More Yahoo Acqui-hiring Possible; Above-The-Fold Mythology

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

Acqui-hiring Spree

Although nothing is confirmed yet, AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher got word that Yahoo may acquire e-commerce app platform Lexity (AdExchanger Q&A 2011). This would mark the 19th acquisition since Marissa Mayer took over as CEO, and some speculate the acquisition spree is really an effort to buy talent. If the acquisition comes to fruition, Lexity CEO and former Dapper (acquired by Yahoo in 2010) exec Amit Kumar would be back at Yahoo for a third time. Read more.

Above-The-Fold Mythology

According to Adweek, a new Washington Post study revealed that scrolling ads, which followed users for seven seconds, performed better than static above-the-fold ads. Viewability is in play here, too. “[Marketers] say, I want above-the-fold impressions,” said Jeff Burkett, senior director of ad innovations and client services at the Post. “I know enough now that above-the-fold doesn’t mean viewable. There may be some ads that are below the fold that perform better.” Read more. Also in Adweek, Tremor Video has put banner ads in its proverbial rearview mirror. Read more.

Loyal Cereal

For a large company like Kellogg’s, tracking consumer data was difficult until the company introduced a loyalty program that allowed them to track specific purchases. Let the retargeting begin. Called Kellogg’s Family Rewards, the program has consumers enter a code found on the package in exchange for points. The codes are linked to each product under the Kellogg’s brand umbrella. “It’s not the only [loyalty] program like that, but generally speaking companies don’t do that,” said Ron Park, VP-retail consumer-goods industry lead at Merkle, in Ad Age. Read more.

Mobile Email Kinks

Mobile advertising is the newest advertising frontier and it seems email still has some issues that need to be ironed out. According to a study done by Juniper on behalf of Campaigner, and a MediaPost article, consumers are most unhappy with poor design and irrelevance. Furthermore, 37.2% of respondents couldn’t tell if mobile email marketing had any impact on them. Read more in MediaPost.

Privacy Trend

A Forrester study, which hasn’t been publicly released yet, reveals a growing trend among companies wanting to appear privacy-friendly. Jeff Roberts likens it to the eco craze in the 1990s. GigaOM got its hands on the survey results and found that out of 1,053 adults, only 35% were not using some sort of privacy setting on their browsers. Of course it’s possible, as Roberts points out, that the people surveyed were more aware of privacy settings than the majority of the population — some of whom are still using dial-up. Read more.

Musical Data

Data is a lot of things. For Vienna Teng, it’s a muse. After an internship with Acxiom, Teng was inspired to compose a song about the company, according to Arkansas Business. Some of the lyrics include: “somebody hears you,” “you don’t have to hide” and “let our formulas find your soul.” Read more. Listen here. You can’t make this up.

“Publicis Omnicom Groupe” coverage: