Yahoo’s outspoken CEO Carol Bartz unloaded on Apple’s new “iAds” advertising product, with which Apple is now trying to disrupt the media business.

Carol says iAds “will fall apart” because of Steve Jobs is way too much of a control freak:

“That’s going to fall apart for them,” Reuters quotes Bartz as saying. “Advertisers are not going to have that type of control over them. Apple wants total control over those ads.”

We agree. And if it’s not the control issue, it will be the production costs and the 40% cut.

In any event, iAds are off to a slow start.  The WSJ reported last month that of the 17 big brands Apple touted at launch, only a handful have actually run campaigns.

Read More: BusinessInsider 

Bing’s Latest Attack On Google: Use Facebook Data To Make A Better Search Engine

Bing is working on expanding its partnership with Facebook to provide users with search results based on Facebook “likes,” Kara Swisher reports.

Facebook has like buttons sprinkled across webpages. As more people click on what they like, Facebook can build a rudimentary search engine tracking people’s interests.

If Bing gets exclusive access to that data, and it proves to be useful, then Bing could have a minor advantage over Google.

That’s a big “if,” and a big “could.” We’ll see if any of this matters in the long run. For now, Google is still crushing Bing.

Read More: BusinessInsider 

BranchOut — A New Facebook App That Will Kick Start Your Job Search

The guys at Superfan, made up primarily of former Tickle founders and employees (which was acquired by Monster for a gazillion bucks), have launched an interesting Facebook app that I like.  It’s called BranchOut and if it catches on among the FB masses I think it could really be useful. Similar to LinkedIn, BranchOut is a business networking tool. It basically allows you to figure out what companies your FB friends work for so that you can network. If your friends are using the app, then you can also see who their friends work for, and so on.  So, to put it simply, if you are interested in potentially getting a job working for widgets.com, you can do a search and find out which of your friends work there and then reach out to them directly to try and network your way in.

I downloaded the app this morning. The interface is clean and easy to navigate.  I was immediately prompted to put my employment history in – just my job titles, company names and years of employment.  When I go to my BranchOut profile, there is a complete list of all the companies where my friends work.  The number of friends I have that are employed at each company are listed below.  If you click on each of the company names, you get a list of jobs that are open as well as a list of my friends who currently work or have worked for the company in the past. (If the friend was a past employee, their dates of employment with that company are listed.)  So, for example, I have one friend who works at Apple (sad, I know). When I click on Apple, I get five pages of of job listings that the company is advertising.  It’s well organized and intuitive.

Read More: LetsTalkTurkeyBlog.com

Scott Spencer, Group Product Manager, DoubleClick Ad Exchange and Jason Miller, Group Product Manager, Google Display Network discussed the display media space as well as DoubleClick Ad Exchange enhancements with AdExchanger.com today.

AdExchanger.com: What is Google announcing today?

SCOTT SPENCER: Basically, we’re going to be rolling out a few more tools to help DoubleClick Ad Exchange buyers buy quality inventory, and to check their campaigns.

Taking a quick step back; when we launched the exchange about a year ago, we engineered it with best-in-market buyer and publishers controls, as well as extensive crawl-and-verify inventory screening. Together with the real time bidder, these were the biggest upgrades we made.

As part of a long line of improvements in this area over the past year, we’re taking the wraps off a couple of additional features to give buyers even more control, quality and transparency.

The first is “Site Packs” – these are manually crafted collections of like sites based on DoubleClick Ad Planner and internal classifications, vetted for quality. These allow buyers to get a set of high quality sites for their particular campaigns, covering anonymous and branded inventory.

Second, we’re making some changes to our Real-time Bidder (in beta). The biggest change here is for Ad Exchange clients who work with DSPs. Historically, Ad Exchange buyers were hidden from publishers behind their DSP. By introducing a way to segment out each individual client’s ad calls, inventory can be sent exclusively to an Ad Exchange buyer even when that buyer uses a DSP. It increases transparency for publishers and potentially give buyers more access to the highest quality inventory, like “exclusive ad slots” – high quality inventory offered to only a few, select buyers as determined by the publisher.

Thirdly, we’re soon going to be rolling out a beta of what we call “Data Transfer” – this is a report of every transaction bought or sold by a client on the Ad Exchange. Effectively, it’s a daily log file of everything that happened. Clients can then review every branded URL that they purchased to ensure everything was what they expected.

Read More: AdExchanger

Seven Reasons Tech Start-Ups Are Setting Up Shop In New York

When Carter Cleveland, the CEO of the art-trading website Art.sy, moved his fledgling company from Palo Alto, Calif., to New York City he left behind arguably the best place to start a tech business in the U.S.

Home to giants like Facebook, Google, Apple, Intel and eBay, Silicon Valley is well known as the Mecca for high-tech companies – and entrepreneurs hoping to start one. One third of US-based venture capital investment happens in the Valley, according to PriceWaterhouse Coopers and the National Venture Capital Association. By Cleveland’s own admission, he “couldn’t go into a cafe without hearing pitches” in San Francisco.

So why go east? A recent Princeton grad, Cleveland said he left primarily because of his customers. Art.sy is an online trading post for fine art and, according to Cleveland, over half of his market is in New York City. But Cleveland added that location isn’t everything. New York’s tech scene is booming, and Cleveland wanted to join the party.

“Palo Alto is like Google,” he explained. “Big and established. New York City is like Foursquare. Not as big but tons of hype. It’s going through a growth period and very exciting.”

Read More: Blogs.WSJ.com

Appolicious Adds New Yahoo, Android Sites, Expands Search

After entering into a partnership with Yahoo in April, social-flavored app directory Appolicious is building on the alliance with a new property dedicated to Yahoo apps. And highlighting the rapid rise of Google Android’s platform, the startup has also revamped its site for Android apps and introduced its own Android app.

The new co-branded yap.appolicious.com and AndroidApps.com sites feature original text and videos, user-curated app lists, personalized recommendations, ratings and reviews. Links to original articles from the sites will be featured in relevant content across key Yahoo properties including news, sports and finance.

As with the main site, the words “in association with Yahoo” appear at the top of each page on the new Yahoo and Android app sites. The properties are linked to Appolicious.com via tabs that appear prominently on the home page alongside a third for iPad and iPhone apps. Yahoo users will be able to join the sites automatically using their Yahoo log-in information.

Appolicious has also taken steps to upgrade search. The search box is centered at the top of each page and functionality has been broadened to encompass the Yahoo and Android app sites. Besides returning relevant apps, the new results page now features related user app lists and staff articles as well as a list of apps generated by the site’s recommendation engine.

Read More: MediaPost

Social networks and their endlessly growing page views have dominated every sphere of the web — from audiences to ad impressions. But there’s one area where they still can’t seem to catch up: ad prices.  A recent analysis by ComScore shows social networks, primarily Facebook and MySpace, have over the last year drawn an average CPM of only 56 cents, compared to the $2.43 average for the internet at large. Looking more closely, the ComScore data show that the average pricing for online ads exclusive of social-networking sites, namely Facebook and MySpace, would be much higher, about $2.99 for every 1,000 views; social sites dragged down the average online CPM by as much as 18% over the last year.   Some industry executives are concerned that Facebook and its ilk may in fact be reducing the overall pricing of CPMs, or the cost-per-thousand impressions, that are the basis for online ad pricing.  “Social networks are going to be a challenge for everybody, as the sheer dominance of the impressions they’re making flood the marketplace with inventory,” said Keith Lorizio, Microsoft’s newly installed head of U.S. sales. “And it’s especially a challenge for every publisher, as they drive down CPMs.”  The low-cost rates on social sites don’t necessarily mean they’re driving down the pricing for other publishers. In fact, much of the collective downward pressure on ad prices could be attributed to the mass of inventory altogether — it’s supply simply outstripping demand.

Read More: AdAge

TwitVid Launches Video Ad Network

Twitter video hosting service TwitVid today launched SocialAds, a standalone video advertising network designed to help businesses connect directly with their audience by collecting followers and retweets for their advertising campaigns.  “Traditional means of monetizing video has heavily relied on pre-roll ads, which work great for premium content but can be quite suffocating for an end user who may only be trying to watch a short video,” said Mo Al Adham, co-founder of TwitVid, in a statement. “SocialAds offers an alternative advertising solution, which provides measurable value to both advertisers and viewers. Through SocialAds’ proprietary technology, media viewers are exposed to social media accounts targeted to be of high interest to them. In turn, advertisers are exposed to and gain engaged customers whom, once acquired, can be communicated with as a trusted brand.”   Advertisers and agencies are shifting some of their spending to online from TV, according to an April 2010 study of digital media and marketing pros by DM2PRO and Tremor Media. In fact, 94% of those polled expect to increase online ad spending this year, with almost 45% shifting those dollars from TV, the study reported.   In a private beta test, participating brands generated more than 400 new followers in less than one hour, TwitVid said. As a result of seeing the commercials, 2% of viewers began following a brand, according to the video hosting service.

Read More: InformationWeek.com

Foursquare Frenzy

Dennis Crowley, co-founder of hot location-based social service Foursquare, addressed a roomful of marketers in June. He asked for a show of hands of how many had tried to work with the company but didn’t hear back. A lot of hands went up. The simple message: the still-small company is struggling to further develop its service while responding to the avalanche of requests.  Now, with $20 million in new funding, agencies are hopeful the digital world’s new belle of the ball will build tools to help them use the service in deeper ways.  Adweek spoke with several agencies that report frustrating experiences with Foursquare. Some have found it both hard to contact and unwilling to come up with marketing ideas. One agency representing a major package-goods client said the company put the onus on the brand and agency to find the best way to use the service.  “They’re not responsive and extremely hard to work with,” said a digital agency exec who asked not to be named. “It’s hard to bring campaigns to life. Nobody knows how to create a badge or ask [Foursquare how] to enable behavior. It’s black magic.” In general, he said, “it’s pretty much unworkable.”   One sticking point is Foursquare’s strategy of initially limiting advertiser participation. Pepsi, for instance, has an exclusive lock on the soft drinks category. Additionally, Foursquare has identified one “charter advertiser” for some major categories, which it then works with to better understand what works before taking on other advertisers. While less formal than exclusive contracts, it nonetheless leaves some competitors out in the cold, if only temporarily.

Read More: AdAge

In just a few short months, the term demand-side platform (DSP) has become ubiquitous in the online advertising industry. It has become synonymous with all things real-time bid, exchange-sourced, display advertising — in many cases replacing the mainstay term “network” as the model of choice for advertisers. All kinds of media brokers are now scrambling to offer a DSP solution, relegating words like “network” and “optimizer” to the dustbin of display terminology. But as more platforms wade into the opportunity waters, it seems like an equal amount of fog is being injected into industry discussions. So I thought it would be an opportune time to lift some of that fog and expose several of the bigger DSP myths being perpetuated today.

Myth 1: DSPs are really just networks in disguise False. There are some real differences between DSPs and networks, but recent trends have blurred those lines and given birth to this popular myth. At a fundamental level, traditional networks rely on a large stable of direct publisher relationships to deliver premium placements, easy reach, and ample scale, while owning the media risk and performance responsibilities. Many of these traditional networks live on today amid the DSP wave, successfully delivering campaigns along the way. But networks have begun to rely on exchanges as easy aggregation points for quick scale, and that is what started the move to DSPs. Then when the networks began to layer on automated optimization and advertiser-facing controls alongside their exchange-sourced media — either managed or self-service — they started to look like a lot like DSPs. This is how the whole DSP phenomenon began to accelerate. As networks began to rely heavily on exchange-sourced media while automating the trafficking process and exposing levers and knobs to the advertiser, some essentially became demand-side platforms. With the scale of the real-time bid exchanges and external facing controls, yesterday’s traditional ad network becomes today’s “hot” DSP. But there aren’t going to be as many DSPs as ad networks — read on for why.

Read More: iMediaConnection

McGrory’s and Right Media’s Evolution: Part I

“It wasn’t like I sat down and said, ‘I’m going to go into advertising!” admits Ramsey McGrory, head of Yahoo Right Media Exchange and North American Marketplaces. “I feel like I lucked into advertising. It has quirky people, technology, psychology, creative people, technical people… It’s a nutty space, it’s a different space.”   Fresh from getting his master’s at Georgia Tech, McGrory was hired by Citigroup and completed its two-year derivatives program. Though he wasn’t a fan of the culture, he’s always kept a soft spot for the actual concept.  “Advertising is often about risk reduction or risk enhancement,” he says. “It’s not exactly the same as the derivatives market; the whole world isn’t going to collapse because I sold a CPM campaign.”  McGrory was in Citi’s highly regarded management training program on what looked like a fast track to a cozy financial executive spot when Citigroup merged with Travelers Group and Salomon Brothers. The higher-ups offered him a desk job or a year’s salary to walk away. Considering he wasn’t thrilled with the world of derivatives products, the latter appeared to be an opportunity.

Read More: Adotas

First Apple iAds Hit the iPhone

Following the official launch of Apple’s iAd mobile advertising platform on July 1st, ad units for Unilver’s Dove brand and Nissan’s Leaf model have now begun appearing in some ad-supported iPhone applications running on the new iPhone OS 4.0.  Dove’s Men+Care ads showcase branded content featuring pro-baseball players Albert Pujols and Andy Pettitte. In addition, they allow users to browse Dove’s range of Men+Care products and offer them the chance to win signed baseballs.

Read More: ClickZ

Why Facebook Killed A $100M Baby

This evening Facebook announced that they will officially kill the company’s gift shop on August 1st of this year. Currently generating tens of millions of dollars for the company a year, one has to wonder why the company would take such dramatic steps. Facebook regularly touts how few developers run each segment of their business, but even if the company was generating tens of millions on a couple of developers, apparently more can be generated with the small gifts team working on other projects. So what does this really mean?  We are to assume that Facebook’s gift shop has been growing since they were projected to have a $35 million annual run rate back in 2008, there’s no doubt that the company could easily be selling tens of millions of dollars in gifts each year, at a minimum. However the rise of FarmVille and the social gaming ecosystem on Facebook has driven virtual goods transactions away from Facebook’s core gift shop. The result is that Facebook’s virtual goods business may have been somewhat damaged.  If you had been offered to purchase all the revenue of Facebook’s gift shop going forward in 2008, you may have been willing to pay a pretty penny, if the company was really generating $35 million a year from the shop. While $100 million may be pushing the limits on the value of future virtual goods cash flows, it’s not an unreasonable number. However now the gift shop has become filled with damaged goods that no longer stand out from the numerous other gifts.

 Read More: AllFacebook.com

Apple Inc., with a storehouse of billions of music, movie and software downloads, is studying the buying habits of many of its 150 million iTunes users to show more appealing mobile ads and fuel competition with Google Inc.  Through the iAd program that began last week, Apple started placing ads in iPhone applications for the first time. Early iAd clients include Nissan Motor Co., Unilever NV, JC Penney Co., Best Buy Co. and AT&T Inc.  At stake is leadership in mobile ads, forecast by EMarketer Inc. to almost triple to $1.56 billion in 2013. Google, which gained the biggest share of online advertising by placing ads based on PC-Web surfing habits, may use that tack to widen a lead on handheld devices. Examining consumers’ entertainment and software purchases may give Apple an advantage, says Rachel Pasqua, director of mobile at marketing firm ICrossing.  “Apple knows what you’ve downloaded, how much time you spend interacting with applications and knows even what you’ve downloaded, don’t like and deleted,” said Pasqua, whose clients include Toyota Motor Corp. and Mazda Motor Corp. She isn’t currently working with Apple on iAd campaigns.

Read More: Bloomberg.com

Display Advertising Acting More Like Search

While online display advertising has grown tremendously in the last decade, its growth rate and ultimate size have been outstripped by the growth and size of search.  And during a downturn search tends to hold or grow its relative position even more.  As a result, many players in the display world are looking to search to see what aspects of search can be better leveraged in display.  I think there are three key areas where display is working to become more like search.  First, in the area of data.  A tremendous amount of the power of search comes from the fact that the consumer’s intent is largely declared by their act of searching.  Clearly that is of great value to an advertiser.  By gathering data that better approximates current intent – for example, by incorporating an anonymous user’s recent queries from an e-commerce site – display advertisers can come closer to search in this respect.  The rise of data exchanges like BlueKai and Exelate is intended to help address this need.  The second area of historical “search advantage” is creative.  Search “creative” has historically been text, which is easy for even the smallest advertiser to create and change.  This means a broader number of potential advertisers.  Companies like AdReady and Tumri make the real-time assembly of display creative much easier and lower cost.  If companies can generate display creative on the fly inexpensively, the ability to better target display ads is significantly enhanced.  Finally, display advertisers are becoming more like search in the area of real-time bidding.  Search has allowed advertisers to bid for keywords and calculate their return on investment relatively easily.  With the rise of Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) such as MediaMath and Invite to help advertisers interface with ad exchanges, the display advertising world is similarly helping advertisers efficiently access quality inventory at a competitive price.  

Read More: Blog.Searchandise.com

For Online Advertising, Media Consolidation Is a Good Thing

Much has been written about the “long-tail” concept since Wired’s Chris Anderson popularized the idea in 2004. But for all the discussion about how effective long-tail strategies are for search-engine optimization, viral marketing, web retailing and social-media marketing, it seems that many online advertisers — especially display advertisers — are missing the boat.  Media continues to consolidate, and increasingly the vast majority of online ad dollars go to just a handful of web publishers. By ignoring the rest of the web publishing world, online advertisers are avoiding a perfect opportunity to reach much larger audiences at a reduced cost. From an advertiser’s perspective, the universe of websites can be divided into four groups.

Read More: AdAge

The first of Apple’s iAds are expected to start popping up on iPhones later this week, but don’t expect all the marketers that have committed to the platform to be there. A check-in with declared iAd advertisers found that many are still in the early stages of flushing out concepts and creative. Some are weeks — perhaps months — away from having an iAd in the system.  ”Most advertisers won’t be there on July 1; there just isn’t enough time,” said one agency exec with several iAds in the works.  Part of the issue is with Apple itself: The company is handling all the technical production of iAds, and telling agencies it will take six to eight weeks to produce an ad after the creative is produced.  The July 1 rollout announced by Apple doesn’t necessarily coincide with the objectives of the marketers themselves, and many are staggering launches on the platform through the fall. Apple is telling marketers that the device considered most promising for advertisers — the iPad — won’t be on the iAd platform until November.

Read More: AdAge

The 7 Newest Interactive Trends: How Will They Affect You?

What a difference a year makes. Twelve months ago was a wholly different kettle of fish for most of us — a kettle that had been left out to fester in the sun. But the optimism is back, baby! We saw it in the packed conference and expo aisles at ad:tech San Francisco in April, and in the double-digit growth figures for ad revenue in the first quarter of the year.  The can-do mood has returned. Memories of 2009 have been thrown into the ash heap of history. The digibiz again smells as sweet as gardenias in springtime.  But let’s leave odor to the side for a bit. There’s been more to the first half of 2010 than just better business results. Here are some of the most important happenings this year:

Read More: iMediaConnection

Unilever CMO: We’ll Double Digital Budgets This Year

CMO Keith Weed told the audience here today that Unilever aims to double its digital budgets this year. In some countries, the shift could mean interactive channels will command 25 to 30 percent of spending.  In an on-stage interview with WPP Group CEO Martin Sorrell, Weed argued the transition to digital is even more important than the buzz warrants. And the company is backing up that view with actions. Earlier this spring, numerous top executives from the company toured the West Coast, meeting with leaders at Yahoo, MSN, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple, among others.  Asked by Sorrell what role data and insights play in his marketing approach, Weed couldn’t emphasize their role enough.  “Consumer insight is everything,” he said. “The only way I can get a differentiated product to the consumer is understanding the market better. Consumer insight is the starting point. Then an agency can get the creativity, build the brands.”  Unilever is among the more visible clients at this year’s festival. In addition to being awarded Advertiser of the Year, its agencies have won numerous Lions for work on Unilever’s brands. Campaigns for Axe and Hellman’s Ketchup were among those honored.

Read More: ClickZ

Six months into 2010 and things are looking downright sunny, unless you’re BP, or want to swim in the ocean anytime in the next five years. So far the economic outlook is good and recent reports suggest that the digital world is poised for growth. Agencies are hiring again, staffing up new roles, and expanding teams. Clients are cautiously coming back to the digital world. Life is good in the kingdom…or so it seems.  A small storm is brewing. It’s not a client or budget problem; it’s an integration problem. Every agency is facing the problem of matching their user engagement strategy with their data-driven search efforts. How we approach this problem is key to organizing our agency resources to work with emerging trends and avoid the pending storm.  Search has always fallen into the category of algorithm-driven strategy, but with the rise of ad exchanges, demand-side platforms, and trading desks – the water has gotten murkier. With this “new” way to buy, agencies aren’t only educating clients on this new format, but also aligning an organization to deliver against it.

Read More: ClickZ

Apple’s Next Disruption: Advertising

If anything is clear from the punches being thrown by Google at Apple over mobile advertising, it is that the search giant understands what is at stake.  As mobile advertising comes into its own, Google should be well-positioned to grab a big piece of it. Prospects for other large media companies, online or traditional, are less sure.  It is easy to underestimate the importance of mobile Internet and advertising. ComScore estimates 48 million people had smartphones in the U.S. in the three months to April, of whom only 5.4 million searched the Web on the devices on a near-daily basis. In contrast, the firm counted 214 million people searching the Web generally in April.  Estimates from eMarketer put mobile advertising at $593 million this year, compared with about $25 billion for total online advertising.  But eMarketer’s numbers were issued last September, before the release of the iPad. The Apple tablet’s strong sales so far confirm consumer demand for tablet computers and suggest consumers’ online behavior is likely to become a lot more mobile. That is likely already the case for owners of smartphones with robust Web browsers like iPhones or Android-powered devices.  Android and iPhone devices commanded 37% of the smartphone market in the first quarter between them, according to Nielsen, against 35% for Research in Motion‘s BlackBerry. Nielsen’s data also show that close to 90% of iPhone and Android owners used the mobile Internet in the previous 30 days, compared with 73% for all smartphones. Browsing the Web on a BlackBerry can be a frustrating experience. So as RIM’s market share declines and iPhone, iPad and Android devices become more common, mobile Web use will take off.  Data are scarce on how mobile browsing affects online behavior at a PC. But the ability to do Web searches anywhere likely reduces those done at a desk. Searching could become less important as people rely on apps for certain functions.  All this should spark an ad shift to mobile, particularly to apps. Admittedly, advertisers can take years to respond to changes in consumer behavior. But Apple’s plunge into the ad market with iAds, which serves advertising inside apps, is likely to accelerate the change. That it drew $60 million in second-half 2010 commitments from such marketers as General Electric, Unilever and Nissan Motor indicates mobile-ad estimates are too low.  Who will suffer from the advance of mobile advertising? TV networks, potentially, if the caliber of big-brand advertisers snagged by Apple continues. As the mobile audience is likely to fragment among applications, big Internet portals also may be at risk. Regardless, mobile likely will cause a bigger, faster disruption to the ad world than is generally appreciated.

Read More: WSJ

AdExchanger.com: What announcement do you have in regards to inventory partners?

CH: We’re the first holding company to be procuring inventory through AdECN. We were able to make that integration happen via Invite Media.  I was with Microsoft’s Darren Huston last week and he is quite pleased with the quality of advertisers he’s seen come through due to the integration and [the quality] of our brand marketers. We’re excited by that. It’s by no means exclusive and wouldn’t expect it to be. But, it now makes us interoperable with Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. And we’re working hard on AOL which will hopefully happen in the near term.

AdExchanger.com:  What kind of inventory do you see through AdECN?

CH: AdECN is focused first on Hotmail. And I think as they understand how performance looks, we’ll expand from there. But, we’ve started with Hotmail.  The other good piece of news about this is the fact that it is through Invite Media, and post‑Google acquisition – [Google] has been very supportive.  Google realizes it’s for the DFA stack, away from media, and they appreciate that it works just like search bid management or serving ads. it’s a good thing for the industry that they’re taking the interoperable view.  You were asking [earlier] how we felt about the Invite Media acquisition. I think it’s great that what you’re seeing is some consistency where Omnicom (Click here for OMG CEO Matt Spiegel’s thoughts) and InterPublic Group (Click here for Cadreon CEO Brendan Moorcroft’s thoughts) – I believe through AdExchanger.com – they both have come out supportive and positive.

Read More: AdExchanger

Five Ways Foursquare Advertising is Getting Less Interesting

Foursquare, the geolocation social tool, has been a media darling as of late. Not only is it growing, but people innately understand the monetization model, which is not something you can say about every social site and tool. As people “check in,” or report where they are to their network, Foursquare serves them offers from nearby businesses. It’s a win-win-win situation: Businesses can market to people who are able to immediately take action; Foursquare earns revenue; and users get valuable offers they can use.  But Starbucks’ current program on Foursquare may kill the goose that lays the golden eggs (or at least demonstrate how that goose may die a slow, lingering death of neglect). I believe (and I’m curious if you agree) that Starbucks’ ubiquity combined with the offer’s difficult redemption is decreasing attention for Foursquare’s other offers. If other large chains follow suit with similar promotions, those “Special Nearby” tabs within Foursquare’s mobile apps won’t get as much notice, and that means problems for advertisers on the Foursquare platform.  If you’re a Foursquare user, you’ve undoubtedly seen Foursquare offers, but for those who are not yet acquainted with the joys of mayorships, here is how it works: When you check in at a location, Foursquare will alert you when an offer is available in close proximity. With a click, you can view that offer. The first couple of times I saw this, the offers were interesting and immediately relevant. For example, I checked in at SFMOMA and was alerted I could get free entry to an art museum across the street.

Read More: MediaPost

The Global CMO Interview: Lorraine Twohill, Google

Google is not known for its marketing; the product markets itself. But as Google attempts to translate its one mega-success — search advertising — into other lines of business, marketing is becoming a more important part of what the search giant is all about.  Lorraine Twohill heads marketing for Google on a global basis as VP-global marketing, which means a lot more than most people think. It encompasses everything from TV and billboard ads in Japan — one market that Google doesn’t dominate — to videos for products such as Chrome or Docs and Google’s first TV ad, a Super Bowl spot called “Parisian Love.”  Google’s marketing takes different shapes all over the globe and must be relevant to countries with high broadband penetration rates, such as the U.S. or Korea, as well as places where people predominantly access the web using mobile phones or in internet cafés. It has no agency of record, but rather works with several agencies, including Wieden & Kennedy Japan and Bartle Bogle Hegarty in the U.S. and Europe.  Ms. Twohill joined Google from European travel site Opodo seven years ago, and assumed the global marketing role two years ago. She currently manages marketing teams in more than 30 countries.

Read More: AdAge

Move over, AdMob and Millennial. Apple CEO Steve Jobs presented a slide at this morning’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco that claims that 48% of spending on mobile advertising in the United States from July through December of 2010 will go to Apple’s iAd advertising system for its iPhone and iPad portable gadgets.  “We’ve got advertisers committing to sixty million dollars,” Jobs told the assembled crowd of software developers and journalist. Among the committed advertisers, Job said, are Nissan, Citi, Unilever, AT&T, Chanel, GE, Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Geico, Campbells, Sears, JC Penny, Target, Best Buy, Direct TV, TBS, and Disney.  What iAd offers advertisers is guaranteed reach across a wide audience. That’s why big brand advertisers are signing up. So far, Apple hasn’t demonstrated that iAd will have the sort of personalized “long tail” targeting that made Google’s AdWords and AdSense a multi-billion-dollar business.

Read More: VentureBeat

The IAB Sets Up Tablet Task Force

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced that it has formed the Tablet Task Force, a group comprised of publishing and interactive industry executives, in order to “help create an infrastructure that would support a variety of rich new advertising opportunities for the emerging technologies of tablets and e-readers”.   In reality, it’s all about the iPad, as evidenced by the focus on Apple’s device in this industry report on ‘tabvertising’ (PDF).  Also noteworthy: the IAB actively tries to kill the “myth” that lack of Flash support on the iPad is going to be a problem for advertisers, saying it “incredibly intensive on any computer to run, burning through batteries faster”.

Read More: TechCrunch

Audience Reselling: Does It Drive Profits?

In audience selling, a publisher sells impressions of a specific target audience to an advertiser.  In audience reselling, a publisher sells the audience data to an advertiser via an aggregator or network.  The decision to sell the data vs. the impression should be based on a financial model and expected returns.  Interestingly, I haven’t found any models that help publishers make this decision.  So here is my take.  Using the math set forth by GCA Savvian, data aggregators on average get $0.50 of every $10 CPM, and publishers receive $3.60 of every $10 CPM.  Let’s assume group of advertisers wants to buy 1,000,000 impressions ($10,000) to a specific audience demographic.  Let’s assume there is a publisher that has the data to target the impressions.  By selling only impressions to the advertisers based on their data, a publisher would receive $4,100 (their $3.60 cut and the $0.50 that would have gone for data purchase).  Now let’s look at this same scenario but selling data and impressions.  Assume a 60/40 split for data royalties to publisher.  At 40%, the publisher would get $0.20 CPM for their data. 

Read More: Blog.ScoutAnalytics.com

Aiming to work around Apple’s Flash ban, Adobe Tuesday unveiled new digital viewer technology to help publishers adapt magazines to an interactive format tailored to the iPad and other mobile devices.  Adobe’s new publishing software debuted last week with the launch of Wired‘s digital edition for the iPad, featuring a variety of interactive and multimedia elements in support of traditional editorial content.  Adobe says its digital publishing platform built on its InDesign software and Omniture technologies will soon be available to other publishers, allowing them to deliver different versions of magazines across multiple hardware systems.  Plans to release the new Wired application in Adobe’s Flash were abandoned after Apple imposed a ban on third-party tools that would allow programs to be ported from other formats to the iPhone operating system. Instead, the Wired e-edition was coded in Objective-C, the main programming language for software running on Apple devices.

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GSI Commerce Acquires Retargeting Company Fetchback

Back in April, when e-commerce and marketing company GSI Commerce hired Gannett’s Chris Saridakis as CEO of its marketing services division, some speculated GSI would soon acquire a company or two. The reason: While chief digital officer at Gannett, Saridakis focused on expanding the publishing conglomerate’s digital business through buyouts of several companies, including ShopLocal, CareerBuilder, and Ripple6, a social media service firm.  Saridakis lived up to the speculation. GSI, based in King of Prussia, PA, announced this morning it has snagged retargeting ad technology company Fetchback, for an undisclosed sum.  Tempe, AZ-based Fetchback allows online marketers to deliver ads to people who previously visited their websites. Its technology can integrate with ad exchanges, ad networks, and demand side platforms, which Fetchback says allows its customers to reach the majority of their prior site visitors.

Read More: ClickZ

BlueKai Offers BT Opt-Out And Management Tool

Data auction marketplace BlueKai is offering a new tool that enables Web publishers to let consumers access and edit the marketing buckets they have been placed into, the company announced on Tuesday. The tool, available to publishers for free, also allows consumers to opt out of behavioral targeting, or being served ads based on sites visited or content accessed in the past.  BlueKai has offered its own version of the tool since last September, but the new “white label” registry for publishers will differ from the company’s in one key respect: BlueKai’s “global” registry allows users to view and access the marketing categories they have been placed into based on data collected by a host of publishers. But the new publisher-specific version will reveal categories based on data collected by just that one publisher.  BlueKai CEO Omar Tawakol says the publisher-specific tool is narrower because many publishers don’t want it to appear as if they are collecting more data than is the case.

Read More: MediaPost