Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
ad:tech Chicago Cranks Up
In Chicago, today and tomorrow, ad:tech Chicago takes place at historic Navy Pier. A jam-packed agenda includes opening keynote speaker Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo and Chief Innovation Officer at Publicis Groupe Media as well as many other representatives from agencies, publishers and ad technology companies. And, AdExchanger.com will be there!
Mike On Ads Lives: On RTB
Mike Nolet, CTO and co-Founder of Appnexus, and the voice of the “Mike On Ads” blog gives a great overview on real-time bidding and what it means in the first of a two-part post.
Getting down to brass tacks, Nolet gives an explanation (with graphics) of the efficiencies that real-time bidding (RTB) will offer advertisers and publishers through the exchange model. He takes exception to a part of a recent announcement by Right Media who said they’ve had an RTB solution for a while now. Nolet writes that RM “has not yet been accepting real-time bids from third parties. That being said – it sounds like they’re working on it.” Read more.
Digitas And Razorfish To Remain Separate
And – It’s official. Microsoft and Razorfish announced that Razorfish will remain one of its agencies of record. This isn’t surprising considering Publicis recent purchase of Razorfish and the resulting, intertwined, co-marketing agreements.
Ebay Selling Skype
The New York Times is reporting that Skype may be sold to an investment group that includes Andreessen Horowitz – led by Netscape founder, Marc Andreesen. Ebay’s declining momentum in revenues is requiring the company to re-focus on its core auction business. Read more.
Yin and Yang – or – CFO and CMO
On Ad Age, Eric Karofsky from interactive agency Molecular, exposes the inherent friction and potential opportunities as any company’s chief marketing officer and chief financial officer discuss the allocation of budget for digital media. Karofsky makes the point that sometimes spend is a guess – after all, from the CMO’s point-of-view, why not leverage digital’s interactive capabilities to see what works, and what doesn’t? The CFO may need to be educated on this and other thinking. Read more.
Havas Reports Earnings
On Monday, Havas reported second quarter earnings for 2009 and posted a 19% decline in profit in comparison to the first half of the previous year according to Ruth Bender of The Wall Street Journal. But Havas’ digital businesses grew by 5% and now account for over 16% of the company’s overall business. Read more.
Rich Media Engagement
Is this the next wave in online advertising? Marriage proposals through rich media campaigns? According to a press release, some guy named Fred has apparently lost his mind and decided that rich media was the way to his honey’s (Dalia’s) heart. Hey, you can’t make this stuff up. Read the release. Rumor has it that – if she says “yes” – they may honeymoon on the Travel Ad Network.
More comments from the Twitter-sphere…
- @dhonig: “cute. But come on, marriage proposal via rich media ad unit. This #fails if she finds out from a friend.”
- and the source for our coverage – @bmorrissey: “marriage proposal via banner ad — complete w press release. heartwarming”
Time Increases Premium Inventory Socially
In an interview with PaidContent.org’s David Kaplan, Time.com’s GM John Cantarella says that the flagship site is offering integrated sponsorships in some of its social media presences including “TIME’s Facebook and Twitter pages—where it has 72,000 fans and about 1.4 million fans, respectively.” Read all about it.
Lotame Says Social Targeting Works
In a release yesterday, Lotame says that its platform is working better than anyone’s for its automotive client. Harmelin Media EVP, Scott Davis, says, “Lotame has consistently delivered a higher click yield and action yield than any other online advertising option, including ad networks…” The campaign was for the Ford Dealer Association in and around the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Read the release. Beyond all the click action improvements, the 20% increase in consumers likely to purchase a Ford in the next 6 months seems like the key stat.
What’s Your CPL?
ClickZ’s Jack Marshall discusses online lead gen company, Pontiflex, and its recent data for the year ending July 2009 showing average cost per leads (CPL) by industry vertical. Given the wide-range of possibilities for the “L” in CPL, the data isn’t an exact guide for any particular type of campaign, but it gives interesting trend data as “Technology leads” are the biggest earners in the CPL lead business.
Of Comics And Exchanges
Disney bought Marvel for $4 billion yesterday. That’s like… 6 Right Media’s or 1.3 DoubleClick‘s in ad exchange acquisition terms in case you were wondering.
VC’s Under Attack
Well-known venture capitalist, Alan Patricof, and Eric Dinallo, “a former insurance superintendent for New York State, is a professor of finance at the New York University Stern School of Business,” authored an op-ed piece in yesterday’s New York Times suggesting that current legislation making its way through Congress meant to head-off some of the financial system’s problems that came to light in the recent meltdown will end up needlessly hurting venture investment. Read the piece.
In spite of the proposed regulation, venture funds grew by over $11 billion in July and August according to The Deal.
Proprietary Vs. Commoditized
Zach Coelius takes a brief look at commodity offerings for demand-side buying platforms and more proprietary versions on the Triggit blog. Coelius suggests that well-funded, ad traders looking for a competitive advantage will go the proprietary route. Makes sense. Read more.
