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July 2004
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State Anti-Spam Law Ruling UpheldA Washington state appeals court found that an Oregon man had indeed violated Washington's anti-spam law by misrepresenting subject messages and using third party domain names. CNET reports.... continue reading »Weintzen to Stay on at DMAThe Direct Marketing Association (DMA) announced that its retiring CEO Robert Weintzen - a lightening rod in the do-not-call debates of 2003 and an activist against anti-spam legislation - will not be retiring immediately. He had been slated to be... continue reading »Most Spam from U.S.About 55 percent of spam counted by Commtouch came from the U.S., according to a compiled list of miscellaneous statistics. The most popular spam pitch proved to be drugs and medicines, followed distantly by mortgage refinance offers and "organ enlargement."... continue reading »Advergames Popular in Political CirclesAdvergames are becoming rather popular in political marketing, gaining Internet exposure without great media costs. Detractors say the cartoonish games that tend to have humorous punch lines are merely faddish. But something that goes unexamined in the New York Times... continue reading »AdWords Makes Broad Match Terms More RelevantGoogle modified its AdWords results a little bit this week, making its broad-match terms more targeted to relevant content. Search queries for topics like "Hawaiian Cruises" will tend to show ads for cruises in Hawaii, as opposed to cruises generally.... continue reading »Baseball League Bans AdwareMajor League Baseball (MLB), annoyed at the fact that adware companies are selling inventory that reaches viewers of their sites, and likely at a lower price, announced it won't do business with firms that do business with adware companies. The... continue reading »PriceGrabber Says No to Pop-Ups of All StripesPriceGrabber announced today, quickly following a similar Major League Baseball announcement, that it would not use pop-ups, adware or spyware to market its offerings on its own site. A release said it "pledged to its users that they will not... continue reading »New Microsoft Search Arrives Today, Will UnderwhelmMicrosoft is set to release today the first iteration of its new and improved search engine. The features coming out today may leave users wondering where the $100 million of research and development went. Changes are cosmetic, consisting of removing... continue reading »Peugeot Reviews Online AccountFrench carmaker Peugeot placed its U.K. digital account, currently handled by Euro RSCG into review. The move comes just when auto manufacturers are moving significant portions of their budgets online. Last week, BMW announced that one of every six marketing... continue reading »MSNbot Is Hungry, Feeds OftenWhile it remains hidden behind closed doors in Redmond, WA, Microsoft's developing new search engine is proving ravenous. Site managers across the Internet are reporting frequent and deep visits by the indexing engine, which returns nightly to Microsoft with its... continue reading »Web Biggest Fund Driver for KerrySenator John Kerry's presidential campaign raised more than $1 million a day on the web alone in June, with $3 million arriving on Wednesday, a one-day record comprised of so many transactions that the campaign's computer system crashed. Online contributions... continue reading »Google Bans Gmail Trading, SquattingGoogle announced it was making Gmail account trading explicitly forbidden in the terms and conditions of the free email service. The vast storage capacity and - perhaps most importantly - the very limited supply of accounts made Gmail accounts highly... continue reading »Ask Jeeves Adopts Kelkoo's Product SearchAsk Jeeves added shopping search to its list of "smart search" tools. Partnering with Yahoo's Kelkoo comparison shopping site, Ask Jeeves will be able to exploit the shopping services tags, databases and pricing information. Ask Jeeves has been mentioned as... continue reading »Internets Lead 2004 Media Merger RecoveryThe pace of media mergers grew rapidly in the first half of 2004, according to Jordan Edmiston Group, shooting up 26 percent over the same period in 2003. Information databases and newsletters saw the most action, doubling the pace from... continue reading »Gawker to Release New Blogs on Travel, GamesNick Denton's mini media empire is set to expand, with plans to start publishing two new blogs. One will be on video games and the other on travel - both categories that have a disproportionate share of online media budgets... continue reading »Email Firms Queasy on FTC Posse IdeaA MediaPost canvassing of executives at major legitimate email marketing firms show that the idea of the Federal Trade Commission deputizing the public to help fight spam makes them queasy. While the Can-Spam Act seems to have helped them out... continue reading »U.S. Military Scared of Coke GPS PromoA seemingly innocent Coke promotion called "Unexpected Summer" has the U.S. military up in arms. For the promotion, Coke outfitted 120 random cans with built-in GPS cell phones. Buyers who find one of the cans can use the embedded phone... continue reading »Barring Affiliates from Using Brand Keywords Saves Media CostsSince major e-tailer Northern Tool & Equipment banned its affiliate sites from bidding on its name on search engines late last year, its search engine marketing costs have plummeted. Some companies have made as part of their affiliate agreements clauses... continue reading »Again with the 'First' Can-Spam SuitIn yet another instance of someone claiming "first" status for using the Can-Spam law to sue an alleged spammer, Massachusetts said it lodged a complaint against DC Enterprises and its alleged manager, William T. Carson for having allegedly sent thousands... continue reading »SmartBargains Files for IPOLate last week, as people in the U.S. were leaving work early for Fourth of July barbeques, SmartBargains filed papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. Its initial offering size and price remains to be determined. SmartBargains... continue reading »Web Political Ads Used DifferentlyPolitical analysts are coming to believe there's more to the profusion of political advertising online than merely the fact that it's an election year and the government hasn't gotten around to placing the same restrictions on it that it already... continue reading »High-End Pay Search Services Becoming DefensiveFactiva, a company owned by Dow Jones and Reuters that charges people to search its database of news stories, said it does not consider search engine news sites, such as Google News, to be a threat. The company's chief said... continue reading »U.S., U.K., Aussies Form Anti-Spam PactThe Federal Trade Commission said it had signed a cooperation agreement with Australia and the U.K. that governs how government agencies will trade information to help track down spammers. Currently, a large proportion of spammers use servers outside their own... continue reading »Mobile Gamers More Often WomenYankee Group reports that more women are playing mobile phone games than are men. Only 42 percent of cell phone gamers are male, contradicting the stereotype of the young male gamer. A Yankee analyst attributes this to the nature of... continue reading »eBay Does Away with Reserves Down UndereBay will prevent its Australian division's users from setting auction reserves, the limits that prevent items from selling below the seller's minimum desired amount. The move could signify a market test that could be rolled out to eBay's other markets.... continue reading »Chinese Online Ads Top Billion YuanChina's state organ reports that online advertising there topped a billion yuan, about $130 dollars by current exchange rates, but probably several times that in terms of value, as China artificially keeps the yuan depressed versus other currencies. China's ad... continue reading »Analysts Challenge 'Synergy' of ConglomerateBarry Diller's InterActiveCorp (IAC), a melange of dot-com companies he's collected over the years, is facing analyst frustration that the gaggle of web businesses isn't leveraging its various audiences against the different portfolio companies. IAC recently released several figures for... continue reading »China Announces Mystery IP ProtocolChina's news service announced the country is adopting a new generation of Internet Protocol technology, called IPv9. The problem is, no one outside of China seems to have heard of it, making the news services claim that the new standard... continue reading »Town-Wide Wi-fi Follows Cable's RouteBroadband wireless Internet is now spreading in rural areas through the mechanism that for the past two decades cable television has used: cash-strapped towns. For years, municipalities sold concessions to cable firms, making deals that almost guaranteed profits to cable... continue reading »PR Firms Search Web for Brand AttitudesFirms like Cymfony and FAST Search are using the web to search not just for topic-relevant results, but also the attitudes apparent in the listings of those results. The market research firms collect for clients the level of coverage their... continue reading »Lawyers Spar Over Competitor KeywordsMost lawyers have always taken a dim view of advertising. State bar associations frequently ban the practice among lawyers, attempting to maintain the archaic and probably never quite accurate image of lawyers as civil aristocrats unsullied by motives of profit.... continue reading »BBC Told to Limit Web ContentSince U.K. citizens pay a tax of sorts to fund the country's public television, private companies complained that some of the BBC's web products are improper; both irrelevant to the semi-public agency's mission and also stifling private firms that would... continue reading »Viral Marketing on Anti-Commercial Group's RadarGary Ruskin, director of anti-commercial group Commercial Alert, commented on the growing trend of viral marketing. He's not a fan. "This is just one of a million different ways that advertisers try to trick us every day," he said. "To... continue reading »Advertising.com Deal DissectedA hometown business paper tracked the twists and turns of the Advertising.com IPO that was cancelled in favor of an acquisition offer from AOL. The AOL interest turned from investment to acquisition in April, with negotiations leading to an offer... continue reading »Bloggers Hope to Gain Convention AdmissionDemocrats are opening up their convention to bloggers - well, at least bloggers they like. Republicans say they will, but it seems it's taking them slightly longer to figure out if they like any. So far, 60 bloggers have applied... continue reading »Net Publishers Eager for Campaign TV Silent PeriodSince new campaign finance laws prevent non-profit groups from barraging voters with TV ads within two months of the elections, Internet publishers, newspapers and direct mailers are salivating at the opportunity to be the last push vendors of choice. Advocacy... continue reading »Jupiter Research 'Strikes Back' at eMarketerAlan Meckler, CEO of Jupitermedia, said yesterday in his blog that his firm initiated legal action against research aggregator eMarketer for the "nasty habit of copying JupiterResearch's original analysis and research." eMarketer compiles published research in the industry and tries... continue reading »Denton on Denton, Blogs & the Importance of NappingClickZ interviewed blog-for-profit publisher Nick Denton, who seems determined to project a slacker attitude that would be most attractive to the audiences of his portfolio of blogs: young males. Some nuggets: Microsoft pulled out of an ad deal due to... continue reading »Week's Online Sales Over $1 Billion AgaincomScore reported another week of greatly expanded e-commerce, with the week ending June 20 accounting for just over $1 billion in online retail transactions. That figure is a third larger than the same week last year, and makes for the... continue reading »SmartBargains Details Plans in IPO Filing, Reports More LossesThe SmartBargains IPO announced two days ago now has a number stuck to it: $80.5 million is the maximum amount suggested to be raised by the offering. The discount e-tailer pointed in its financial filings to underserved markets in kids,... continue reading »CA Privacy Law Kicks InCalifornia's privacy policy law kicked into effect at the beginning of July, requiring web firms dealing with California residents publish a privacy policy with specific features. Sites failing to meet all the requirement are to be exposed to civil liability... continue reading »Yahoo Tweaks Search PageYahoo, the last of the big three search engines to keep the "busy" look of a complex search engine started beta testing (at new.search.yahoo.com) a slightly simpler look. The big change seems to be the better separation of paid listings... continue reading »Microsoft Search Good Beginner's EffortDanny Sullivan put Microsoft's new beta search engine through its paces and found it to be a good first effort, but not up to competitive snuff. The good news is that there are some improvements to be made that should... continue reading »Match.com to MullenAdWeek reports that Match.com chose Boston suburb-based Mullen to run its media account. Match.com is changing media agencies in the midst of a new campaign launch that started in mid-June and is set to run for the rest of the... continue reading »Brits Scared of e-CommerceIn explaining why they don't use the net to purchase goods, about two out of five people in the U.K. admitted to an "irrational fear" of the Internet, according to a Visa-sponsored study. A third said they simply didn't know... continue reading »Kerry Pre-announced Veep Decision to Email HordeIn a maneuver with little political significance, but perhaps showing continuing intent to emphasize his web efforts, presidential contender Senator John Kerry announced to his email list his decision to choose former rival John Edwards as his running mate, about... continue reading »Gmail Tech Missed in Privacy FracasIn the hubbub of the privacy concerns, MIT's Technology Review points out that some significant technology developments are being missed in Google's Gmail service. In particular, the use of very clever browser scripting creates an application that, unlike other web... continue reading »Blogger Takes SEO ContestA contest held to see who could garner the best search engine rankings for a made up phrase ("nigritude ultramarine") was taken by well-known blogger Anil Dash. His strategy seems to have consisted of appealing to his many readers to... continue reading »Poll: Majority Uses Spam FilterA Yahoo study of 37,000 email users found that Americans fall into two categories: those that ignore spam and don't care much about it, and those who are very knowledgeable and active in thwarting it. Four out of five delete... continue reading » |