to be a good idea or not, but the concept behind the ads seems quite user friendly. The ads are clearly marked as such, and users get to vote them up or down just like regular Digg content. Digg explains how it works to Digg users:

Your Diggs, buries and clicks influence a quality score that determines how often the ad gets displayed, and ultimately how much the advertiser pays per click. The more you Digg an ad, the less the advertiser will have to pay; the more an ad is buried, the more the advertiser is charged, eventually pricing it out of the system. The success of this system depends on your participation and feedback, as it will help advertisers to create the best possible experience for the Digg community. Our goal with Digg Ads is to encourage advertisers to create content as compelling as organic Digg stories, and to give you more control over which ads you see on Digg.

Screenshot of Digg Ads in action

Advertisers pay less, the more popular their ad is. The less popular it is, the more they pay. To be successful with Digg's new advertising program, you're really going to have to offer what Digg users want. That means knowing what Digg users really like. So basically, you have to offer some kind of Digg-related product. After all, Digg stories are usually the ones that get dugg the most. I'm kidding (at least half kidding).

Either way, it will pay to really get to know the Digg community before just going for it and advertising your product. Study what kinds of stories are most popular. Get a feel for the kinds of content Diggers like. Then evaluate your product against that. Is it something that is really going to get votes with this crowd? If not, you're going to be better off spending your advertising dollars elsewhere. The less the Digg community likes your ad (or product), the more you're going to have to pay to advertise it there. There's not a whole lot of point to paying more for less enthusiasm.

Digg has begun rolling out the ads and they will appear in rotation in various places around the site. Right now, they're only testing them, so many users will not see them yet.

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Newspaper Websites Pull In 70 Million Visitors In June

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Newspaper websites attracted more than 70.3 million unique visitors in June, reaching 35.9 percent of all Internet users, according to a custom report by Nielsen Online for the Newspaper Association of America.

News paper website visitors viewed 3.5 billion page views during the month, spending 2.7 billion minutes browsing the sites in more than 597 million sessions.

"The newspaper audience continues to expand as publishers aggressively capitalize on their investments in digital properties, adding robust features and launching new products to attract a highly valuable consumer audience," said NAA President and CEO John F. Sturm. 

Nielsen Online Press Release
Click Image to Enlarge

"Advertisers who want to reach consumers ready to make purchasing decisions continue to use the trusted newspaper brand to ensure their messages are heard through the crowd."

The Nielsen numbers come as early data from a MORI Research survey of 3,000 adults, indicates that newspaper advertising remains the leading medium cite by consumers in planning, shopping and making purchasing decisions. More than half (59%) report newspaper advertising helps them plan purchasing decisions.

The majority (82%) of newspaper readers took some action as a result of a print newspaper ad in the past 30 days: 61 percent clipped a coupon, 50 percent bought something advertised and 52 visited a store.

While the number are impressive, it's no secret the newspaper industry as a whole continues to struggle. In March the Hearst Corporation announced it was ending the print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and going to an online-only publication. In February, E.W. Scripps announced it was shuttering the entire 150 year-old Rocky Mountain News.

 

 

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Who Can Take the Cake in Chrome Creativity?

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Update: Google says the Google Chome Icon Project is over now.

Chrome Conest Over


Original Article: Feeling creative? Fan of Google's Chrome browser? If your answer to either of these questions is yes, you might be interested to know that Google is hosting a global project in which it is asking fans to submit creative videos in which they create a Google Chrome icon.

 

Jason Toff from the Google Chrome team says the idea for the project came when the team itself was experimenting with using different objects to create the icon - like this cake for example:

Jason Toff Tweets about Chrome Cake

Chrome Cake with V8

What Google considers to be the best entries to this project, it will feature on Google and YouTube. "We know from past experience that users are the ones who come up with the coolest stuff. So with that, we now turn the challenge to YOU to make a video showing the formation of the Google Chrome icon in a big, unusual or creative way," says Toff. He tells me he likes the magnets one so far (video below):

Favorite icon so far?

Favorite icon so far?


You may recall that earlier this year, Google created its first television advertisement, and this was for Chrome. I don't know if any of these designs will make it into an actual commercial or not, but I suspect the initiative itself is designed to generate buzz and draw awareness to Chrome. Not a bad viral campaign.

Participants have until July 22 to submit their videos. You can do so here, and while you're there, you can also check out what other people have done. I'll leave you with a few samples below. By the way, they should be between 15 and 60 seconds long.



 


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Government Changing Regulation Of Online Advertising

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

It looks like the Internet marketing industry could be staring at an age of government regulation and oversight that could change online advertising in major ways. While this kind of news should come as no surprise based on the new age of government intervention in business it is still enough to make even the most seasoned online marketer take notice.

The New York Times tells of how things could look very different for the online advertisers in the future

The new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission, David C. Vladeck, says it is time for that to change. In an interview, Mr. Vladeck outlined plans that could upset the online advertising ecosystem. Privacy policies have become useless, the commission’s standards for the cases it reviews are too narrow, and some online tracking is “Orwellian,” Mr. Vladeck said.

Privacy is a serious matter for sure and it should be. Vladeck appears to be on a fast track, however, to creating sweeping change if he gets his wish.

In June, the commission settled a case with Sears that was a warning shot to companies that thought their privacy policies protected them. In just over six weeks on the job, he has asked Congress for a bigger budget and for a streamlined way to create regulations. And he said he would hire technologists to help analyze online marketers’ tracking.

“These are pretty aggressive moves for an agency of a new administration,” said Charles Kennedy, who handles privacy cases at Morrison & Foerster.

Experts are calling for caution as sweeping change could upset the Internet economy. Considering the fact that the Internet is one of the few industries that is performing well in the current economy would it be prudent to just come in after 8 years of a pro-business stance and pull the rug out from under the business? Vladeck has already said that the industry’s attempts to police itself are not good enough and is meeting with industry execs to talk about the issue.

“The frameworks that we’ve been using historically for privacy are no longer sufficient,” Mr. Vladeck said.

As seen in the Sears case where consumers were paid $10 to install software that then tracked them with their consent it is no longer good enough to tell people what they are signing up for and thus be protected under the law.

Sears had included information about tracking in its user license agreement, but that wasn’t good enough anymore, Mr. Vladeck said.

OK folks so it looks like the Internet marketing industry doesn’t have the support of Washington with the current state of affairs. Also, what once was may not be anymore. While it is early, it appears as if Vladeck is bent on making his mark. What is your take on this? Reason for concern or just some DC bluster? Let us hear you. This one could be real important.

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Online Video Driving User Engagement

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

Nearly three-quarters (70%) of Internet users view online video during the day and night with similar spikes occurring both at home and at work.

This is according to a new study by Yahoo, Interpret, Havas Digital, Warner Bros. Media Research and PHD that looked at how people interact with online video, and how marketers can use this information to drive engagement.

Jason Kramer, Interpret
Jason Kramer
Interpret

“Unlike television consumption, which mostly happens during the primetime hours of 8 p.m. – 11 p.m., people across all demographics are watching online videos consistently throughout the day and night, with the exception of dinnertime,” said Jason Kramer, Chief Strategy Officer at Interpret LLC.

“This fundamental shift in consumer behavior opens up opportunities for publishers, advertisers, agencies and marketers. For example, rather than advertisers only vying for spots on hot television shows that appear during primetime, they can leverage online video to reach target audiences more often than just once per week.”

The study showed spikes in online video viewing among men, women, students and full-time employees during the hours of 12 p.m.-3 p.m., and then again between 9 p.m.-1 a.m. The lowest was around dinnertime from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. Regardless of time of day, one third of people who watch a video share it with friends, family members and co-workers.

Radha Subramanyam, Yahoo
Radha Subramanyam
Yahoo

“Online video has experienced dramatic growth among consumers, but publishers still have questions about what works, and advertisers have been slow to move dollars online because there are no established metrics,” said Radha Subramanyam, head of corporate and media research for Yahoo!.

“We plan to use this new engagement model to help publishers, including Yahoo!, better identify which videos should be shown online, as well as how they can be effectively measured and monetized. It’s our hope that marketers will find this information helpful as they consider launching advertising campaigns in video-rich environments .

The model is based on the following variables:

Completion of the Video – Completion is a strong indicator of engagement because online videos are generally a self-selected experience where the viewer has to first decide to start watching a video and then decide to leave that page once they are done.

Attention to Content – This variable refers to the amount of attention someone gives to a video experience, compared to the amount of attention they give to the other people or tasks in their environment at that moment. Attention paid is a strong indicator of passion and the potential opportunity to make an ad impression.

Actions Taken – This variable refers to the actions viewers might have taken before, during, or after watching the streaming video (e.g. posting a comment, rating the video, sharing the video).

According to the study:

  • 27 percent of respondents who remembered seeing an ad searched for more information about the product featured after watching high engagement videos, versus only 13 percent for low engagement videos.
  • 28 percent visited an advertised brand or product’s website after viewing a high engagement video versus only 10 percent for low engagement videos.
  • High engagement videos account for nearly half (47 percent) of ad recall.

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