Report: Google Data Exchange Imminent; Ringleader Digital Dissolved?; Private Exchange A-Go-Go

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New Acronym: DDP

According to Ad Age’s Michael Learmonth, Google is on the verge of rolling out its own data exchange. Learmonth writes, “Known internally by the acronym “DDP,” [the exchange] is an attempt to create a liquid market for the data used to target display advertising. (…) Executives familiar with Google’s plans have described the initiative as one of the most ambitious in Google’s march to become a brand advertising giant.” It’s still not clear what DDP means. I’ll guess “Data Delivery Platform” or “Data Destruction Platform” as Google looks to level any other competitive marketplaces. From Google’s own data perspective, they still sit on the all-important organic search data which could be translated as anonymous, bottom-of-the-funnel, search retargeting cookies. And, Google is suddenly growing it’s own social network – Google+, which in combination with the +1 buttons and Google Display Network “interest” data ought to provide tons of useful behavioral and top-of-funnel data -that oughta liquify any marketplace especially when mapped against anyone with proprietary, first-party data. Les jeux sont faits? Diabolique! Read more.

Don’t Forget To Remove The Lightbulbs

ClickZ’s Jack Marshall reports that Ringleader Digital may have “vanished”… or gone out of business as no one is answering the phone at the mobile ad network anymore. He writes, “The company’s website and voicemail systems remain operational, and ClickZ was unable to confirm whether or not it has officially shuttered its operations. It could, for example, be seeking a buyer.” Maybe, but as Marshall states, former Ringleader CEO Bob Walczak’s LinkedIn profile says he has left the company. Read more. The company ran into a privacy/mobile-cookie-related lawsuit in 2010 with its “stamp” technology.

I’ve Got A Private Exchange

A couple of weeks ago it was providing ad verification through its demand-side platform services for video ad buying. Late last week, TubeMogul was rolling out a sell-side product – a private, video ad exchange. There’s a quote from IGN in the release, whose entertainment properties may have video inventory for the exchange model, but no specific client announcements. Read more. It appears TubeMogul, which started in the video analytics biz, is attempting to put together its own marketing stack for video advertising and echoes other similar moves, in various forms, by Google, Adobe, Collective and others. TubeMogul has also created a white paper defining what it thinks is a private exchange. Get it here (PDF).

How About A Private Marketplace?

TRAFFIQ is announcing that its in the private exchange/marketplace game, too – and more. MediaPost’s Laurie Sullivan writes that on Tuesday the company will roll out “Private Marketplaces, Finance Management, and Multiple User Permissions (…).” Chief Product Officer Eric Picard tells Sullivan that “while there’s room for Microsoft, Oracle, IBM or SAP to come in and design a workflow system for media buyers or supply chain management process around advertising, the outdated back-end infrastructure of agencies that need the systems are not designed to handle them.” And, that’s where Picard thinks his company can help. Read more.

Gaming Google

Bringing to mind a memorable story (by the same writer) of how an online merchant rode his bad reputation to excellent search rankings in the Google search engine result pages -and loads of cash – yesterday’s New York Times looks at how lead generation business may be doing something similar. The NYT’s David Segal says lead gen businesses are posting their ad, such as an ad for a locksmith service, across many local sites which bumps up organic search rankings leaving the real local businesses high and dry. And consumers get phone banks tied to sometimes unscrupulous local vendors. There’s more.

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Microsoft Speaks

In a video interview at June’s Cannes Lions ad festival, Microsoft Advertising’s Dennis Bucheim admits that his exchange is “nascent” but they are focused on bringing in Microsoft-owned premium publisher inventory and he believes they are ahead of the curve in terms of building something that serves the premium publisher. See it.

Yahoo! Speaks

Yahoo! Right Media Exchange’s Ramsey McGrory discussed real-time bidding on DIGIDAY last week. It follows up the thinking from his post several months ago on Jack Myers’ Mediabizbloggers. It appears McGrory has seen a shift recently: “RTB has evolved for publishers and so has their understanding of RTB’s risks and rewards. RTB providers can offer publishers features like URL masking, floor-reserve pricing or the ability to visualize the bid landscape. However, the cost of providing RTB in its current form may be prohibitive since media dollars spent don’t necessarily support standalone RTB instances.” Read the entire Q&A.

IPG And Investing

Now that Tim Hanlon has left IPG Mediabrands’ Velociter investment unit, David Kaplan reports in PaidContent that still more machinations are under way as two new posts have been created with Chris Williams as president, MagnaGlobal Investment and Brian Monahan as head of research at IPG Media Lab. Kaplan writes, “These latest moves reflect the ongoing changes of the restructuring of Mediabrands since Matt Seiler moved over from IPG’s Universal-McCann to serve as CEO in January.” Read more.

But Wait. There’s More!