Cartoons and mixtapes
help combat smoking

Ad Networks and Analytics:

• VideoEgg launched five new video ad units that encourage brand-positive activity.
• Glam debuted GlamX, supposedly the first vertical display and video ad exchange.

Agencies and Marketing Execs:

• A Monday night meeting, run by the New York City Commission on Human Rights, revisited the issue of diversity in advertising. Heated discourse among attendees and panelists revealed agencies haven't quite got a handle on the "diversity" concept.
• Technorati Media adds two: Ryan Kanaley as Sales Director, and Luke McCormick as Sales Executive.
• Blockbuster named Rebeca "Becky" Johnson its new Chief Marketing Officer.
• Universal Pictures promoted Julie Berk to SVP, Creative Services. She has been with the company for 12 years.
• PHD North America lost CEO Matt Seiler to Interpublic's Universal McCann. Seiler will serve there as global CEO.
• Mars adds many in North America: Julie Emmett, Retail Channel Marketing Director in Oakland; Eric MacMichael, Senior Broadcast Producer in Southfield; James Scarsella, who will write copy for Clorox and Campbell's; and Jodie Miller, Account Manager, Minneapolis.
• Kenneth Graffeo was made COO of rich media firm PointRoll.
• Ad agency NYCA appointed Gene Paek to Director of Interactive.
• Rob Schmults joined the Bazaarvoice advisory board. He was previously VP of business management at GSI Commerce.
• Jacqueline Parkes was promoted to CMO of Major League Baseball. She is organization's first chief marketing officer.
• Online brag-and-dare community Bragster has appointed Bruce Steinberg as non-executive chairman.

Biz Buzz:

• Starbucks is trying to balance its woes with more aggressive samples and discounts.
• Yahoo plans to change the name of its AMP program. Apparently the moniker was already in use by ad network and tech firm Collective Media.
• Digital imaging services firm Schawk has rebranded Ambrosi, its direct marketing firm, to Schawk Retail Marketing. The company aspires to be recognized as a brand specialist.

Music:

• Online chat service Meebo has formed revenue and marketing partnerships with DashGo, Nettwerk Music Group, Sparkart and Wind-Up Records. Artists under those labels include Tim McGraw, The Killers, Evanescence, Weezer and Avril Lavigne.

Mobile:

• AdMob's iPhone ad unit has served 249 million mobile webpage impressions worldwide since its launch in July 2007.
• Marketing consultation firm WebXsposure added text message-based marketing to its suite of services, which include web-based management and keyword-based campaign development. The company focuses primarily on small businesses, like realtors.

Online Content:

• TheTruth.com launched a campaign that enables users to remix songs from its satirical "Sunny Side of Truth" anti-smoking campaign. A number of professional DJs and bands also joined the project. Users can download a mix of their work at Truth's ReMix subsite.
• Cosmo.ru, the Russian website for Cosmopolitan, added Quintura widgets to its offerings.

Search:

• Google added a search volume feature to its external keyword tool.
• The claims the most prestigious search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask, AOL, Netscape, About, Lycos, and AltaVista, in that order. The sites were rated by wealthy customers, surveyed in New York City.

• Congressional Democrats are considering how to control what Congressmen say on sites like Twitter and Qik.
• MySpaceTV will partner with Sid and Marty Krofft, the creators of children's shows like "Land of the Lost" and "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters," for an exclusive online content deal.
• A poll finds users consider all social network advertising efforts to be "equally horrible."