Apple Poised To Unveil ‘iAd,’ New Mobile Ad Platform Is Jobs’ ‘Next Big Thing’

Even as the buzz builds toward the April 3rd ship date of the iPad, Apple is preparing to announce its “next big thing” — a new personalized, mobile advertising system that could well be called the “iAd” — Online Media Daily has learned. The new ad platform, which will be officially unveiled to Madison Avenue on April 7th, has been described as “revolutionary” and “our next big thing” by Apple chief Steve Jobs, according to executives familiar with the plan. Precise details of the system and its features could not be discerned at presstime (and calls to Apple had not been returned), but it is believed to have been built on top of Quattro, the mobile advertising developer Apple acquired in January for nearly $300 million, and it is expected to be the first real battle of a Silicon Valley Holy War between Apple and arch frenemy Google that is shifting its front line to Madison Avenue. The war has been mounting ever since Google introduced its Android mobile operating system to compete with Apple’s iPhone, and agreed to acquire mobile ad firm AdMob for $750 million, but it is expected to reach ballistic proportions following Apple’s April 7th announcement, which insiders say will be every bit as important as other recent marketplace introductions, including the iPod, iTunes, iPhone and iPad launches.

Read More: MediaPost

The Business Upside of RTB: “Trust Us, There Is One…”

As I sat at my desk the other day, I remarked to our lead analyst that after reading what feels like hundreds of articles on RTB, I still didn’t know from a business point of view what it really did, or how it would help us make more money. Chew (our lead analyst) whose opinion I greatly respect, and who was recently invited to (and gave) a talk to TED on chaos theory, went on to give me a long and detailed explanation of how RTB causes a market to function more efficiently. “Yes, I can see how that is true”, I answered. “But, ultimately what I see is a technology being pushed at us, which does not bring either more supply, or more demand. In fact, all it does is cause prices to become more efficient, which creates a more effectively priced market place… but unless the benefits of that outweigh the costs of applying the new technology, then from a P&L viewpoint of our business and our clients, I do not see why we would be interested in it. After all, it’s not increasing the amount of money in exchanges, or our ability to get more of the existing money.” When I challenged him to show me how RTB would increase the total amount of money in the exchange market as it currently is, or demonstrate how it could bring our business more of the current money in the market – he couldn’t. In fact, what we both eventually agreed on was that the only way RTB could bring more money into advertising exchange environments is as a marketing device to lure more participants into trading in the exchanges, and therefore increase liquidity. But is pricing efficiency what the major agencies and publishers who do not trade in exchanges are really worried about? Because I’ve never heard them say anything like that; in fact, I don’t think they would even be able to begin to fathom what all that means in the first place.

Read More: AdExchanger

Mediabrands’ Cadreon Shifts Focus To Verification, Studies Whether Targeted Ads Are Hitting Mark

Mediabrands’ Cadreon unit, which focuses on buying targeted audiences rather than inventory, has launched a new program, “Audience Movement,” which aims to verify that targeted ads are reaching Web users who are interested in purchasing the products advertised. In February, the company quietly shifted the focus of its platform technology group to verifying audiences. Previously, that four-person unit focused on implementing the rollout of its offering. Now, two of the unit’s members — out of 34 Cadreon employees total — are focused on verifying the audience. The program aims to answer a simple question, says Michael Brunick, vice president, media technology for Cadreon: “Are we messaging to the right people?” A recent case study conducted by the agency shows that current methods of evaluating whether users want to purchase particular goods or services sometimes fall short. For the study, Cadreon questioned approximately 1,000 Web users who had been identified as potential buyers of a particular computer brand. Cadreon served those users with banner ads that contained a survey asking users if they had been shopping for that type of computer.

Read More: MediaPost