The iAd: Steve Jobs Regifts The Mobile Marketing Experience
We’re used to buzz around Apple, and in particular, we’re quite used to buzz about how Apple goes to market. CEO Steve Jobs is widely considered the greatest marketer alive, and nearly every marketer I’ve worked with has expressed sincere admiration for the magic the man is capable of weaving. His products are brilliant, and the cult around Jobs and his work are extraordinary. But with iAds, Apple has moved from the business of making ads to the business of selling them. And in the past month or so, Apple’s new team – folks formerly known as Quattro Wireless but now sporting brand new Apple business cards – have started making sales calls at a handful of major brands and their agencies. These freshly minted Apple folk must feel like the won the lottery – just a few months ago, they were duking it out with ten other mobile networks, competing on price, ROI, network quality and scale, ad format, and Lord knows how many other factors. Now marketers are literally lining up to buy into the launch of Steve Jobs’ next great thing. And that next great thing is called iAds – which Jobs, in typical fashion, introduced last month as the answer to all those mobile ads that “suck.” I guess he means what those folks from Quattro sold (and still do, by the way, under their original brand name). Because from what I can tell, there’s almost nothing new in iAd, save the wrapping paper.
Read More: BatelleMedia.com
Foursquare Mulling Ad Options
Digg Account Director Emily Crume checks in on Foursquare nearly everywhere she goes. Sunday night she checked in at the Los Angeles International Airport with 45 others. That would have been the perfect opportunity for American Airlines or Virgin America to sponsor the Foursquare check-in through an opt-in process. Foursquare developers are “actively thinking” about applications to help advertisers, marketers and merchants understand and reach consumers better through ads, promotions and specials. One option being considered would potentially tie ads to member profiles. “It’s certainly the future as an opt-in experience,” says Tristan Walker, who heads product development for the startup. “It’s something we are actively thinking about, but it’s not something offered today. We need more data. The more data, the easier it gets.” Walker says Foursquare walks a fine line between overt and passive advertising. “At this time we’re leaning toward passive,” he says. “Brands would rather not get too aggressive.” Foursquare offers an advertising platform for merchants that allow brands to promote specials, but it doesn’t target mobile ads. The platform allows companies to claim their business to run promotions on the site. Through geo-tags, people within a specific geographic radius will see the specials.
Read More: MediaPost
Tribal Fusion Puts Video in Display Ad Space
Online ad network Tribal Fusion has begun testing a new technology platform, Firefly Video, designed to distribute video ads within any display placement unit. Those ads expand to cover an entire Web page once users interact with them. Tribal is already rolling out campaigns using Firefly technology for brands such as Hyundai, Dannon, Procter & Gamble’s Tampax, Nissan and Haagen Dazs. In one case, a campaign implemented by Starcom generated more than 60,000 prospects in just a few weeks, according to officials. To date, Tribal has tested over 25 video advertising campaigns using the Firefly platform across its network, which reaches 120 million unique users in the U.S. Firefly has been established as a standalone division of Exponential Interactive, which also owns Tribal. According to executives from the new division, the idea behind Firefly is to merge the all-consuming sight, sound and motion experience provided by TV ads with the targeting and interactivity inherent to pre-roll video units. However, unlike traditional pre-roll ads — which typically run prior to video placements within specific players — Firefly’s platform is designed to create video ad inventory on virtually any Web page that features banner ads. And it doesn’t require any player installation. “Advertisers can now combine the emotionally engaging power of TV with state-of-the-art targeting,” said Firefly president Donnovan Andrews.
Read More: AdWeek
