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  • Facebook Home Gets a Couple of New Ads

    Facebook Home Gets a Couple of New Ads

    Facebook Home, the company’s new OS-lite “app family” that takes over your Android device and turns the homescreen into a Facebook news feed, launched this past Friday. Now you can download the app collection from Google Play, free, on a select number of Android devices.

    When Facebook first announced Home, they launched a quirky little ad featuring some plane antics. Now, Facebook has unveiled the second Facebook Home ad in this style, made by the people at Wieden+Kennedy. This ad is called “Dinner”:

    Facebook also put out this semi-ad called “Launch Day.” It stars Zuckerberg, whose pep talk is flooded with events from on engineer’s news feed. Both of these ads stick with the Facebook Home brings your Facebook life everywhere theme. Check it out:

  • Kmart Ad Will Make You Ship Bricks

    This new ad from Kmart is guaranteed to give you the giggles. Sure, it’s the 8-year-old kid who just farted in church giggles, but it’s ok to give in to your immaturity once in a while, right?

    Kmart is advertising that you can ship things right from the store. That means you can ship your pants. While standing in Kmart. So many people have shipped their pants standing in Kmart, that they all join in to make it known.

    YES! I SHIP MY PANTS JUST NOW!

    I think you can see where this is going.

    Not only did Kmart create one of the best ads of 2013 so far, but they also were able to create a ton of social media buzz with the Twitter hashtag #shipmypants

    Well played, Kmart.

  • AdBlock Plus Imagines Blocking Times Square Ads With Google Glass

    AdBlock tweeted this on Thursday:

    Don’t worry, it looks like they’re just joking:

    A joke for now. One day soon this may not be so funny. Investors seem to think Google Glass is the future.

    Of course, as redditors have pointed out, Glass only covers one eye (and really not even the whole eye). At least the current version. Don’t forget about the contact lens scenario.

    [via reddit]

  • Learn More About Enhanced Campaigns On The Google Display Network

    Google recently launched Enhanced Campaigns in AdWords, a controversial move in the advertising world. Controversial as they may be, they’re not going away, and Google is encouraging advertisers to upgrade. Either way, upgrades will start happening automatically on July 22.

    So if you haven’t gotten your feet wet yet, you may want to pay attention to the webinars on Enhanced Campaigns that Google has been providing. We recently shared one that focused on Google Shopping and Enhanced Campaigns. A new one that Google has provided deals with Enhanced Campaigns on the Google Display Network:

    This week, Google announced ad group mobile bid adjustments for Enhanced Campaigns.

  • Facebook Launches ‘Partner Categories’ Ad Targeting

    Facebook announced the launch of a new self-serve targeting ad targeting feature for partner categories. The categories use data from select third parties like Acxiom, Datalogix and Epsilon.

    “For example, a local car dealership can now show ads to people who are likely in the market for a new car who live near their dealership,” the company explains. “To date, advertisers have been able to show ads to people based on their expressed interests on Facebook. Now with partner categories, they can also show ads to people on Facebook based on the products and brands they buy across both desktop and mobile.”

    “Companies have long used this type of targeting off of Facebook, and we are excited to make this available to advertisers of all sizes on Facebook,” the company adds.

    The categories work the same way all targeting on Facebook works. To kick things off, partner categories includes over 500 unique groups and works with other Facebook targeting options.

    The feature will be available to US advertisers in Power Editor and through the API starting today.

    Facebook assures users that no personal information is shared between Facebook and third parties or advertisers.

  • Facebook & GM Revive Advertising Relationship After Last Year’s Pre-IPO Breakup

    After a highly publicized split nearly a year ago, it looks like Facebook and General Motors are getting back together.

    GM has confirmed to Ad Age that they have decided to once again throw some advertising dollars into Facebook.

    “Chevrolet is testing a number of mobile-advertising solutions, including Facebook, as part of its ‘Find New Roads’ campaign,” said Chris Perry, VP Chevrolet marketing in the U.S. “Today, Chevrolet is launching an industry-first, ‘mobile-only’ pilot campaign for the Chevrolet Sonic that utilizes newly available targeting and measurement capabilities on Facebook.”

    Big news for GM, sure. But why is this big news for Facebook? Let’s take a brief walk through Facebook and GM’a relationship over the past year.

    In May of 2012, just days before Facebook’s IPO, GM announced that they would be pulling all of their Facebook ads. They stated that they simply weren’t convinced that Facebook ads were truly effective, and furthermore were unsure how they fit into their future marketing strategies. It was a high-profile move, at a time when Facebook’s ability to monetize was on everyone’s mind.

    Immediately, it felt like a pretty big slap to the face. A public vote of no confidence. A few days later, GM noted that they were making many big advertising decisions at the time. Basically, hey – no hard feelings. It’s all just part of a comprehensive retooling of the strategy. Of course, this did little to neutralize the sting, especially right around the IPO. Facebook’s stock price tanked, people started talking monetization issues, which led to talks about advertising strategies, which of course led to GM as the big example of a company who pulled the plug.

    A couple of months later, GM’s marketing head Joel Ewanick resigned – although it wasn’t really tied to the Facebook, specifically.

    Since then, multiple reports have suggested that Facebook and GM had reestablished talks. The most recent indicating that the two companies were “actively talking” about a return to a paid advertising partnership.

    “We’re still actively talking to them and looking at opportunities that come our way…I wouldn’t tell you that there’s a Mexican standoff here. We just didn’t see the value [in the ads],” said GM’s interim marketing head Alan Batey back in January.

    Ad Age says that part of the reason GM pulled out of Facebook in the first place involved the inability for the company to run bigger, “higher-impact” ads. Although that’s still not really possible, Facebook advertising has changed quite a bit in the last year – mainly with the launch of the real-time, cookie-based Facebook Exchange retargeting system.

    “We’ve had an ongoing dialogue with GM over the last 12 months and are pleased to have them back as an advertiser on Facebook. We look forward to working even more closely with GM in the coming weeks and months,” said a Facebook spokesperson.

    Any way you look at it, it’s a good thing for Facebook that GM has decided to try it again. There’s a chance that it could signify to other companies that it’s safe to open up their Facebook ad budgets a little bit. In the end, we’re not talking about a huge ad budget here that’s going to make or break either Facebook or GM. Before GM yanked their ads last May, it was reported that they had only been spending around $10 million on Facebook ads – hardly a game changer.

    [Image via Chevrolet.com]

  • AOL Announces Marketplace by AdTech

    AOL Announces Marketplace by AdTech

    AOL announced the launch of a new sell-side platform called Marketplace by AdTech today.

    With the offering, premium publishers can leverage AdTech’s technology and AOL Networks’ cross-platform ad serving platform, mange blocks and transparency settings at an inventory level, and get “high-touch client service from setup all the way through yield evaluation.”

    “Our goal at AOL Networks is to simplify digital advertising at scale and now, with the addition of Marketplace, publishers have a one-stop solution to manage every piece of inventory they have,” said David Jacobs, Senior Vice President, AOL Networks. “If you don’t have both supply and demand solutions, you are disadvantaged in this increasingly complex digital advertising ecosystem. With Marketplace, we give publishers a connected programmatic platform that is transparent and efficient as well as pre-loaded with demand.”

    “Marketplace was built with an in-depth understanding of publisher needs – after all, we based it off of the needs of one of the largest publishers in the world: AOL,” Jacobs added. “Having partnered with thousands of premium publishers for over a decade on the buy side, we have developed significant experience and insights into how to drive demand and yield for publisher partners who are seeking to increase their revenues. We are excited to offer our Marketplace solution to drive value for our partners on a global basis.”

    The announcement was made at ad:tech San Francisco by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.

  • AdWords Enhanced Campaigns Get Ad Group Mobile Bid Adjustments

    Soon, AdWords advertisers will be able to set a mobile bid adjustment at the ad group level in enhanced campaigns. This functionality will become available sometime in the middle of next month.

    “We think this may be useful if you’ve been operating large scale campaigns and found that your optimal bids for some keywords would require significantly different mobile bid adjustments within an enhanced campaign,” says Group Product Manager Bhanu Narasimhan.

    “Example: A nationwide retail chain currently uses mobile-only campaigns to optimize bids for several hundred thousand keywords,” Narasimhan continues. “They’ve found that 95% of their keywords in mobile-only campaigns have bids that are 10% lower than in the equivalent desktop campaigns. The remaining 5% of their keywords have very different bid ratios (ranging from 40% lower to 100% higher) based on differences in performance and competition on mobile and desktop. By using the new ad group bid adjustments for mobile, this retailer can better maintain their desired bids and ROI on different devices as they upgrade to enhanced campaigns.”

    Google says most advertisers will see the most value in using the existing campaign level bid adjustments.

    API access for the new feature will be available first, in early May.

    Enhanced campaign upgrades will start happening automatically on July 22.

  • Google Cracks Down On Short-Term Loan Ads

    Google Cracks Down On Short-Term Loan Ads

    Google has reportedly cracked down on payday loan services using AdWords, which are in violation of its policies and government regulations.

    TheDrum.com reports (via Search Engine Land) that Google has pulled all Moneysupermarket ads as part of the crackdown, which is the result of increasing government pressure on Google.

    The publication shares a statement from a Google spokeswoman, who said, “We have a set of policies which govern what ads we do and do not allow on Google. We have strict policies for those advertising short term loans, and make it very clear that advertisers need to comply with local regulations and be transparent about their fees, implications of non-payment and collection practices. If we discover sites that are breaking this policy we will take appropriate action.”

    Here’s what Google says about short-term loans in its AdWords policies:

    Short-term loans are defined as secured or non-secured loans with a duration of 60 days or less. Google doesn’t allow websites for short-term loans that don’t include all of the information below (includes lenders, lead generators, and aggregators of short-term loans):

    • Legitimate contact information or physical address (P.O. box addresses are not acceptable)
    • Compliance with other state or local regulations related to short-term loans
    • Prominent disclosure of the following on the landing page, meaning that it’s shown in the same font type, size, and color as the base text on the landing page and presented in a way that is clear and conspicuous to users:
      • APR
      • Implications of non-payment, including the following:
        • Financial implications (whether fees are charged and/or interest rates are raised)
        • Collection practices
        • Potential impact to users’ credit score
        • Renewal policy information, including if the renewal is automatic and if there are fees associated with the renewal

        Aggregators/lead generators may provide sample implications from their network to satisfy the above requirements. Implications of non-payment should be grouped together in one location on the landing page.

    Google has different policies for Japan, Singapore, the UK and the US. These can all be found here.

    Advertisers who have had their accounts suspended are advised to review the guidelines, remove all unacceptable content from ad text and their websites, provide users with accurate info about business, products and services, ensure that their sites contain all info required by state and local lawas, and be transparent about the products or services being promoted.

  • Who Has It Right On Enhanced Campaigns: Google Or Bing?

    In early February, Google introduced Enhanced Campaigns, which it described as an “evolution” of AdWords. While embraced by some advertisers, others do not like the direction Google has elected to take.

    Microsoft, Google’s competitor in the space and a frequent critic of numerous Google practices, has now laid out its policy aimed at attracting advertisers who don’t like Google’s new model.

    Which model do you prefer: Google’s or Bing’s? Let us know in the comments.

    If you’re still unfamiliar with Enhanced Campaigns, here’s a look:

    David Pann, GM of Microsoft’s Search Network, spoke to advertisers at a San Francisco Forum to address concerns Microsoft Advertising has heard around whether Bing Ads will go down a similar path as Google with Enhanced Campaigns. This is a legitimate concern, considering how Microsoft has been openly adapting other models that Google has embraced.

    Microsoft is not going down the Enhanced Campaigns path ,however.

    “While Enhanced Campaigns may seem to provide greater management efficiencies and improve mobile traffic, our customers have expressed worry that this change may in fact bring inefficiencies for more sophisticated advertisers or those with specific targeting needs,” a spokesperson for Microsoft tells WebProNews, echoing sentiments shared in a blog post from Pann.

    During the forum, Pann expressed a commitment to “making it simple for small business advertisers to participate across devices while at the same time, enabling more sophisticated advertisers to have the fine grain targeting controls they require.”

    Pann expands in the blog post:

    At Bing Ads, we believe very strongly in giving advertisers the tools and flexibility to control their spending, target the most relevant audiences, and ensure they can get the best return on investment. We do not believe bundling mobile, desktop and tablet advertising together in an opaque manner is in the best interests of our customers.

    Our own customers have been concerned whether we would sacrifice control for convenience, and our answer is no.

    We are committed to reducing friction by providing advertisers with the transparency and controls needed to maximize campaign effectiveness. We strive to make it simple for small business advertisers to participate across devices and more sophisticated advertisers to have the fine grain targeting controls they require. Our stated goal of providing advertisers the ability to do in 15 minutes what it takes them 45 minutes to do on Google, should not – and does not – come with any caveats or loss of control.

    Bing Ads believes in building long-term trust through consistency, expectancy and transparency.We know budgets and resources are limited – we want to enable our customers, not hinder them.

    Bing Ads Platform Manager Dare Obasanjo discusses Microsoft’s policy in a separate post.

    “With enhanced campaigns, fine-grained targeting by operating system, device model and carrier is no longer available,” writes Obasanjo. “More importantly, tablets and desktop PCs are now treated as a single entity. It is no longer possible to target an iPad or Kindle Fire user differently from a user of on Dell or HP desktop PC.”

    “Another elimination of flexibility also occurs when it comes to targeting users on mobile devices. All search marketing campaigns in AdWords are now desktop/tablet targeted campaigns. The ability to target mobile devices is only available by augmenting certain aspects of a desktop/tablet campaign.”

    Microsoft says it will be updating its product to ensure AdWords advertisers can “seamlessly” transition between both products, despite Bing’s absence of Enhanced Campaigns-like functionality.

    At least there’s not a “Scroogled” campaign this time.

    As mentioned, some advertisers see the value of what Google’s doing, and certainly Google thinks there is plenty of good reason to operate this way.

    Will you be switching from Google to Bing? Do you think Enhanced Campaigns are good or bad for advertisers? Let us know in the comments.

  • Facebook Home Will Gets Ads, At Some Point

    Today, Facebook announced Home, a deep integration of Facebook into Android that basically turns any phone that installs it into a Facebook Phone. Home, which will launch on April 12th, is a family of apps that when installed, turns your entire homescreen into one big Facebook experience.

    And the main aspect of that experience is the Cover Feed. It features all the fresh content from your Facebook news feed, basically turning your Android device into a photo-oriented, swipeable Facebook hub. You can like, comment, and view notifications directly from your Facebook Home screen – with no need to launch any sort of app. It’s without question the deepest Facebook integration any mobile OS has ever seen.

    And you can bet that Facebook it going to try to monetize it.

    After the event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made it clear that ads will be coming to your Facebook Home Cover Feed.

    “There are no ads in this yet, I’m sure that one day there will be,” he said. He then repeated his answer when asked again about whether or not ads would be coming to the Cover Feed. According to Zuckerberg, ads are just another kind of content.

    C’mon. Don’t look so sour. You didn’t think that Facebook would build a grand new Android-based user experience and leave out the ads, did you?

    When Facebook Home launches, it will be downloadable on the HTC One X, HTC One X+, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II – and eventually the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4.

    And on that same day, the HTC First will launch as the first phone the comes with Facebook Home pre-installed.

  • Google’s New ValueTrack Parameters Go Live

    Google’s New ValueTrack Parameters Go Live

    Last month, Google announced new ValueTrack parameters for Enhanced Campaigns for advertisers using keyword level URLs. Today, the company announced that they’re now live and ready to be applied to campaigns.

    “These features will help you achieve your conversion and ROI goals, and make the upgrade to enhanced campaigns easier by directing users to a device-specific landing page at the keyword level [and aligning performance reporting with device groupings used in enhanced campaigns,” says AdWords senior product manager Karen Yao.

    Specifically, Google has added the {ifnotmobile:[value]} parameter, which lets you replace [value] with the text that will show up in your URL when the user clicks the ad from a computer or tablet. They’re changing the parameter {ifmobile:[value]}, which will now insert the specified value into the URL only when the user clicks from a mobile device.

    Google shares some examples for using these parameters in a blog post here.

    If you still need to learn more about upgrading to Enhanced Campaigns, Google has a guide available here.

  • Facebook Mobile Exec Emily White Is Your New Director of Business Operations at Instagram

    Facebook Director of Mobile Partnerships Emily White is leaving that job, but she’s not going very far. Facebook has confirmed that White will head up Instagram’s expansion as the new Director of Business Operations.

    According to All Things D, White will work closely with Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom in an effort to “expand partnerships, improve user operations and, presumably, come up with ways to make some money.”

    White has a history of working on monetization, both as head of Facebook’s mobile partnerships and as a Senior Director of Emerging Business in marketing and ads with Google. Facebook stole White from Google back in 2010.

    Here’s what Systrom had to say about the move:

    “I’m excited to bring Emily White onto the Instagram team. As we continue to scale our operation to support over 100 million active users, her experience with partnerships and business operations will play a major role in our future success.”

    It’s no shock that Facebook is making moves to monetize Instagram, which it bought for close to $1 billion last year. Presumably, White will work on finally bringing ads to the service. As you may remember, that concept sparked quite a bit of controversy last year when Instagram changed its terms of service to allow for future use of user content in advertising.

    The lead photo is from White’s personal Instagram account, on which she’s already changed her title to Director of Business Operations at Instagram.

  • Facebook Ads Manager Gets Some Tracking Updates

    Facebook announced some new updates to Ads Manager, which it says will make it easier for advertisers to see how they’re performing when it comes to specific goals and to calculate ROI.

    “We know that marketers on Facebook have various goals,” Facebook says in a blog post. “Some might care about app installs, some might want new fans for their Page, and some might want to increase people’s interactions with their posts. We are now helping marketers better identify what user actions drive their specific advertising goals. When advertisers create their ads in the ad create tool, they can choose from any of the following advertising goals. Now Ads Manager will display the actions they care about most more prominently in their campaign summary page.”

    “For example, if an advertiser says their advertising goal is ‘Get More Page Likes,’ the campaign summary page in Ads Manager will now show ‘Page Likes’ more prominently, and it will calculate ‘Cost per Page Like’ for your ads,” Facebook adds. “We’re giving advertisers the tools to more accurately track cost per action so they can better evaluate how their ads are performing against their goals and make appropriate optimization decisions.”

    On the ROI front, Facebook will now more prominently (and automatically) show advertisers, who are running conversion tracking, the resulting conversions from ads they’re running to drive people to their sites. Additionally, “Cost per Conversion” will be shown for each ad. If the advertiser assigns a value to each conversion from the tracking pixel, Facebook will show the total conversion value fo all conversions for the ad.

    Facebook ads manager

    The features are rolling out globally for all advertisers in the coming weeks.

  • Google Announces ‘DoubleCat Search’ Version Of DoubleClick Search

    It has become abundantly clear that cats are an important part of the Internet, and in particular, search activity. Google has responded to this appropriately with the latest version of DoubleClick Search, as of April Fools’ Day.

    Here’s a sample from Google’s blog post on the release:

    As digital marketing continues to evolve, we’re seeing a host of new questions crop up around search — the channel that used to be “all figured out.” How can search win the moments that matter and quickly capture the attention of consumers? What is the new definition of an “effective” search campaign? And how do you measure it all?

    We travelled the globe and spoke directly with clients to understand what best resonates with them in the constantly-evolving online space, and heard the answer loud and clear: cats.

    “Over the past year, we’ve seen tremendous growth in cat-related online activity,” said Amit Varia, Paw-duct Manager for DoubleCat Search. “Cats populate just about every corner of the internet. With DoubleCat Search, we wanted to design a UI that aligns with a tech-savvy user’s natural affinity toward cats, to deliver the most intuitive, LOL-worthy search management experience.”

    The offering takes advantage of a new UI:

    DoubleCat Search

    Google says it will be rolling out additional features in the coming weeks. On the menu: laser pointer alerts, the “maximize cheeseburgers” bid strategy, and the ability to upload paw prints via API.

  • Now Even Beer Ads Are Making Fun of Apple Fanboys

    Well, cider ads to be more precise.

    Less apps, more apples. That’s the tagline for Somersby Cider, the new cider brand from Carlsberg, who just released the beverage’s first U.K. advert. In it, fans eagerly await the opening of a minimalistic store so they can be the first to experience the new product.

    Sound like anything familiar? Cider. Apples. Apple. There you go.

    Part homage and part ridicule, the new ad for Somersby Cider looks and sounds like a cross between an actual Apple ad and those Samsung ads that lampooned Apple fanboys. Anyway, check it out below:

    [Somersby Cider UK via Mashable]

  • Mobli Gives You A Shot At $100K For Ditching Instagram, Taunts Facebook

    Lance Armstrong-backed photo sharing service Mobli is giving people a chance to win $100,000 by giving up Instagram. The company has just kicked off a campaign called #mylastinstagram, complete with a new site at MyLastInstagram.com.

    Users are encouraged to download Mobli (of course), upload a “creative/funny/original” photo, use Mobli’s #mylastinstagram filter, post that photo to Instagram, and tag it with the same hashtag.

    “Say goodbye to Instagram, their boring filters, and cropped photos (for at least 3 months, you won’t miss it… we promise!),” Mobli says.

    The official contest rules are here.

    According to NBC Bay Area, Mobli is going so far as to fly a plane over Facebook headquarters repeatedly with a 100-foot banner advertising the contest.

    I doubt the contest will do much to reduce Instagram’s share of the photo sharing space (if the privacy freak out didn’t), but it’s a clever way to get some app downloads, I suppose.

    Last month, Instagram topped 100 million monthly active users.

  • Facebook Brings Real-Time, Cookie-Based FBX Ads to Your News Feed

    Facebook is bringing its relatively new Exchange ads to your desktop news feed in an alpha test that will expand the scope of the re-targeted ads that Facebook launched out of beta last September.

    Facebook Exchange, or FBX, lets advertisers target ads to users with a cookie-based real-time bidding platform. Before today, those ads only appeared on the right-hand side of you desktop news feed (and they’ve been doing pretty well).

    “We wanted to give advertisers and agencies the opportunity to deliver highly relevant ads in News Feed, the most engaging place on the web. Previously, advertisers could run standard ads on the right hand side of Facebook on the desktop. Starting today, advertisers can run Page post link ads on the right-hand side of Facebook and in News Feed on desktop. As they do today, these ads will point back to specific landing pages to help direct-response advertisers drive conversions,” said Facebook in a Studio blog post.

    Note: these ads won’t appear in your mobile news feed.

    It’s also important to note that this is not going to drastically increase the amount of ads you’ll see in the news feed, so you’re not going to get inundated with ads at a higher frequency – it’s just that some of these page post ads will be much better targeted based on your other activities.

    Facebook says that it’s all about providing users with more relevant ads, which is synonymous with better ads:

    “Allowing advertisers to reach people in News Feed is important because people spend more time in News Feed than any other part of Facebook. We also believe that ads delivered through FBX will create more relevant ads for people.”

  • Google Launches Tool To Help You Calculate Mobile Value

    Google Launches Tool To Help You Calculate Mobile Value

    Google announced the launch of a new initiative to help marketers better understand the impact of mobile on their businesses both online and offline. It’s called Full Value of Mobile, and has a page on Google’s “GoMo” site here.

    The page has a calculator, which helps businesses consider online and offline conversions by rethinking conversion paths. The calculator lets you enter data manually or upload your Google Click Type report.

    Full value of mobile

    “We live in a world of constant connectivity, where mobility is bridging the digital and physical worlds,” says Johanna Werther, Head of Google’s Mobile Ads Marketing. “With smartphones in hand, people are taking a variety of online and offline actions, like calling a business, downloading an app, looking for directions to a store, or starting research that leads to a purchase on another device. We’re working hard to account for these new paths to purchase in AdWords, like the recent addition of calls as conversions to AdWords reporting. Still, with more work to be done to improve measurement tools, most marketers still account only for sales happening on a mobile site and aren’t seeing the full picture.”

    “This new consumer behavior is now the norm, with a recent study showing that nearly three of ten mobile searches result in visiting a store, calling a business, or making a purchase online,” adds Werther. “Some smart marketers are already investing in understanding how mobile drives sales through these new customer paths. For example, adidas, in partnership with their agency iProspect, felt that mobile was converting in ways beyond their mobile website, so they created a simple yet powerful attribution model to understand how mobile is driving customers into stores. As a result, adidas found that each click on their store locator button was worth $3.20, which has changed the way they view their digital investment.”

    You can look at that case study here, if you like.

    In addition to the calculator, the Full Value of Mobile site includes videos that illustrate mobile conversion paths, case studies, which highlight proven mobile strategies, and tips for measurement. Google says the step-by-step wizard for uploading data with the calculator amounts to about a thirty-minute process.

  • Spotify Is ‘For Music’ in New Ad Campaign

    Spotify Is ‘For Music’ in New Ad Campaign

    “We are Spotify, and we are for music.”

    That’s the tagline of a new ad campaign for Spotify, the first major ad campaign from the music streaming service in the U.S.

    The campaign is the work of NYC-based Droga5, and it will feature TV, digital, and social media spots. This is the first of the three new ads, called “For Music.” It’ll debut on Monday night during The Voice on NBC.

    Spotify says that is shows viewers “the journey of one individual being carried on a sea of people, speaking to the emotions that music inspires in each of us: the way music sets you free and unites us all.” It also features a nice “I am the Walrus” reference. Check it out:

    Here are the other two ads, “Her Song” and “Getting Weird.”

    Spotify is rolling out their new ad campaign as rumors surfaced that the company is planning on getting into the business of original video content.

  • Are There Any Winners In The War On Ads?

    Are There Any Winners In The War On Ads?

    Advertising is a key component of the Web economy as it keeps many of the Web sites and services you use free. Facebook, Twitter, and even the very words you’re reading right now are all free because of advertising.

    For years, this model of advertising on Web sites in exchange for free content worked well. That very model, however, has been under attack for the past few years. The two factions in this war – the pro-ad and the anti-ad factions – have been going back and forth, but no clear winner has ever emerged. Two recent events have helped reinvigorate the discussion, but both threaten to take us even further into a war that can’t be won.

    Where do you stand in the war on ads? Are you pro-ad or anti-ad? Let us know in the comments.

    Earlier this month, Mozilla, makers of the popular Firefox browser, came under attack by the ad industry. The Interactive Advertising Bureau claims that Mozilla’s plan to automatically block third-party cookies in Firefox will hurt small businesses and Web sites that rely on these cookies track consumer’s Web activity and deliver relevant ads.

    Mozilla claims that its anti-cookie policy is all about protecting the privacy of its users. A noble endeavor if there ever was one, but what about Web sites that rely on these cookies to make money from advertisements? Mozilla says that “collateral impact should be limited,” but encourages Web sites to make the necessary code change to accomodate the new policy.

    In response, IAB President and CEO Randall Rothenberg says that the policy won’t help consumers in the least, especially in the realm of privacy.

    In 2012, the Obama administration endorsed the work of the Digital Advertising Alliance, of which the IAB is a part, for creating a robust self-regulatory program to protect consumer privacy rights and expectations in the advertising-supported internet. This program gives more than 5,000 participating internet publishers, marketers, and other advertising industry companies clear ground rules for activity and exerts penalties if not adhered to. The principles of the program come to life most visibly through a small icon adjacent to advertising that’s delivered to a user based on the educated guess that the ad will be relevant to them. This icon links users to a page with information about how user data is collected and used, and gives them an opportunity to opt-out from the practice. More than 1 trillion of these icons are delivered to U.S. consumers each month.

    If third-party cookies are blocked, this program will no longer be effective. A third-party cookie is the technology that tells companies a user has opted out of interest-based advertising through the program; it’s the sign that says, “I’ve chosen not to be tracked.” Cookies can easily be deleted by users through any browser. They are also transparent—any user can find out which ad-supported companies are present in his or her browsers and cherry-pick which cookies they will allow to track their site usage. Today, third-party cookies empower consumers to control their own privacy on an internet-wide scale.

    The threat of Mozilla’s anti-cookie policy is still a ways off as Firefox 22 won’t be in use by a majority of Firefox users for another 12 to 18 weeks. This gives the advertising industry some time to meet with Mozilla and come to a consensus on advertising so as to satisfy its need to generate revenue while letting Mozilla feel like its protecting the privacy of its users.

    As Mozilla and the ad industry duke it out, the relationship between publishers and consumers are continuously being strained by the use of ad blockers. The debate over the use of the controversial technology came to a head recently as Google removed all ad blockers, including Adblock Plus, from the Google Play store.

    Google’s move to protect a major stream of mobile revenue isn’t the first time this year that ad blockers have caused a stir. Earlier this month, Niero Gonzalez, publisher of Destructoid and other online publications, said that half of his site’s readers use ad blockers.

    The debate over the use of ad blocking software isn’t new. Back in 2010, Ars Technica ran an experiment that would remove content from those using ad blocking software. The results were immediate:

    Starting late Friday afternoon we conducted a 12 hour experiment to see if it would be possible to simply make content disappear for visitors who were using a very popular ad blocking tool. Technologically, it was a success in that it worked. Ad blockers, and only ad blockers, couldn’t see our content. We tested just one way of doing this, but have devised a way to keep it rotating were we to want to permanently implement it. But we don’t. Socially, the experiment was a mixed bag. A bunch of people whitelisted Ars, and even a few subscribed. And while others showed up to support our actions, there was a healthy mob of people criticizing us for daring to take any kind of action against those who would deny us revenue even though they knew they were doing so. Others rightly criticized the lack of a warning or notification as to what was going on.

    Those who want to block all ads regardless of its impact on publishers reflect poorly on the intentions of those creating ad blocking software. In early 2012, a New York Times report said that the popular Adblock Plus software would be introducing an exception in its software for “acceptable ads” to help counter the negative effect its software has had on Web sites. In essence, “acceptable ads” are those that don’t distract the consumer with flashing visuals or noise.

    Unlike Mozilla’s destroy all cookies philosophy, Adblock Plus hopes to promote simple ads that respect consumers. The makers of the software realize the importance that advertising plays in the Web economy, but also want said advertisers to respect those they’re targeting. If successful, it would encourage more users to unblock ads on Web sites.

    Are you an ad blocking maximalist? Or should ad blockers only be used when the situation calls for it? Let us know in the comments.

    As it was said at the start, the “war on ads” has been raging for years with no winner in sight. That begs the question – will there ever be a winner? There won’t be as things currently are. It will require a concentrated effort on the part of consumers, advertisers and publishers to make sure that everybody emerges as winners.

    Some Web sites are already being incredibly proactive in this space. Reddit comes to mind as the popular Web site recently said that it has partnered with a new ad provider to deliver ads that are “as useful and non-intrusive as possible.” Reddit says that it already enjoys a user base that overwhelmingly whitelists it in ad blockers. The new ad system respects user choice as well by giving readers the option of hiding ads:

    For example, if you dislike a particular ad in the sidebar, it is now possible to hide it from showing again. If you hover over a sidebar ad in /r/sports, a new “thumbs up” / “thumbs down” overlay will appear. If you “thumbs down” an ad, we won’t display it to you again, and you can give us feedback to improve the quality of reddit ads in the future.

    There’s a desire on the part of consumers to work with publishers and advertisers to keep the ad economy healthy for years to come while respecting their right to an enjoyable experience on the Web. All those who rely on the Web need to take this into account if they want to survive.

    Should consumers play a larger role in the ad industry? Can everybody become a winner in the ad wars? Let us know in the comments.