Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.
Now Targeting Geo
Apple is readying “precise” geotargeting on its iAd platform if a recent update to its privacy platform is any indication. The L.A. Times Tech blog reports that “the company added a paragraph noting that once users agree, Apple and unspecified ‘partners and licensees’ may collect and store user location data. Read more. Location-based advertising lives! All Things D’s Peter Kafka points out that you can still opt-out of Apple interest-based advertising. Read how-to.
Chinese Display Ad Market
On the Forbes China Tracker blog, Paul Denlinger discusses the display advertising market in China and says, “Display advertising has been particularly popular with non-Chinese consumer brands fighting to grab Chinese consumer mindshare.” But, he adds that digital advertising, in general, is being held back. Sounds like some infighting among the digital channels from the piece. Read it.
Tremor Media Poaches Googler
Another Googler has joined a fast-moving startup as Matthew Corbin joins video ad network/platform Tremor Media in a new role called “VP Global Platform Solutions.” Read the release. Corbin originally joined Google through the Feedburner acquisition and he rose through the Google ranks to become a regional head of YouTube’s global partnerships and revenue ops.
Collective has hired former Nielsen exec Justin Evans as its new SVP for audience development according to David Kaplan of PaidContent. Collective EVP Jerome Fitzgibbons told Kaplan, “Evans will assist the company in better configuring the ways it segments audiences and ad placement among demographic, psychographic and behavioral targeting.” Read more.
Lots Of Clicks Are Bad
On Ad Age, Lotame CMO Eric Porres says that A LOT of clicks may be an indicator of a brand campaign gone awry. He asks, “What if a high CTR is actually a negative indicator for your brand?” And then adds later, “We (Lotame) were able to conclude that online consumers given to clicking on ads are actually less likely to either spend significant time viewing advertisements or to recall them later.” Read more.
Long Tail Goes To Washington
Burst Media CEO Jarvis Coffin relates a story from last week’s visit by 40 Long Tail publishers to Washington D.C. courtesy of the IAB (“IAB’s second annual Long Tail Alliance Fly-in“) where they visited with lawmakers and urged “caution” when it comes to adopting certain interests’ ideas for shutting down interest-based, behavioral, or whatever-you-want-to-call-it advertising. Read more.
License Plate Ad Network
Municipal, state and federal governments are drinking the digital ad koolaid as now the California legislature looks to meet obligations due to its state budget shortfall. The answer according to Next New Web: “The Department of Motor Vechicles (DMV) [will be turned] into a digital ad network by allowing the department to distribute digital license plates that can serve ads and other messages.” Imagine targeting people stuck in a traffic jam… Read more. This sounds similar to the strategy of municipal ad platform Main Street Social (AdExchanger.com Q&A) by enabling government to pay the bills through advertising. Perhaps an ad trend for the future and a new wrinkle for writers of the Boucher bill.
Video Ad Insights
ComScore, InsightExpress, Nielsen and Vizu are all a part of a new analytics suite from video ad network BrightRoll. Paraphrasing an interview with BrightRoll CEO Tod Sacerdoti on the new offering, Video Nuze reports on the pricing plans: “Smaller budget buys in the $25,000-$50,000 range will receive a validation report, while bigger budget buys would get full comprehensive reports, including options such as brand funnel metrics.” Read more.
OPA On Placement
Pam Horan of the Online Publishers Association leads the charge on why placement still matters and references a recent OPA study on iMedia Connection. She writes, “the OPA study found that there is a positive brand halo effect created when advertisers are viewed within the context of environments where consumers are significantly involved.” Still, Horan says that it findings show social environments like Facebook with its huge time-spent aren’t as trusted as big brand media properties. Read more.
Challenging The RTB Hype
Brett Halliburton on his Cogblog says that he doesn’t believe some of the hype around RTB and writes, “RTB could, more accurately, be called ‘Real-time cookie inspection.’ I don’t think people are actually changing their bids in real-time. Formulating a good bid takes time.” Read more of his RTB thoughts.
BP And Google Ads
Kevin Ryan, CEO of Motivity Marketing, says that BP’s attempt recently to buy every keyword phrase permutation around “oil spill” and send traffic to its site shouldn’t be seen as heresy. In fact, it’s a confirmation of the power of digital ads and search ads, in particular. Ryan writes, “Search is one key component of BP’s damage control strategy, and a cross-section of the keywords used to interject BP’s perspective are very telling.” Read more.
Google Vs. Apple – Music
More mobile wars as Google announced that it will unleash a downloadable music service which is “tied to its search engine” according to The WSJ. Can you imagine capturing music demand in search? Of course. Can it overcome Apple’s current lead/solution? We’ll see. Google’s mobile OS Android appears to be doing well in its early stages. Read more from The Wall Street Journal. And, read Mashable.
What Is A Startup?
“A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty,” says “lean startup” proponent Eric Ries on his Lessons Learned blog. And then he dissects each element of his definition. Read more.
In Favor Of The I
Zephrin Lasker of CPL marketplace, Pontiflex, supports the new Power I system being released this week by Better Advertising. He writes on the company blog, “… increased trust and relevancy is what will cause our members of Congress to unarch those angry eyebrows, and keep our industry free from excessive regulation in the long run.” Read more.
