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  • Facebook Logout Ads Leave No ‘Experience’ Ad-Free

    Facebook knows it has to impress investors ahead of its conversion to a publicly traded company later this year, which was the point of yesterday’s courtship of businesses, fMC. During the keynote address, Facebook announced a new metrics analysis service for businesses, Page Insights, as well as Premium level accounts for businesses. There’s also the clever insertion of advertisements into Facebook’s mobile app. But, not to leave any part of Facebook unblighted with advertisements, businesses will now be able to monetize the logout screen that Facebook users see after they have left the site.

    That’s right: even Facebook’s logout screen will have ads now.

    Yesterday, Facebook Director or Global Marketing Mike Hoefflinger said that Facebook is allowing businesses to advertise on the logout screen so that users don’t forget to get in touch with the brands they like. You could nearly count the grains of saccharine that dribbled from his words as he tried to candy-coat this rather shameless effort of Facebook to make money off of literally every single aspect of their site. But, it’s Facebook’s site to do as they see fit.

    The logout page ads will work much in the same way that the rest of the new generation of ads will be used: you Like a business’ Page and then become a potential target for any and all of that Page’s ads. That basically makes anything you visit or use on Facebook fair game for that business to advertise, including the logout page. The opportunity to advertise on the logout page will only be available to businesses who have a Premium account.

    So what was once this:

    Will now look like this (given that you are a fan of Titanic 3D’s Facebook Page):

    How do people feel about this literally last-second attempt to beam advertisements to users on Facebook even as they’re leaving the site? Speak your piece in the comment section below.

  • Facebook Mobile Apps Ads: One More Way Users Increase Facebook’s Riches

    During Facebook’s fMC keynote address, Mike Hoefflinger announced several new tools available to businesses that will increase the amount of interaction they have with their Facebook fans. The tools – Pages, Offers, Premium for Facebook, and Reach Generator – look to seriously step-up the amount of exposure ads get on Facebook.

    Hoefflinger explained how businesses that use Premium for Facebook (basically, those who pay for the upgrade) will be able to create stories similar to regular Facebook users and then publish them. The stories will appear in news feeds similar to how brands’ updates have been appearing, only now businesses will have more options as to how they appear in their fans’ feeds. In businessese, this means that businesses will have more tools to aggressively hock their brand to Facebook users who like their product.

    If you’re a Twitter user, you likely have seen promoted tweets appearing in your stream that look like this:

    Facebook aping that trick is not exactly the newest thing on the block. However, the thing about the launch of Premium for Facebook isn’t what Mike Hoefflinger said – it’s what he didn’t say. Or, rather, what he merely left for interpretation.

    Think about where you read your news feed and what you see from each location. You read it on a computer or you read it on a mobile device, either a smartphone or a tablet. When you access Facebook from your computer you see the requisite sidebars of advertisements recommending you become some hipster drug counselor or trying to sell you a Lexus.

    However, in the mobile app version of your newsfeed, all you see are updates from your friends or organizations you follow. It’s been a pretty clutter-free experience of Facebook, free of the aggressive onslaught of advertisements that seem to crowd the site.

    Facebook noticed this freedom of advertisements you enjoyed while logged into the mobile app and, perhaps ahead of becoming a publicly owned company later this year, the company wised up and realized that they should drill into this built-in resource of marketing wealth.

    What Facebook’s done here is create a succulent opportunity for businesses to expand how they socially advertise by inserting “stories” about sales offers or promotions into users’ news feed. By integrating the ads into the news feed itself, Facebook has enabled businesses with a way to stealthily implant advertisements into Facebook’s mobile app with as minimal redesign and pervasiveness as possible.

    It’s such a brilliant way of nonchalantly integrating advertisements into the regular user’s experience of Facebook that it’s almost subliminal, not to mention evil genius-level of marketing smarts. Businesses advertise more on Facebook, Facebook makes untold amounts of money from these businesses, and you unwittingly faciliate all of it just so you can keep in touch with your friends.

  • Premium For Facebook Lets Brands Publish Ads In News Feeds, Mobile App

    Today might as well be the debutante ball for Facebook as they looked to win the confidence of investors and businesses with some major announcements related to how advertisements will be deployed across the website. Perhaps the biggest announcement involved the implementation of ads on Facebook’s mobile apps. Thus far, the mobile Facebook experience has been a completely ad-free. Not only will this affect investors but likely also elicit a reaction from many Facebookers who use the app, and by many I mean half of all Facebook users. In effect, that’s basically a gold-stuffed mountain that to this point Facebook has yet to mine even a flake of profit from.

    In today’s presentation, Facebook very cleverly didn’t come right out and say “ads are going to be on our mobile app.” Instead, they’ve cleverly disguised the advertisements as “stories” that will appear in users’ news feeds as they’re published by businesses.

    Earlier today, Facebook issued an email announcing that brand and business pages will now be able to keep pinned posts at the top of the page for up to seven days, an improved admin panel, and changes to the Timeline that will allow brands to “tell richer stories through bigger photos and milestones that can include dates and other content.”

    Also, the layout of brand Pages will be receiving a face-lift. Previews of the new layout started rolling out earlier this morning ahead of the keynote address.

    Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg took the stage first to commence the address. She talked of how all of the pith that abounds on Facebook is related to business strategies on the social network. She emphasized the power of the individual voice, how we have less shouting and more engaging. “This kind of voice is not just one that speaks but demands to be heard,” she said. She spent a lot of time not only preaching to the choir, but recyling a message to a congregation that has the message down cold: technology good, technology brings us together, and Facebook makes this all possible. More, business moguls and politicians use Facebook to directly communicate with consumers and constituents.

    In short, Sandberg said, marketers shouldn’t just talk at consumers, but with them. “People don’t expect to be talked at anymore, they expect to be part of the conservation,” Sandberg said, encouraging marketers to inclusively engage businesses to foster a “personal relationship” with consumers.

    Sandberg finished up then welcomed Chris Cox, Vice President of Product at Facebook. He began with a story of Facebook’s evolution from dorm room-quality digs to its palatial environs of today.

    After effusing about Facebook’s growth, Cox began to explain how Facebook developed the concept of connecting businesses with consumers. Cox explained how users have already begun to discuss how Facebook users are already talking about products they use or music that they listen to and how this basically presents a nutrient-rich soil for marketers to plant some seeds. Honestly, that’s such an obvious description of what Facebook is becoming these days that it’s a little surprising that nobody’s really conceptualized it that way.

    Any interaction between people and brands, Cox explained, are just as meaningful as the interactions between friends on Facebook.

    Mike Hoefflinger, Director or Global Marketing for Facebook, took the stage next to introduce some of the new products that Facebook has for marketers. He used the example of Gillette razors to explain the de-personalization of business. With the proliferation of home razors, he explained, less people went to see local barbers and so the personal relationship between business and customer diminished. Facebook, Hoefflinger says, is taking that relationship “back to future” by putting customers and businesses back in touch with each other.

    Hoefflinger then moved onto Pages, which he described as the “mission control” of businesses. It’s how they’ll communicate more with their fans and control the content of their pages, he said. It’s available as of today, but Hoefflinger said Pages will be moving over to the mobile format later this year.

    Not only does Pages put businesses in touch with consumers, he said, but it allows Facebook users to see how their friends are using products, as well.

    In addition to Pages launching today, there’s a new story type called Offers that enables businesses much easier methods to send out notifications to fans. Everything businesses do on Facebook starts with their Page, Hoefflinger said, and this is “your opportunity to express your identify on Facebook.” He seems confident that the stories of businesses will become important or even sentimental to the Facebookers who like these brands.

    Pages gives business four different options to insert their stories into the view of Facebook users; in other words, a more assertive way for businesses to advertise on Facebook.

    Next on the reveal is Reach Generator, which is a tool for businesses to make sure that their Facebook fans see the stories spun from the businesses’ Pages. Hoefflinger believes that if businesses employ this tool, they will be able to reach upwards of 75% more of their fans. Basically, it moves a lot of little stories from the business Page to the Facebook homepage that regular users see when they log in.

    Premium on Facebook is the next announcement from Hoefflinger, which he says will enable brands to tell stories and communicate with Facebook members. “Marketing on Facebook,” he said, “will feel like the rest of Facebook.” In other words, advertising will become such a common, casual experience for consumers that they won’t even notice that they’re targets for business marketing. Also, Premium will allow businesses to display ads on the log-out page of Facebook after users have logged out.

    Essentially, these “stories” from businesses that show up in a Facebook user’s news feed sound a lot like the promoted tweets from brands that have been appearing in Twitter’s stream. Just as people will re-tweet those promoted tweets on Twitter and therefore interact with that brand, Facebook is utilizing a similar approach in how users will Like brand Pages from their newstream.

    Facebook’s mobile app won’t be missing out on stories from business Pages, either, as their stories will be appearing in feeds whenever users check their updates through the mobile app. It’ll be interesting to see if this rather quiet announcement that ads will be appearing in Facebook’s mobile app will be noticed by the public and, if so, how they will respond.

    The understated take-away of this address to marketers is that Premium for Facebook will allow businesses to covertly deploy advertisements into Facebook users news feeds. Moreover, since those ads will be seamlessly woven into news feeds, they’ll be appearing in Facebook’s mobile app.

    Given that the mobile domain is a previously-untapped resource of ad revenue for Facebook, this should have businesses slavering at the advertising possibilities.

  • SPAM Turns 75, Rolls Out New Advertising Campaign

    Everybody love SPAM, right? No, not the kind that you have email filters for, but the kind that comes in a can – SPiced hAM.

    Ok, not everybody loves SPAM. Hawaii really does though. Personally, it’s hard to say no to a fried SPAM sandwich, but then again I’ve always been a fan of the world’s little culinary oddities. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the rectangular meat and in celebration of that SPAM is starting a whole new advertising campaign that involves TV ads, online banner ads, and a new website fit with games and new recipes.

    First up, SPAM is finally getting a spokesperson. The new SPAM mascot is called Sir Can-A-Lot, and he says that he’s here to “rescue the world from routine meals.”

    “The introduction of Sir Can-A-Lot provides an engaging presence that highlights the playful and down-to-earth personality that makes the SPAM brand both unique and timeless,” said Nicole L. Behne, product manager of SPAM family of products. “The campaign features him ridding not only mealtimes of boredom, but also helping consumers ‘Break the Monotony.’”

    And with the choice of a knight for their spokesperson, SPAM looks like they are continuing to embrace the Monty Python (Spamalot) association.

    Here’s what you can expect from the 75th anniversary ad blitz coming from SPAM:

    The booming personality of Sir Can-A-Lot comes to life in various elements:

    Television spots:Three, 30-second, animated television advertisements feature Sir Can-A-Lot introducing SPAM products into ho-hum meals in surprising ways

    Online banner ads: Online banner advertisements depict Sir Can-A-Lot proudly showcasing his love for SPAM products.

    Redesigned SPAM.com: SPAM.com, has been redesigned to create a modern home base for the brand’s fans. Sir Can-A-Lot serves as the site’s guide to help fans break out of their boring routines, and surprises audiences by having them scroll not down, but UP to view the content!

    The Glorious SPAM Tower: Fans are encouraged to explore the unlimited heights of Sir Can-a-Lot’s world, and to contribute content to the growing tower made up of cans. Within each can, fans uncover new product varieties, read news and interact with the brand on Facebook and Twitter.
    Enhanced Recipe Features: Discover an entirely new set of recipe options, including SPAM recipe descriptions and user-friendly images.
    Fun & Games: Become immersed in the world of Sir Can-A-Lot that invites users to explore the SPAM brand.

    The company’s promoting the anniversary via social media like Facebook and Twitter as well:

    @SPAMbrand is proud to introduce our new pint-sized knight in shining armor, the crusader of flavor, #SirCanALot! http://t.co/hHHHazoc 1 day ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    SPAM has been the brunt of countless jokes in its 75-year history. But on average, 3.8 cans are consumed each second in the U.S. It obviously has a loyal following, but this anniversary ad campaign looks to be trying to bring the brand into the social age. What do you think of their new spokesman? Let us know in the comments.

  • Twitter Expands Promoted Accounts, Promoted Tweets In Timelines To Mobile Apps

    Twitter just announced the expansion of its Promoted products (also known as ads) across its mobile experience.

    While Promoted Trends and Tweets have been on Twitter’s mobile search for a while (and likewise for Promoted accounts and Promoted Tweets in the timeline), Promoted accounts are now coming to Twitter’s iPhone and Android apps.

    “And in the coming weeks, we’ll begin introducing Promoted Tweets in the timeline on these mobile apps,” the company says in a blog post. “Initially, a small number of users may see Promoted Tweets near the top of their timelines from brands they already follow. This will help ensure that people see important Tweets from the brands they care about.”

    Mobile promoted tweets

    Twitter points out that the experience will be the same on mobile as it is on Twitter.com, with promoted tweets appearing in the timeline like any other tweet (once) and the promoted tweet flowing with the rest of the tweets in the timeline. Additionally, like with Twitter.com, the mobile Promoted Tweets in search will be displayed in the timeline when relevant. Promoted Accounts will appear in the “who to follow” list.

    Twitter says the news represents an important part of its advertising efforts. No doubt about that. You might say Twitter is even ahead of the game compared to Facebook, in terms of mobile ads.

  • Demand Media Launches New Social Ad Formats

    Demand Media has introduced some new rich media ad units, incorporating its “Social Feed” ad management tools. Essentially, they bring social media into display ads, where potential customers can actually interact with the brand’s community from the ad itself.

    Here are a couple examples (Social Feeds Billboard and Twitter Billboard):

    Demand Media Social Feed Ad

    Twitter Billboard ad
    You can interact with either by clicking on the images above.

    “Our new social advertising products are designed to amplify and broadcast our advertisers’ campaigns across a variety of social platforms,” said Joanne Bradford, chief revenue and marketing officer at Demand Media. “We believe our new Social Feed ad units are the first to allow advertisers to enhance their video-enabled ads using customized content from their social media footprint.“

    “Advertisers are investing millions of dollars to build healthy brand communities on a variety of social media platforms,” said Peter Luttrell, the company’s SVP of ad solutions. “Our new Social Feed ad products help marketers extend their existing social media investments across their entire online media buy and deliver customized social media content directly into their live ads in real-time.”

    The company says the new ad products are available in both IAB standard and custom rich media units like billboards, site skins and overlays that support advanced functionality like video, audio, Flash and HTML5. They’re supported not only on Demand Media’s own properties like eHow, Cracked, Livestrong, etc., but on its network of independent sites, represented by IndieClick.

  • Wes Anderson Directed 2 Hyundai Azera Commercials

    Wes Anderson movies aren’t for everyone. He has a very unique and strange way of telling a story, that I personally dig immensely. This past Sunday, during the Academy Awards, Anderson brought his quirkiness to the small screen with two commercials for the Hyundai Azera.

    The first commercial, titled Talk to My Car, has a Knight Rider-ish sort of feel to it with the message: “with the Azera, we can speak to our cars”. Check it our for yourself below.

    The second commercial, titled Modern Life, is a more contemporary setting, but with an Anderson twist. Check it out below.

    It should be noted that this isn’t Anderson’s first foray into advertising, as he’s directed commercials for AT&T, Stella Artois, and even starred in one for American Express.

    Wes Anderson’s next film, Moonrise Kingdom is slated to hit theaters in May. The film stars Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand and Anderson staples Bill Murray, and Jason Schwartzman.

    What did you think of the ads? Tell us in the comment section below.

  • IAB Catches Up with Larger Display Ad Units

    Since 2009 leading brand publishing representatives for the Online Publishers Association (OPA) have been requesting larger digital ad portfolio units and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a corporate juggernaut consisting of over 500 top notch media and technology firms and recognized for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States, has finally decided to meet the demand despite showing up late to the game. During the IAB’s Annual Leadership Meeting “Ecosystem 2.0: Beyond Time and Space,” 6 new interactive digital advertising units were released including the “Rising Stars Display.” The architects of these units are AOL/Pictela, DoubleClick/Google, MediaMind and Microsoft Advertising.

    Recently reappointed CEO and President of IAB, Randall Rothenberg, states that these ad units are more advantageous in that they “…allow creatives to tell bigger, bolder brand stories” and “…offer more space, greater functionality, and a broader range of user experiences—providing a collection of next-generation interactive canvases designed to leverage the rich, immersive benefits of digital.” New unit sizes (970×250 Billboard, the 970×90 Pushdown and the 300×600 Filmstrip, among others) were tested by several IPG Media Lab agencies and clients like Jeep and AT&T who observed that their customers were slightly more likely (2.5% increase) to opt to interface with the Rising Stars unit than previous IAB products medium rectangle, wide sky, and leaderboard. What is more impressive is that consumers tended to spend twice as much time interacting with the new ads and evidenced quicker reaction times. Clinical testers also found the ads to be more “entertaining” and resulted in an increase of positive perceptions about the Web sites and the respective brands they were marketing.

    After viewing the differences between the layouts of these ad portfolios I have concluded that the preference for more spacious layouts is rooted in the user’s desire to view and synthesize information at a rapid pace. The eye tracking research that was employed throughout the development of these products proved to be helpful in making brands stick within the minds of consumers.

  • Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Hulu & Digitas Partner On “Digital Content NewsFronts”

    Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Hulu & Digitas Partner On “Digital Content NewsFronts”

    Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, AOL, Hulu and Digitas are partnering on “Digital Content NewFronts“. During a two-week period from April 19th to May 2nd, each partner will host an independent event in NYC to connect brands with content. The events are invitation-only.

    “We’re really looking forward to meeting with our clients in May, to talk about brand building opportunities across Google and YouTube,” said Lucas Watson, VP of global video sales for YouTube. “We think this series of events will be a great forum for important industry discussions and we look forward to advancing the conversation.”

    “We are excited to see the major players across the competitive landscape make native digital content a priority,” said AOL SVP, Sales Strategy, Marketing & Partnerships, Janet Balis. “Given AOL’s deep commitment to original, high impact digital experiences, we feel this is an incredibly valuable opportunity to showcase the creativity of our ideas and solutions.”

    “There is an urgency to invest in quality content at scale,” said Colin Kinsella, CEO, Digitas North America. “The DCNF is established as a direct result of the growing impact of digital content on consumers, and therefore brands, their investments and agencies. We are thrilled to participate in this collaboration-first that will chart new territory in digital content and media.”

    According to data from eMarketer, online ad spend is expected to grow 23% in 2012 to $39.5 billion in the U.S. Online video ad spending grew by 52.1% in 2011 in the U.S., and by 2015, it’s expected to reach $7.1 billion (up from $2.16 billion in 2011).

    Hulu’s event will be on April 19th. Microsoft and AOl will both hold their events on April 24th. On the 25th, Yahoo will hold its, followed by Digitas’ on April 26th, and Google’s on May 2nd.

    Additional events will be announced in the coming weeks.

  • Critically Important Patent May Affect Rights And Revenue For Electronic Advertising

    ICAP Patent Brokerage, the world’s largest intellectual property brokerage and patent auction firm, is offering for sale a patented method for targeting advertisements in electronic communications. The patent portfolio announced covers a broad range of communication activities including ad placement, use of user demographics, user remuneration and automated tracking.

    The key patent, invented by Lawrence F. Glaser and owned by Nixon Peabody LLP and Studebaker & Brackett PC, discloses methods that offer significant new revenue opportunities for a wide range of communication networks. The patent covers methods of advertising on networks using data processing devices. This includes any user, network form, advertising form, data processing form and potentially any communication form.

    The patent is broad and only recently issued, so the terms of the patent specification and scope of the claims include but are not limited to the following:

    An ad is a banner, coupon, auction, reverse auction, video, hologram, animation, video or any other form. The unique demographics of the sender or recipient can affect content. A “user” references any entity attached to a network, either human or machine. “Data processor” is a very broad term and covers a wide and growing range of devices including PC, SmartPhone, iPad, even a smart watch with texting capabilities. “Network” is also a very broad term including but not limited to the internet. The claims cover automation of the ads going into the communications as well as the automatic use of demographic data mined about about users to determine the ads to embed.

    This patent is critically important with tremendous implications and market potential for large networks and services who have electronic advertising as part of their business model.

  • Google Set To Leapfrog Facebook In Advertising Revenue Next Year

    Maybe Microsoft’s claim that Google is the “world’s largest advertising company” may not have been so far off the mark if current predictions come true. Last year, Facebook leaped past Yahoo! to become the top seller of online ads. This year, Facebook will likely know how Yahoo! felt when that happened because Google is currently on track to surpass Facebook and become the top seller of online ads.

    eMarketer reports that Google’s display business is growing faster than expected and, at its current rate of growth, is set to overtake Facebook in 2013. The percent of money Facebook generated from selling display ads is somewhat predicted to level off next year while Google looks to make out like gangbusters.

    While Facebook’s revenue may level off, the percent of revenue growth between the company and Google is expected to be the same, about 48%. However, next year is a different story as eMarketer expects Facebook’s growth to drop considerably while Google will maintain the same percent of growth.

    The previos forecast for the upcoming years by eMarketer estimated that Facebook would remain the top seller of online ads. However,

    This forecast incorporates a stream of newly available data, including reported figures from major players such as Facebook and Google.

    The forecast also features a significant upward revision for Google’s display business compared to previous eMarketer projections—a result of stronger-than-expected performance from the company’s mobile display business, YouTube’s growing role as a venue for premium display inventory, and strong growth from the company’s DoubleClick ad network. The strength of Google’s existing relationships with search advertisers has also been a tremendous help for the company’s display business, according to eMarketer principal analyst David Hallerman.

    While Google’s ad revenue has grown like a happy fungus in the damp, dark corners of a forest, they may have revise their recipe for success following recent developments with how they can collect information about consumers in order to manufacture and tailor ads for the public.

  • Yahoo and Bing: Look How Well Our Ads Are Doing

    As you may know, Microsoft and Yahoo have a “search alliance” which sees Microsoft powering Yahoo’s organic search results, as well as migrating Yahoo Search Marketing to Microsoft’s adCenter.

    The organic transition has already happened worldwide, and the ad platform transition is still in the process. In fact, the companies just announced that it’s rolling out in the UK, Ireland and France.

    In a post on Yahoo’s Advertising Solutions blog, Yahoo is pointing to four recent studies from Efficient Frontier, Marin Software, Rimm-Kaufman Group (RKG) and Ignition One, and pulling out some points made in these about the momentum of the search alliance’s paid side:

    According to Microsoft, the transition should be complete in the previously mentioned European countries by the end of April.

  • Microsoft / Yahoo Search Alliance Expands in UK, Ireland, France

    Microsoft and Yahoo have begun the migration of Yahoo Search Marketing accounts in the UK, Ireland and France to Microsoft adCenter. This is, of course, part of the “Search Alliance” between the two companies, with Microsoft powering Yahoo Search, both on the organic side of things, as well as on the paid side.

    The transition has been complete in the US, Canada and India on the paid side. For organic, it’s already complete globally.

    UK advertisers will get access to the combined audience in April, Microsoft says. The company expects to ramp up Yahoo traffic to the adCenter platform by March 19. The transition is expected to be complete by the end of April (in the UK, Ireland and). The entire Yahoo paid search volume is expected to be transitioned to adCenter within two weeks of March 19.

    “Yahoo! Search and France Bing will soon offer a competitive search offering that provides advertisers both quality audiences and opportunities to leverage strategic partnerships to efficiently deliver a strong return on investment,” says Microsoft’s Cedric Chambaz. “This means our advertisers are now just a couple months away from benefiting from the new joint audience. By then, you will be able to advertise on the full Yahoo! Search, Bing and their partner networks traffic through your adCenter campaigns.”

    In the meantime, Microsoft suggests getting an understanding of the new editorial policies, adjusting your budget for increased traffic and adjusting your bid strategy to maintain competitiveness.

    Chambraz says that in the coming weeks, the Microsoft Advertising blog will publish more in-depth recommendations.

  • Twitter Welcomes Two Google Advertising Execs To The Flock

    Twitter Welcomes Two Google Advertising Execs To The Flock

    Twitter’s stepping up their international advertising game by not just taking a page out of Google’s playbook, but by taking actual Google players. Two former Google advertising executives, Shailesh Rao and Stephen McIntyre, have been hired on by Twitter as the company seeks to expand its advertising efforts in the international arena.

    Given that 70% of Twitter users are outside of the United States, beefing up the international advertising market might be seen as an obvious and good move by the company. Adam Bain, Rao and McIntyre’s future boss, tweeted a welcome message to the advertising duo early this morning.

    I’m pumped about two important international sales hires for @Twitter: @shaileshrao & @stephenpmc, both joining from Google. Huge welcome. 6 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    McIntyre will be assuming duties in March as director of online sales and operations. According to Bain, McIntyre will be head of Twitter’s international self-serve business located in Dublin.

    McIntyre didn’t waste any time moving on from Google: he’s already updated his bio on his profile on Twitter to say, “Currently at The Google. Soon to be inside The Tweet-machine.” Additionally, he thanked his new boss for the warm welcome.

    @adambain Thanks for the warm welcome Adam! You really should go to bed though… 6 hours ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Rao, who was most recently the head of Google’s ad business in Asia, will as of April be the new Vice President of International Revenue. He’ll be relocating to Twitter’s base in San Francisco but, unfortunately, couldn’t be reached for comment on the new job because:

    Well. We’ll just assume that Rao is tweeting delightfully about his new digs in San Francisco.

  • Russian Web Ad Spending Overtakes Print

    Online advertising expenditures were up 56% in Russia in 2011, overtaking print ads for the first time. The internet presently accounts for 16% of ad spending in Russia, still a far cry from TV ad dominance.

    Web ads in the UK overtook print in 2010, and eMarketer projects the same in the U.S. in 2012. eMarketer estimates online advertising spending in the U.S. will grow 23.3% in 2012, to reach $32 billion, while print ads are expected to bring in only $22.8 billion. Still, like in Russia, TV ads are still dominant, and will remain that way for the time being. U.S. TV ads brought in $60.7 billion in 2011, and is expected to grow to $72.0 billion by 2016.

    In Russia, the biggest web advertising gain came from contextual ads, which attracted 63% percent more expenditures. Print saw the slowest gains, only seven percent, though the entire Russian ad market was up 21% in 2011. Though, web ads are still being used three times less than TV ads, according to the Russian Association of Communication Agencies. Also, Yandex, Russia’s most popular search engine, was up 60% in sales growth in 2011, but is expected to be down 15-20% in 2012. Google retained roughly 25% of the Russian search engine market in 2011.

    Broadband adoption has been growing amongst the ad-targeted Russian middle class, and roughly 43% of the country’s population is online. These numbers have been rising steadily, according to Google public data.

  • Facebook Helps South Dakota Mayor Win Race

    Last June, relatively unknown politician Sam Kooiker decided to run for Mayor of Rapid City, SD. The two-term incumbent mayor of the town of 70,000 was already a household name, and had quite a bit more campaign funds than Kooiker did – but in the end, this didn’t matter, as Kooiker won regardless. And his use of Facebook and a targeted advertising strategy are what did it.

    Kooiker couldn’t afford a TV ad run, so he’d hired a local company called Straightforward Interactive to devise a different strategy. Statistics had shown that the majority of adult residents of Rapid City were on Facebook, as well as their demographics. Straightforward’s Josh Barsch advised Kooiker that the best way to reach potential voters was through a custom-tailored social network strategy. Barsch and Kooiker were then able to pick out 30 different demographics within their town, and advertise to each with a specific web advertisement.

    Potential voters were first identified and isolated by age, with ads specific to 18-year-olds, then 19-year-olds, and so on. Ads were directed at local law enforcement, then toward a radio station group followed by the Native American community in the area. An ad concerning the hardships senior citizens face was sent off to Facebook users 60 and over, and ads concerning environmental protection were geared towards those users indicating they like the outdoors. “Instead of talking at people as political campaigns often do, we engaged with them through Facebook with adverts that were humorous and spoke to them,” Kooiker said.

    Kooiker adds, “the results were earth shaking. It’s the difference between the telegraph and the cell phone.” Kooiker spent about $80K on his campaign altogether, about $40K less than his opponent, Alan Hanks, who’d opted for tradition TV advertising. When the results came in, Kooiker was ahead by 400 votes, proving that relatively unknown citizens who are are unversed in the seedy world of politics could have a hand in democracy. Barsch claims the targeted Facebook campaign cost roughly $3K, but asserts that it turned the tide in the election. This is likely true, as Kooiker’s online campaign ads garnered almost 9 million web impressions.

    Barsch went on to say, “targeted social media campaigns are going to happen everywhere, even at a very local level, even in a small town in the hinterland of the United States.”

  • Optimization Tips For AdSense Rolling Out To Publisher Accounts

    Google just announced a new kind of optimization tips it will be rolling out for AdSense users. They’ll show publishers how to make changes to their AdSense for Content ad unit type or format setting right in the account.

    Google indicates that these tips wil help publishers earn more, so they’re probably worth paying attention to.

    “To generate these new types of notifications, we use our technology to simulate the ad auction for a specific ad unit using different ad type and/or ad format settings,” explains AdSense engineer Gregory Block. “If our simulation shows that any of these changed settings consistently result in higher revenue for that ad unit, we’ll show a recommendation in your account. Please note that these simulations will not affect your live traffic or earnings, and you’ll only see a recommendation if our simulated auction demonstrated increased revenue for your account.”

    Publishers will see the recommendations on the “Home” tab in their accounts. The “Do this now” button can be clicked to quickly implement the suggestion.

    Tips for earning more with AdSense

    “For ad format recommendations, clicking the ‘Create this unit’ button will create a new ad unit of the recommended ad format on the ‘My ads’ tab,” says Block. “To complete the implementation, replace the current ad unit code in your webpage(s) with the newly created ad unit code.”

    The new tips will roll out over the next few weeks, Google says.

    For more on all things AdSense, check out our AdSense coverage page.

  • Block Advertisers From Your Google Search Results

    If you don’t want to see more ads from a certain advertiser in your Google search results, it appears that you can now eliminate them. At least some users can, for some ads.

    It’s unclear whether this is a test or is a new feature in the process of rolling out, but some are seeing ads appear above search results that say “Block all domain.com ads.” Andrew Girdwood shows an example from the UK, with Netflix.co.uk, but Barry Schwartz points to one for the Netflix.com domain as well. When I get a Netflix ad however, I’m not presented with the option, so it seems the feature is currently not available to all.

    Netflix Domain Blocking in Ad

    Image courtesy: Andrew Girdwood

    Google started letting users block domains from their search results about a year ago, in an apparent effort to lend to increased search quality on a per user basis.

    At the time, Google noted that it wasn’t currently using the domain blocking as a ranking signal, but that they would look at the data and see whether it would be useful in the future – kind of the anti-+1.

    We’ve reached out to Google to determine whether this is a test or a feature roll-out. We’ll update accordingly.

    Are you seeing the new feature on ads? Is it a good idea? Let us know what you think.

  • Twitter Self Serve Ads Available To 10,000 Businesses [Updated]

    Update: Twitter just posted an official announcement about this, with a link to a sign-up form. The company says:

    Soon, small businesses based in the United States will have the chance to take their Twitter marketing efforts to a new level. Starting in late March, we will introduce a new advertising offering that makes it simple for companies of any size to grow their businesses using our Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts products.

    We’ve partnered with American Express to make it easy for small business owners to advertise on Twitter. American Express Cardmembers and merchants based in the U.S. will be invited to try this new advertising solution before anyone else, and American Express will give $100 in free advertising to the first 10,000 eligible businesses to sign up.

    Starting today, American Express Cardmembers and merchants can register to participate in the initial introduction of this new offering via ads.twitter.com/amex. We will launch this new offering more widely later this year.

    Original Article: Back in December, Twitter Chief Revenue Officer Adam Bain revealed that the company had begun testing self-serve ads with some of its existing advertisers.

    Now, according to a report from AdAge, these ads have been opened up to 10,000 small businesses – American Express cardmembers and merchants can register to use the platform on a first come, first serve basis. Those who get in will get $100 in ad credits for promoted tweets and promoted accounts.

    The offering comes as Twitter has completed the roll-out of its latest redesign. The new design comes with the ability to embed tweet and some new keyboard shortcuts, as well as redesigned brand pages:

    Enhanced Twitter brand pages

    “Communicating with users isn’t just about what you say. It’s also about how you say it,” said Twitter’s ad team. “Now, your profile page does more to help you make an impression with a large header image for displaying your logo, tagline, and any other visuals.”

    Twitter is cranking up the brand usefulness, and should be cranking up the monetization of the service along with that. Don’t expect the company to go public anytime soon though.

  • Blekko Gets Ads, DuckDuckGo Gets A Million Searches In A Day

    Blekko sought out from the start to become the “third search engine” behind Google and Bing (Yahoo, for all intents and purposes counted as Bing, since Bing powers Yahoo Search). Google and Bing serve search ads to monetize their efforts.

    Now, the “third search engine” is testing ads, according to a report from MediaPost. These ads, however, are coming from Google and Bing – AdSense and Microsoft’s counterpart. Laurie Sullivan reports:

    Visitors who visit the search engine, however, probably will not see a search ad based on their query. Few are linked to slashtags, which helps to curate content, according to Rich Skrenta, Blekko founder and CEO.

    “We’re still ironing out the kinks,” Skrenta said. The company will measure success based on RPMs — page revenue per 1000 ad units.

    Meanwhile, Blekko’s peer (in terms of alternative search engines), DuckDuckGo, announced that it saw over a million searches in one day for the first time. (hat tip: SearchEngineLand)

    We received over 1,000,000 direct searches yesterday for the first time ever! https://t.co/mS1Yz7O8 1 day ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    Both alternative search engines announced new funding last fall. Blekko announced a $30 million investment from a mix of investors in September. In October, DuckDuckGo announced its first round of funding (the amount was not disclosed).

  • Facebook Timeline For Brands Coming Late February [REPORT]

    Brands that want to utilize Facebook’s spiffy new Timeline feature won’t have to wait too much longer. According to apprised executives quoted in AdAge, Facebook plans to begin rolling out Timeline for Brands at the end of February.

    Apparently, Facebook plans to announce Timeline for Brands at their first-ever fMC event held specifically for marketers. fMC will take place on February 29th in New York City.

    We’ve known that Facebook has been working on Timeline for Brands for a while now, but it was always unclear when they would move forward with them and how they would look once Facebook launched them. According to the sources, they will have a similar look and feel of the user Timelines, but won’t be an exact copy.

    Facebook is reportedly still deciding on some specifics for the Brand Timelines, like what’s going to happen to all of the different tabs and app pages that populate current Brand pages on the site. Brands use these side buttons to house promotional games, contests, and other information. One thought is that they will turn into boxes on the Brand’s Timelines, similar to the way Spotify is housed on user Timelines.

    Also, the amount of history displayed on Brand Timelines is a huge deal. One of the Timeline’s biggest draws (and pains for detractors) is the ability to see stories from a user’s birth. Will Brands have the same type fo functionality in their Timelines? Companies like Coca-Cola and The New York Times have been around for well over a century – their Brand Timelines could be pretty impressive once they’ve cycled through all of the possible bad PR and made the Timeline perfect.

    Users have found some pretty creative ways to maximize the effectiveness of their Timelines, and many brands are chomping at the bit for their chance.

    Facebook made the Timeline available for all users back in December 2011. Users to choose to switch over if they wanted. But on January 24th, Facebook announced that they were beginning to push the Timeline to all users. Once you get it, you have a 7-day grace period to clean it up and make it presentable before it goes live. The Facebook community seems to be split on the issue, with some loving the new design and some railing about privacy.