Advertisers Spend Big on iPad, But Potential Far From Proven

Hoping to capitalize on the massive hype surrounding the launch of Apple’s iPad device, major advertisers have forked out substantial sums to align themselves with some of the dedicated applications now on offer. According to reports, and echoed by interactive agency sources in New York, advertisers are spending between $75,000 and $300,000 to secure sponsorships of applications at launch, typically for a period of one or two months. For example, the Wall Street Journal’s paid application launched last week with sponsorship from major global brands including Buick, Capital One, Coca-Cola, FedEx and Oracle, all of which will make use of full-screen interstitial ads which appear in between article and section pages as the user consumes content through the application. Similarly, the New York Times has launched a free application featuring exclusive sponsorship from Chase Sapphire, and plans to stick with the exclusive sponsorship model “for the first few months,” a spokesperson said. However, the investment is potentially risky from a marketer’s perspective, and the long-term potential of the platform is yet to be proven. Jason Klein, co-president of interactive agency LBi U.S., said the high-profile sponsorships are just attempts to capitalize on the hype surrounding the device. “It’s not necessarily a matter of the immediate impression impact. Reach and frequency take a back seat to the novelty and PR impact of being associated with a launch like this.” he said.

Read More: ClickZ

Google, Yahoo and Others Use Online History to Target Advertising

Google, Yahoo and other major Internet advertising companies are developing new ways to tailor ads by tracking users’ online history — and can even auction off individual customers to advertisers in the few milliseconds between a person clicking a link and the page appearing on their screen. But with Internet advertisers increasingly adept at targeting individuals based on the digital bread crumbs they leave as they click through the Web, “behavioral advertising” is also attracting greater scrutiny from government regulators, politicians and interest groups concerned about user privacy. Internet companies say such targeting pays off for consumers and advertisers, because it is more likely to serve up ads people are actually interested in. Critics counter that most Americans do not want advertising tailored to their interests, particularly when it requires tracking their online movements. “It’s kind of like the Wild West out there with behavioral advertising, where clearly the technology is miles ahead of our ability to regulate all the things that are going on,” said Conrad MacKerron of the San Francisco-based As You Sow Foundation, which advocates for corporate responsibility. The foundation will offer a shareholder proposal at Mountain View-based Google’s annual meeting May 13 asking for stronger privacy rules for personal data collected for behavioral ads.

Read More: MercuryNews

Why Does Everyone Want to Work at AOL All of a Sudden?

AOL is the most-troubled big internet company, a turn-around job with a speculative future. So why, then, does it seem everyone wants to work there?  The company is snagging talent from all sectors: Wall Street, publishing, consulting, Google, Yahoo, social-news aggregator Digg, Time Warner and even its own huge diaspora of former employees, some of whom have chosen to come back. It’s luring executives from start-up land both through hires and through acquisitions who seem to be more into the job than simply fulfilling an earn-out.  Two weeks ago, AOL picked up Mike Maser, chief strategy officer at Digg, who joined AOL as head of marketing for consumer applications; McKinsey executive Jennifer Wong started as global head of business operations last week; as did highly regarded Wall Street internet analyst Jeff Lindsay, who joined as VP-strategy in AOL’s content division. That’s in addition to former New York Times tech reporter Saul Hansell, who heads AOL’s content-production platform SEED; and former Google executives David Eun, who heads AOL’s content arm; sales chief Jeff Levick; and agency-relations head Erin Clift. Former Yahoo-er Brad Garlinghouse joined last fall as head of AOL’s consumer-applications group.

Read More: AdAge