Measurements Differ, But Online Ad Spend Up
Despite a lack of measurement standards, local online ad spending will show double-digit growth over the next few years, and will continue to increase its share of total local ad spending, according to a new report from eMarketer.
As consumers turn to local search, mobile devices, hyper-local sites and daily deals to satisfy their need for highly relevant news and information, local online ad spending will rise up to meet them, insists eMarketer analyst and report author Lauren Fisher.
“Local online ad spending is growing as fast as — if not faster than — total online ad spending,” according to Fisher. “National advertisers shifting dollars to follow the U.S. population online will largely fuel this growth.”
As of May, 90% of U.S. agencies surveyed by local forum site Topix said their clients had asked for geographically targeted ads. Although the agency sample was small, it included large firms that represent a greater number of national advertisers.
For eMarketer, any company using digital ads to reach an audience in a specific area is engaging in local online advertising. Most research firms agree on this general definition, but they largely disagree on how to apply it across advertiser type, ad format and online property. The result: conflicting local ad-spending estimates.
Read More: MediaPost
How Search Marketers Expect To Use Data In 2012
About half the search marketers participating in MediaPost’s Search Insider Summit survey during the three-day conference said they take responsibility both for search and social campaigns — making the range of topics discussed at last week’s MediaPost Search Insider Summit all the more important.
Most marketers — 72.7% — who participated in the survey said they rely on interest-based targeting in search campaigns. Targeting beyond keywords continues as a trend in search engine marketing, as well as social. Evidence of the movement can be found in a recent Twitter campaign connecting AMC TV brands to consumers.
Search marketers also clearly understand the benefits of tying social and social data into search engine marketing campaigns, as well as search engine data into social media campaigns. When asked whether their company has a Google+ account, 82.4% of respondents said yes.
It turns out that 60% of marketers said they tie search data into two or more online campaign media. Aside from social, some of the options discussed at the MediaPost Search Insider Summit include tying search data into display advertising or campaigns supported by demand-side platform providers.
Read More: MediaPost
Matt Freeman: Marketers Need More Specialization, Fewer Agency Relationships
When Matt Freeman jumped from startup shop Betwave to Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Mediabrands back in January to head up its newly launched division called Ventures, which was responsible for overseeing 16 separate agencies, he landed right in the middle of the action. The day after he joined the company it was announced that Nick Brien, former CEO of Mediabrands at the time, and the man who hired Mr. Freeman, was stepping down to run Interpublic’s McCann Worldgroup. Mr. Freeman, along with Matt Seiler, global CEO of Universal McCann; Richard Beaven, global CEO of Initiative; and Tara Comonte, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Mediabrands, were then named to the office of the chairman, the new management structure that would run Mediabrands. But such situations aren’t really anything new for Mr. Freeman or all that daunting. In fact, it’s probably nothing compared to the time his family moved to Italy and his mother informed him that he and his brother would be starting classes at an Italian public school that year. “We don’t speak Italian,” he remembers telling his mother. “Good luck,” she told him.
Read More: AdAge
Automating Success With Creative Optimization
Many sci-fi films portray a world where computers take control over mankind. It’s a scary concept and yet, in the near future, we may find even within our own industry, a world where computers make creative decisions for us. But there’s no need to fear or panic. Unlike “Terminator” or “2001: A Space Odyssey,” these computers won’t turn against us. Instead, they will help us to facilitate smarter and more effective advertising. The future is closer than you think and soon enough, creative optimization algorithms will change the way that advertisers interact with their target audience. It will enable advertisers to customize creatives and engage users on a personal level. So what exactly is creative optimization? It’s a learning algorithm that receives constant feedback based on the user’s interaction with the ad. The algorithm changes the creative depending on the users’ feedback and can display the versions of creatives that are more likely to receive clicks, conversions, interactions or dwell. By constantly comparing the results from each version of the ad, creative optimization automatically serves the most effective ads. Creatives can also be optimized to maximize performance for each target segment, taking the work out for advertisers who don’t have to waste time playing the guessing game. Advertisers can upload all of their creative ideas and let the algorithm serve the versions that users will respond to the most.
Read More: Adotas
The End Of Location Based Applications?
I just invested in a company that takes video of an area and can tell you exactly how many people are in the capture area at any given time. It’s great for traffic patterns, security, and much more. We are posting cameras in certain environments where anonymity is required, and we don’t and won’t capture faces or anything that could identify an individual. We will simply provide incredibly accurate traffic information and patterns. A great application with great opportunity. The next extension is to install it in places where we can add facial recognition software. So rather than someone checking in to a specific application, we would already know you are there. Of course there would have to be “opt out” mechanisms. Of course there would be a battle over whether or not a store or venue should be “opt in” vs automated recognition, but that’s not a software issue. The reality is that its solves “the path of least resistance” issue with check-ins for location-based software. Individuals never do any of the work. The store/host recognizes you are there and rewards you for allowing your identity and information to be captured and linked. If Amazon can “welcome us back” and offer us personalized specials, why shouldnt brick and mortar establishments? Even more interesting is the fact that Facebook provides a database of 500mm people and their names from around world. While not all profile pictures are going to be valid in facial recognition software, most will. Few people exclude their basic name and picture information from public search, so FB could be the first to provide a database of names and faces to the commercial world of facial recognition. Location Check in is so 2010.
Read More: BlogMaverick.com
Bradford: Demand Media Will Take Out AOL First, Yahoo Later
Joanne Bradford, the newly minted chief revenue officer for Demand Media, seems to be drawn to seemingly insurmountable challenges. In her previous role as head of U.S. advertising sales for Yahoo (which she left in March of this year), she was tasked with re-vamping the ailing portal’s display business. Now, at Demand, she’s striving to increase sponsorship dollars for a closely watched startup that is often seen as a risible attempt at journalism, a “content factory” churning out articles and video made to turn up in generic search results. Ms. Bradford talked to Ad Age about her new role and her focus on re-shaping the Demand narrative.
Read More: AdAge
Will A Real Advertising Conference Please Stand Up And Can the Rest Sit Down?
To what degree are conferences considered content versus sponsored marketing pitches? In the scheme of things, are attendees considered loyal readers or are they viewed as caged pigeons? Going in, you know there are going to be keynote speakers and breakout sessions and Q&A discussions, all sandwiched around networking opportunities and recreation. Nothing wrong with that formula, even though I bet little has changed since Marconi authorized the first radio confab. The problem I have is not with the conference agenda; it’s with the speakers delivering “content” spiked with their own agendas. Conferences need sponsors, to be sure. That’s how the conference owners make money. Much like media editors, they sell advertising so that they can afford to secure a place in which to deliver content that attracts an audience. Where conferences like the one I recently attended differ from respected media outlets is that this conference did not offer the veneer of editorial independence.
Read More: MediaPost
Comeback on Display
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of Internet display advertising are greatly exaggerated. This is especially true in local markets where advertisers, seeing a limit to what search can do, are embracing display ads. That’s a happy trend for local TV stations’ branded content sites, which depend on display for two-thirds of their online revenue. “Display is on a sharp rebound,” said Jon Swallen, svp of research for Kantar Media, which reported U.S. display ad spending gained 5 percent in the first quarter this year to $2.2 billion. TV stations have seen their online business surge 26 percent in Q1 over Q1 2009, per the Television Bureau of Advertising. ”Marketers hit a wall with search. When the efficiency starts to level off, they look to other ways to expand business, and that’s where display has come in,” said Eric Koepele, director of digital media sales for Hearst Television, which has seen display revenue grow by double-digit percentages this year. “At the end of the day, marketers have to stand out. If there’s no brand awareness from search, they’re just like everyone else,” added JonPaul Rexing, senior director of sales for ESPNlocal.com.
Read More: AdWeek
