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2004
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Finding the Elusive Single MalesJoseph Jaffe, in his ongoing series of online demographic descriptions, tackles the young online single male. He finds them indexing very highly online, spending many late hours logged on and concentrating often on consumer electronics and other gadgety things. Sports... continue reading »Judge Rules Virginia Anti-Spam Law Can't Touch FloridiansA federal judge threw out AOL's suit against Florida technology providers to alleged spammers. The judge ruled that AOL failed to show that the alleged spam helpers were subject to the Virginia laws AOL used to base its suit. The... continue reading »'Headvertising' Delivers Proven ResultsIn the vein of forehead advertising, "headvertising" proved a success. An ongoing campaign for web hosting firm C Host, which paid 22-year-old Jim Nelson to wear the company's logo on the back of his shaved head for five years, garnered... continue reading »Meat Groups Employ Web for Mad Cow ExploitationMeat trade groups used the Internet to get out information about mad cow disease, as the U.S. comes to grips with the prospect that its relatively lax livestock feed safeguards may have allowed the brain eating disease into the country.... continue reading »Getting Better Polling DataBryan Eisenberg lists several important considerations in conducting online polls and research. He makes the important point that what people think they will do sometimes varies greatly from what they will actually do. Questions and survey processes can be arranged... continue reading »'Super Keywords' a Branding ProspectKevin Lee compares the use of general and category "super keywords" to the use of mass broadcast branding opportunities, such as advertising on the Superbowl. Both rely on a branding effect to justify expenditures and generally follow a different set... continue reading »Companies Shifting Privacy Policies to Gain FlexibilityMany companies are changing their privacy policies to reflect new realities. Those realities include more integrated businesses that require more information sharing between business units, as well as the increased penetration of the Internet and increasing use of the Internet... continue reading »LoJack to OverdriveLoJack awarded its online account - concentrating on search marketing - to Overdrive Marketing Communications, taking it away from Hill Holliday in Boston. Hill Holliday had previously done a mostly traditional media campaign to help brand the car security and... continue reading »Bally to Agency.comBally Total Fitness selected Agency.com to manage its website and conduct online marketing. Bally launched a new campaign this week with the "Every body needs something" tagline. The company typically spends about $65 million per year on measured media. AdWeek... continue reading »FindWhat IntelliMap to Increase EfficiencySearch marketers often regard FindWhat as the third major paid placement player, behind Google and Overture. Google first launched broad match and later extended it. Overture has its own broad matching capability from MatchDriver. Now FindWhat's IntelliMap will help marketers... continue reading »Overture Alumni Take Diverse PathsAVN (it popped up in Google News, honest) reports that Darren Davis, formerly a product manager for Overture Services, is taking on the new position of VP of Sales and Marketing at FlyntDigital, the parent company to Hustler, Barely Legal... continue reading »USA Network Gives Away Marketing BudgetRather than spend $1 million on advertising, USA Networks has decided to simply give it away. However, the cable network couldn't do it without a bit of marketing thrown in. USA Network will hand out one million one dollar bills... continue reading »Non-Browser Apps More PopularThree out of four web users also use non-browser applications to navigate the Internet. These may include streaming media players, instant messaging and file sharing tools. A new Nielsen/Netratings study shows that about 106 million users - 11 percent more... continue reading »PR Advice to Cow Industry is MadUSA Today reports that communication experts have lots of advice for big restaurant chains and beef industry groups to help them grab the beef crisis by the horns. Their suggestions are scary. Missing among the options is the obvious one:... continue reading »AOL Blocked 500 Billion Spam Messages in 2003AOL reports that it blocked more than half a trillion spam messages in 2003. That's about 15,000 messages per user, or about three quarters of the mail. It's biggest day held 2.4 billion messages. DM News reports.... continue reading »Direct Marketers Look to Impending ChangesDM News compiled a list of laws, regulations and policies coming into effect in the new year that affect direct marketers, particularly Internet marketers. It's a good guide for new measures to be enforced this month from the Can-Spam Act.... continue reading »Future of Paid Inclusion Less Gloomy than AppearancesWhile paid inclusion revenues at Looksmart will drop significantly - now that Microsoft is taking its ball of inventory and going home - every indication shows that Yahoo and Inktomi will forge ahead with new programs for use across several... continue reading »Viral Marketing Firm SoulKool Promotes Türi VodkaIf ever marketing were important to a particular product, vodka would certainly qualify. Basically vodka has no taste (unless it's a flavored variety), so marketers must rely on gaining awareness and cool factor by marketing to trend-setting influencers. Using viral... continue reading »Appeals Court Gives Naked Barbies Thumbs UpProving once again that the Internet makes bad publicity much worse, Mattel's latest legal tangle over Barbie dolls made it online. A federal court said Utah artist Thomas Forsythe's use of Barbie dolls in photographs depicting the Mattel toy naked... continue reading »The Future of Shopping OnlineThe stats from shopping.com and other shopping comparison engines should come as no surprise. These shopping comparison engines became successful vertical portals for shopping search. The real question is who will dominate the future of shopping search, the shopping portals,... continue reading »Agency Egos Get in the Way of Good SEMClickZ's Shari Thurow points out that ad agencies - frequently the online marketing partner for many advertisers - tend to be terrible at doing search engine marketing. She blames, among other cultural and structural issues, the overweening desire to produce... continue reading »Google Pressured to Allow Separate AdSense BidsSearch marketers, like columnist Nate Elliott, are finding that Google's contextual AdSense system both radically increases inventory, but also radically decreases return on investment relative to search term inventory. Industry scuttlebut increasingly focuses on demands that Google allow search marketers... continue reading »Can-Spam to Challenge Email MarketingBen Isaacson reviewed the effects the Can-Spam Act and a potential do-not-email registry will have on marketers as well as consumers. The Can-Spam law mandates that email marketers honor unsubscribe requests, which sounds simple enough, but might prove unclear on... continue reading »PETA Web Campaign Spreads Spongy Brain FearPeople for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) claims that any animal with a brain can get mad cow disease, and a new web campaign seeks to spread the idea hither and yon. Eat the tainted meat, PETA claims, and... continue reading »Google Chooses an Investment BankInvestment bankers that didn't make the grade can watch while Goldman Sachs Group and Morgan Stanley take Google public. Unfortunately, none of the articles write about specifics, such as size of float, dates or valuation. Ongoing coverage will continue apace,... continue reading »Amazon Offers Affiliates Commission ChoicesIn an email sent early today to its hundreds of thousands of affiliates, Amazon.com detailed their new commission structure. Olivier Travers lists the major changes and comments that they reflect the company's willingness to play to its strengths in its... continue reading »eBay Fees Upped 45 PercenteBay will raise fees 45 percent, a tacit recognition of its dominance in the online auction field. The fee comes along with a pledge that sellers will be credited for auctions in which the highest bidder fails to pay. CNET... continue reading »Eatmail Taps Best Viral Clips of 2003Eatmail, a U.K.-based online community focusing on viral video spots, announced the top ten viral clips of 2003. The winner this year is a spoof of the Mastercard "priceless" campaign. Half of the winners this year are actually spots produced... continue reading »Overture to Allow Bid Splits in Context, Search AdsOverture, rubbing in the blandishments cast at Google's monolithic bidding policies, will allow advertisers to split their bids between search and contextual listings - types of media that typically have very different values to most marketers. Overture also plans to... continue reading »Browser Update Could Cause Ad IssuesWith a new version of Microsoft's browser soon to be released, some industry players are wringing their collective hands over how the changes may affect ad delivery. In particular, patent work-arounds involving auto-launching rich media and features that reject cookies... continue reading »Travelocity Launches $80 Million Campaign with WebTravelocity launched an $80 million dollar "Roaming Gnome" campaign starting with online media and moving now into television. For three weeks in December, Travelocity used a fake website to focus attention on the travels of a stolen lawn gnome that... continue reading »Increased Media Demand Going to Online, CableA MediaPost survey shows that online and cable have the greatest degree of increasing media demand, with network television trailing the seven other media forms. The order of demand increases reads like an inverted list of perceived media pricing, with... continue reading »Search, Affiliate and Email Power a Strong Holiday SeasonThe fact that this was the strongest season yet for online shopping is no surprise, nor are most of the stats in this National Retail Foundation / Shop.org release. However, it is interesting to look specifically at some of the... continue reading »AOL to Introduce Anti-SpywareAOL announced today it will bake in its spyware and adware fighting programs into future upgrades of the AOL 9.0 Optimized service for both dial up and broadband users. This program will help AOL users rid their systems of annoying... continue reading »Publishers Watch as TV Sites Produce More 'Cross-Channelers'Many publishers still don't know whether the Internet is friend or foe, and a new study from the Online Publishers Association explains why. Some 46 percent of visitors to magazine Web sites, such as ESPN.com and Epicurious.com, say they rarely... continue reading »Two Ogilvy Execs IndictedA New York court indicted two Ogilvy & Mather executives alleged to have conspired to bilk the U.S. government - then a client through the White House Office of National Drug-Control Policy - by asking staff to make false billing... continue reading »MSN Good Business Without Adult Content AdvertisersStefano Maruzzi, country manager of Msn.it, said that MSN's decision to drop dialers, gambling and pornography advertisers proved successful. Starting last October, the portal abandoned 30-35 percent of its total advertising revenue, and doesn't seem to have a regret. Big... continue reading »Google Dance Questions AnsweredDanny Sullivan completes his four-part series on Google's new organic search algorithm and the often devastating effects it has wrought on the listings of many companies. He created a frequently asked list of questions and provides some answers to them,... continue reading »Gen Y Habits Demand Multifaceted MarketingJim Meskauskas writes on iMedia Spotlight about the growing level of multitasking among Gen Y and how it is now commonplace for many is that demographic segment to be watching TV, using the Internet, gaming and listening to music all... continue reading »E-tailers See Huge 2003 Increases, Still Love EmailA BizRate.com study sponsored by Shop.org showed that 59 percent of online retailers reported at least a 25 percent revenue rise, while 30 percent of them saw an increase in revenues exceeding 50 percent. Five out of six used email... continue reading »Google to be Dumped by YahooThe other shoe will soon drop, according to industry reports, and Yahoo will cut ties with Google, its provider of search results. The move has been expected since Yahoo spent about a quarter of a billion dollars buying Inktomi and... continue reading »Brits Investigate U.S. Ecommerce Price UndercuttingA British music retailing trade group - with a retro name: British Phonographic Industry (BPI) - is attacking American ecommerce companies for undercutting the generally high music prices in Britain. Music labels charge higher prices to Britons, and companies like... continue reading »Wi-Fi & Fries in the U.K.BT Group announced today an alliance with McDonald's to equip the fast food restaurant chain with high-speed wireless, Internet access in more than 500 locations across the U.K. BT will pay for installation costs, while the two companies will invest... continue reading »PA's Secret Site-Banning Law ChallengedA Philadelphia judge heard arguments by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and another nonprofit group against the Pennsylvania anti child porn law that has forced many internet service providers to ban large swathes of the Internet. The law allows... continue reading »Kanoodle's Sprinks Team on a RollWith the help of several of the former Sprinks executive team, Kanoodle is making waves. Kanoodle launched a contextual network with CBS MarketWatch as a premier launch client. Kanoodle's point of differentiation is the ability to set up matches based... continue reading »Volvo Goes Online First to Reach 35-Year-OldsVolvo plans to begin a large campaign aimed at 35-year-olds that will focus on reaching the demographic online. A Volvo representative told AdWeek that the campaign would be similar in scope to Ford's XC90 SUV campaign, which wound up spending... continue reading »New Agency to Focus on Advanced Digital MediaFormer Universal McCann creative director Alan Schulman launched Brand New World, a new agency designed to exploit emerging forms of digital media. Schulman said part of his focus will be connecting agencies with developers of these emerging digital media platforms.... continue reading »Firm Claims Right to Interstitial, Pop-up RoyaltiesInternetAd Systems, a TechSearch-owned company designed to enforce intellectual property in the online advertising sphere, filed suits against ESPN, the New York Times and Travelocity, claiming that they violate its intellectual property controlling the "invention" of interstitial advertising. CNET reports.... continue reading »Microsoft Launches Video Ad ServiceAt yesterday's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Microsoft announced its MSN Video service that it claims would aid in the use of TV-like advertising on the Internet. The new service will allow advertisers to run video ads through a... continue reading » |