Amazon Tests A Retail Store; Ad Trading Guidelines In The UK; Agency Aegis Innovating

Here’s today’s AdExchanger.com news round-up… Want it by email? Sign-up here.

Amazon To Build Store

Amazon is “taking it to the streets” and launching a retail store of the brick-and-mortar variety beginning in Seattle. Blogger Michael Kozlowski reports, “This project is a test to gauge the market and see if a chain of stores would be profitable. They intend on going with the small boutique route with the main emphasis on books from their growing line of Amazon Exclusives and selling their e-readers and tablets.” Read it. Or is it a test on how online-offline attribution models work? This test has bigger implications than an offline e-book depot.

IASH Adds Trading Guidelines

In the UK, industry trade organization IASH has set-up a new self-regulating unit called The Digital Trading Standards Group (DTSG). The industry organization hopes to create standards (and police) what it sees an important and unique, digital media silo developing in and around exchanges, demand-side platforms and sell-side platforms. Pete Robins of agenda21 tells New Media Age, “This is a complex global market operating at scale. The industry needs straightforward principles that make compliant trading possible while providing advertisers with the transparency they need.” Read it.

Aegis Adds Innovation

In Australia, Aegis Media Pacific CEO Luke Littlefield announces the creation of a new “innovation” unit called Jumptank which includes the hiring of MPG/Media Contacts and Google executives. In MuMbrella, Littlefield is quoted as saying: “With Jumptank we are bringing together a team of people with a diverse array of skills and experience, with the common goal of applying innovative thinking to media and marketing solutions for our clients. Jumptank will be a catalyst for innovation.” Innovation (digital), FTW.

Facebook Gets Marketing

Facebook has decided it needs to get its arms around its brand with an IPO looming and has hired former Levi’s CMO Rebecca Van Dyck (LinkedIn) to run global marketing. Read more in Ad Age. And, given Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s presentation at last October’s Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing conference, Van Dyck will not only be positioning the company for consumers, but marketers and their limitless brand dollars, too. On MediaPost, Namely’s Matt Straz lays out the opportunity for Van Dyck and her new company: “Facebook is the first digital media company in a position to own the brand advertising software platform. We have never seen anything quite like this.” Read it.

It’s The Content

On the VivaKi blog, a continued look at trends for 2012 gathers thoughts from the agency’s leaders on the importance of customized content and storytelling. No doubt this speaks to marketers’ ongoing request for branded entertainment opportunities. Daniel Saada, VivaKi Country Chair for France says, “[Content] will become more and more social, not only more sharable, but connected in real-time through several screens and devices, providing brand new opportunities for brand communications. What is called ‘transmedia’ – the technique of telling stories across multiple platforms and formats, using current digital technologies – could really see the light of day.” Read more.

Data And Politics Cocktail

Lotame COO and GM Adam Lehman dares to mix data and politics in an opinion piece on Ad Age. “Will 2012 mark a turning point when political campaigns realize that digital advertising offers them even more efficient and impactful marketing channels, and at much lower cost per impact, than their more traditional channels?” What do you think? Read Lehman’s thoughts.

Wave-ing At Big Data

If you love Forrester “Wave” reports, and are trying to get your arms around “big data” and its vendor offerings, then IBM has a new copy of the “Hadoop Solutions” Wave report waiting for you in exchange for some PII. Get it. It’s an “apples and oranges” collection of vendors, admitted Forrester analyst James Kobielus admits to InformationWeek that it’s an “apples and oranges” collection of vendors – and that’s because “it’s an ’emerging markets’ assessment”. Read InformationWeek.

But Wait. There’s More!