Is Twitter about to add contextual advertising? Seems like it as Twitter-watching AdRants noticed a well-known, beta tester checking out (and tweeting about) the new ad functionality – The New York Times’ Saul Hansell.
Hansell tweets:
“My last tweet was testing a new ad system that looks at what you Tweet about (like movies or soft drinks). More on Bits soon.”
Looks like Hansell was messin’ with the Twitter contextual engine here.
From here, contextual is the tip of the iceberg on Twitter. Imagine real-time tweeting with real-time, impression-level bidding? Can you say ad targeting powder keg DOT COM?! I’d imagine Twitter isn’t touching behavioral until it tests and learns with contextual – and sees how privacy concerns with behavioral shake out.
On iMediaConnection’s blog, John Nardone, CEO of [x+1] (AdExchanger.com Q&A here) offers his ideas on how to fix online advertising – creative, in particular – including the addition of more interactivity, audio/video and session-based buying:
Enabling session-based ad experiences. Instead of having a different ad on each page, advertisers could buy a user’s session, with consecutive impressions over four or five pages. This would allow the advertiser to tell a story. That’s a powerful concept, allowing the creative to unfold over the course of several pages and truly engage the consumer.
Also on iMedia, Mediasmith CEO David Smith (AdExchanger.com Q&A here) is championing the CPW metric, a.k.a. “cost-per-whatever” and says:
“This (CPW) can be cost per sale, cost per download, cost per sign up for a newsletter, whatever metric means success. It could be an action such as registration or purchase; it could be a passive measure such as pageviews or unique users. “
Smith argues that CPW syncs more with the advertiser’s buying needs and goals rather than the “selling” associated with metrics such as CPA.
Charlene Li of Alitimer Group and Wetpaint think they know the Top 100 most engaged brands and have shared it with everyone in a presentation. See below:
Starbucks is #1? – I only drink this (and get engaged with SB) in the airport these days. Sorry, Starbucks.
More on branding: Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Jeremy Liew (AdExchanger.com Q&A here) notes the power of the brand as verb – which was discussed in the NY Times over the weekend – and adds, “you know you’ve reached mass market consumer recognition, usually a pretty good indicator for value creation.”
Comscore has a new ad effectiveness study out on a recent Palm Pre campaign and also wraps in results with the new Apple iPhone 3GS.
“The week the Palm Pre launched, Sprint.com experienced a 42-percent increase to 137,000 visitors to its online store locator page, followed by a 41-percent jump to 193,000 visitors the subsequent week. Meanwhile, the AT&T find-a-store feature on Wireless.ATT.com, saw traffic jump 90 percent to 295,000 visitors during the week of the iPhone 3GS launch.”
For all we know, this change in the Google AdWords documentation has been there a while. But, it’s the first time we’ve noticed it. When you’re buying through Google AdWords’ content network (as in AdSense), you may be buying through the DoubleClick AdExchange.
Albert Wenger adds his two cents on his Continuations blog regarding a popular weekend blogosphere topic, “The Internet Is Dead (As An Investment)” by James Altucher. Wenger ends his rebuttal with, “So please ignore all of the above and dump your holdings, especially GOOG and AMZN.”
President and CEO Aaron Finn (AdExchanger.com Q&A here) is a 2009 Puget Sound Business Journal “40 Under 40” award recipient according to an AdReady release.
eCommerce “ad network,” Intent Media, has announced a $9 million raise in its Series A round which includes Matrix Partners says alarm:clock, which adds that “Intent Media is led by Damon Tassone (Co-founder and CRO) who after Site59 was Deputy CEO at LastMinute. CEO Richard Harris was SVP Strategy and Distribution at Travelocity.” We’re not so sure they’re an ad network, but will try to find out more.
On ClickZ, CEO Steve Pelletier of Fat Tail Media writes about “ways that publishers can increase total direct sales and reduce their reliance on third-party sales” which advocates, among other things, that publishers should try to automate the buying process.
George Simpson writes about the Travel Ad Network and how it differentiates in the vertical ad network space on Adotas.
The LA Times (LA?) says that if you’re in NYC and looking for Wi-Fi, try the cool new wi-fi enabled room at their 42nd Street location next to Bryant Park – a stone’s throw from Grand Central.
