As Joe pointed out, a major thread of today's keynote conversation with Jordan Rohan, Gian Fulgoni and Gord Hotchkiss was around the potential for richer brand experiences in the SERPs — namely display ads.
Jordan quipped that what made Google… well, Google, was that it presented a clean, uncluttered environment and doing anything beyond simple logos […]

If flat is the new up then browse is certainly the new buy.
In Gian Fulgoni's keynote, he pointed out that the savings rate in the US was up 30% in Q1 prompting his quip that, to marketers, "A dollar saved is a dollar not spent."
In the following panel, Darrin Shamo of Zappos shared a […]

In my last Search Insider column I predicted that Twitter would be the talk of the town, er… island at SIS.
Less than 24 hours into the conference, I think it's safe to hand over the buzzword bingo crown to the little microblogging platform that could. (All apologies to "Attribution.")
Whether it's attendees tweeting conference highlights […]

Was it coincidence that summit emcee Gord Hotchkiss just-so-happened to know that it was an osprey flying into a transformer that brought Gian Fulgoni's keynote to a grinding halt allowing time for people to register for Gord's eye-tracking clinic? Just sayin'…

At tonight's welcome reception for the Search Insider Summit, I was pleased to see a good mix of new and familiar faces. The beauty of this event truly is the intimacy and the networking was in full effect right off the bat.
There was one interaction that stood out for me, though. As I was […]

Please see this post for the background and disclaimer.
Henry Hall of MediaContacts recaps the roundtable he led on HR & Staffing issues…
The consensus was it is becoming increasing difficult to hire search professionals.
Most at the table agreed that it is much easier to hire college grads and perspectives with no search experience. Many find that […]

Please see this post for the background and disclaimer.
Gracias to Geri Guillermo of Platform A for leading this roundtable and sharing her notes:
Topic discussed: Ad-Supported Media practices for portals
Many were unaware of this type of solution. Publishers in attendance gave examples of portals buying keywords on other engines - ie, MSN Music buying […]

Please see this post for the background and disclaimer.
Notes courtesy of Roger Barnette from SearchIgnite…
Brand Marketers – Brand and Performance marketing budgets are separate - depending on the industry/site – ecommerce vs. lead generation/informational.
Social/Rich media – advertisers are still only dabbling in the video/social media. A lot of testing in this area. Google […]

Please see this post for the background and disclaimer.
Search Insider Summit Roundtable Notes: What’s Next – E-Commerce
Facilitator: David Berkowitz, Director of Emerging Media & Client Strategy, 360i
Friday, December 5, 2008
Opinions on images and videos appearing within Google search ads:
- Not much activity, interest
- Video in text ads = bad user experience
- Better for engagement (as […]

Please see this post for the background and disclaimer.
Here's the straight poop from Rob Griffin of MediaContacts, table leader and notetaker extraordinaire…
Agencies, Engines, and Clients
• Engines are tech companies learning to be media companies and as a result self service is expected and proposals are often generic or push new non-search products. This forces […]