John Ebbert is publisher and CEO of AdExchanger, an online trade publication he began in 2008. AdExchanger is devoted to the emerging trends in data-driven advertising and enables the exchange of ideas between all members of the ad ecosystem. Prior to AdExchanger, he worked for 15 years in digital marketing and operational roles for companies such as Viacom’s Nickelodeon, Arkadium and ContextWeb, as well as an entrepreneur.
Having worked in managerial roles in tech ranging from tech startups to a stint at Microsoft, where he worked on the Windows operating system, Stephen Purpura was convinced by 2001 that data products were going to be the next big wave. Since that time, he’s been working on nothing but big data-related projects – even […]
An ad-network stalwart is struggling. The earnings release on the SEC’s site has few details on the display advertising performance for ValueClick, but the earnings call was another matter. In spite of its acquisition of display ad retargeter Dotomi in 2011, ValueClick continues to search for solutions to shore up the company’s growth potential. Its Q2 2013 […]
What does the marketer really think about the Omnicom-Publicis marriage? Intuit’s Head of Online Acquisition, Cezanne Huq, shared his thoughts on the merger, which is partially informed by his own company’s agency services needs as well as his background in the services world. Though he declines to say exactly which agencies Intuit works with today for competitive reasons, […]
As analysis of the merger of Publicis and Omnicom Group rages on, one of the critical challenges ahead for the combined entity appears to be “conflict of interest.” AdExchanger’s Zach Rodgers reported yesterday when the merger announcement was made, Omnicom CEO John Wren was non-chalant about potential conflicts: “Shared clients contributed over $6.5 billion in […]
Tim Hanlon is Founder and CEO of consulting firm Vertere Group. As a former key executive within Publicis, Hanlon’s years of experience provide him a unique view into today’s announced merger of agency holding companies Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group. AdExchanger asked Hanlon about his “take” on the blockbuster combination earlier today. AdExchanger: Did you […]
Flexing his salesmanship skills, AOL CEO Tim Armstrong announced to a group of reporters last night in New York City that his company would undertake its “first ever Programmatic Upfront event” on September 23, which is to coincide with the beginning of Advertising Week festivities in New York. Seated to Armstrong’s left during the announcement […]
For many media agencies, Search has always commanded a significant percentage of client budgets. But over the past few years, with the “search-display” paradigm trumpeted within the ad technology landscape, data-driven display ad platforms have increasingly complimented Search budgets as agencies look to address the “right” audiences across the Web. Philippe Sloan, SVP, Director of […]
For Emmy Spahr, associate media director at Publicis agency Mediavest, “programmatic media” is a phrase that increasingly is part of the agency-client dialogue. As a member of Mediavest Group’s Geo-Commerce Center of Excellence, Spahr focuses exclusively on helping a major American cable company with its acquisition-driven plans. “We’re getting a lot of ‘asks’ for a […]
Digital-media buying may have moved from buying placement to buying audience, but vertical publishers are still gladly carrying the “contextual” torch as valuable audience continues to be attracted to niche content – an opportunity TechMediaNetwork is looking to exploit. Having raised $33 million in 2011 in hopes of unseating other tech publisher networks such as […]
After the stock market closed today, Google reported its results for the second quarter ending June 30, 2013. The revenue numbers: “Google Revenues (advertising and other) – Google revenues were $13.11 billion, or 93% of consolidated revenues, in the second quarter of 2013, representing a 20% increase over second quarter 2012 revenues of $10.96 billion.” […]
On agency holding company Omnicom’s Q2 2013 earnings call today with Wall Street analysts, CEO John Wren and CFO Randall Weisenburger talked “programmatic strategy” as Omnicom’s net income for the most recent quarter increased 2.4% to $289.5 million from $282.7 million in Q2 of 2012. Read the earnings release (PDF). The holding company is looking to […]
GroupM media agency Mindshare announced in early June that former Digitas exec Jordan Bitterman would become the agency’s new Chief Strategy Officer for North America. While at Digitas, Bitterman co-founded the Digitas NewFront, which was a pre-cursor to the Digital Content NewFronts industry-wide event held most recently in April and May. In an interview last […]
Yahoo today reported a 1% decline in ex-TAC revenue year-over-year of $1,071 million in the second quarter. See the release. And get the earnings slides (PDF). For earnings number lovers, Yahoo came in at Wall Street’s projected numbers: “GAAP net earnings per diluted share was $0.30 in the second quarter of 2013, compared to $0.18 in […]
It’s been covered before, but the evolution of telecom carriers’ privacy policies are worth another look as cookie tracking constituencies clash. It’s a notice sent to Verizon Wireless users (I am one) about information that is made available to the “Verizon family of companies for marketing purposes.” Potential targeting attributes are “type, quantity, destination, technical […]
Performance marketing company CPX Interactive announced today that it has hired former AudienceScience CEO Jeff Hirsch as the company’s chief marketing officer. With deep experience in the world of advertising networks, including stops at ValueClick, Fastclick and, most recently, Underdog Media, Hirsch will join a company known for its direct-response advertising focus. As he prepares […]
When people talk to StrongView (was StrongMail) CEO Bill Wagner about his company’s decision to re-brand (see last week’s release), he says that it’s often less about why they re-branded, but more about why they waited so long. StrongView was originally founded in 2002 as an email infrastructure company and, like other email infrastructure companies […]
Premium direct sales and real-time biddable display advertising … can they co-exist? IDG Enterprise thinks so. The owner of top-tier B2B media brands Computerworld, CIO, Network World and InfoWorld announced last week (see the release) that it has plunged into the exchange model in search of programmatic ad dollars. According to IDG Enterprise CEO Michael […]
The use of data tied to a consumer’s brand loyalty remains data-driven “gold” to marketers. And as addressability propagates across digital and offline channels, the importance of a loyalty strategy only strengthens. In early July, Alliance Data’s data-management and marketing company, Epsilon, announced (see the release) that it had been chosen as the technology platform for Dunkin’ […]
With Tremor Video taking its video-advertising technology company to the public markets this week – and YuMe preparing to follow suit — AdExchanger reached out to ad-tech industry veteran Dave Morgan to discuss the implications. Morgan, who founded TACODA and Real Media, has experienced the whims of the public markets. To be sure, Morgan has an interest […]
As the debate over the intersection of consumer privacy and online advertising rages, a recent announcement that browser maker Mozilla would work with Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society to create a “cookie clearinghouse” appears to have poured more fuel on the fire. Debuted by Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich’s blog on June 19, and then reiterated in […]
As he intimated back in 2011, Monetate isn’t just servicing the e-commerce industry with its website optimization technology and analytics, says CEO David Brussin. It’s addressing the individual consumer as well. And yet, in spite of expanding into travel, financial services, and publishing, among other areas, Brussin thinks e-commerce giant Amazon is one of his […]
At last week’s Merkle client summit, marketing chieftains from Geico and Travelers were present. [Record scratch here.] Wait a second – an agency has two ultra-competitve clients on its roster? Yes, it’s true. As Merkle CEO David Williams readily admitted to AdExchanger last week, the competitive nature of clients does create sensitivity around the data […]
With a media background at McCann Erickson and venture financing raised this past April from Redpoint Ventures and WPP Digital among others, Miaozhen Systems CEO Wei Zhu sounds like your typical “Western” entrepreneur. Calling his 310-person firm “the Nielsen of China,” Zhu claims Beijing-based Miaozhen already has 80% market share for online measurement – with DoubleClick […]
In pitching the marketer-centric audience at Merkle’s customer summit about the benefits of DIRECTV’s addressable televison advertising product, the company’s VP of Advanced Advertising, Tom Hagopian, identified two of its challenges, too. The first was the limited scale of the addressable TV market. The second… “On the TV buying side, we are constantly involved in […]
Recounting an anecdote in his opening keynote yesterday at Merkle’s customer summit, Merkle CEO David Williams illustrated what a “game-changer” Facebook’s Custom Audience product has been for Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) companies like his. Williams said that Facebook executives initially told him it would not only never let email addresses match to Facebook login data […]
Though associating display advertising with a popular character from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings makes for an entertaining visual, Legolas Media and its new CEO Jonathan Shaevitz have decided it’s time to call a spade a spade and purposefully engage the guaranteed media marketplace; they’ve re-branded the company Upfront Digital Media effective immediately. The […]
Pointing at its own 350 person-strong digital team and “hyper growth” for its products and services related to the digital channel, Merkle kicked off its “CRM Executive Summit” today in Charleston, South Carolina. Merkle CEO David Williams recounted for customer attendees how it was only four years ago that “the stars were aligning” and true […]
From math teacher at the US Military Academy in West Point more than 20 years ago to his new role as Chief Strategics Analytics Officer of agency DraftFCB, Ken Beatty has sampled a unique set of perspectives on data and its impact on people. Today, like any good agency “soldier,” he says he wants to […]
On May 22, TARGUSinfo founder George Moore passed away suddenly at the age of 62. According to The Irish Times, Moore was the son of a shoemaker in County Louth, Ireland. With college degrees in hand, he left for the United States in 1972 and sold his first company in 1990. Shortly thereafter, he launched […]
Google remains on a warpath to drive industry-wide adoption of its ad tech “stack” strategy, positioning integration of past acquisitions as proof it is serving key constituencies. In March, Google called out the integration of Admeld and publisher direct sales. Today at its thinkDoubleClick client advisory board, it will highlight the inclusion of Wildfire (acquired […]
