News Hotline

• High Airfare, Gas Prices Prompt More Staycations
  by Tanya Irwin Yesterday, 1:05 PM

  About 7 out of 10 plan to spend the same or more on vacation as they did last year. They are focusing on "staycations" at home due to high airfare and gas prices, and instead are planning to visit local amusement attractions including water and theme parks. ...

• No Time, Money For Vacay? Try 'Nearcay'
  by Aaron Baar Yesterday, 12:15 PM

  First, there was the "vacation." Then there was the "staycation." This summer, indoor water park resort proprietor Great Wolf Lodge will be splitting the difference, looking to catch the burgeoning trend of "nearcations." ...

• Q&A: Philly Focuses On Parkway
  by Karl Greenberg Yesterday, 9:45 AM

  Meryl Levitz, president and CEO of the GPTMC, talks to Marketing Daily about the Barnes, the new campaign, the revitalization of the Ben Franklin Parkway, and the big tourism picture in the City of Brotherly Love. ...

• 'Why Vermont?' Beefs Up Mobile, Digital
  by Sarah Mahoney Yesterday, 8:02 AM

  Not quite a year after Hurricane Irene pulverized the Green Mountain state, Vermont is sharpening its summer tourism efforts, with a "Why Vermont?" campaign that includes mobile, video, and a special pitch to Boston Red Sox fans. ...

• Google Aggressive In Tracking Down Scam Ads
  by Laurie Sullivan Yesterday, 8:03 PM

  Google continues its fight against scam paid-search ads. The company on Friday released statistics on advertising scams across its company sites and those of AdSense partners. In 2011, Google shut down 824,000 advertisers, as well as disapproved 134 million ads for violating policies. ...

• RealNetworks Settles Deceptive Marketing Charges For $2.4 Million
  by Wendy Davis Yesterday, 6:04 PM

  RealNetworks has agreed to pay $2.4 million to settle allegations that it deceived Web users by offering "free" trials of Rhapsody and other products, but enrolled them in paid subscription plans. It also promised to make it easier for Web users to cancel subscriptions. ...

• Why Networks Are Moving Low-Rated Shows To Fridays
  by Phyllis Fine Yesterday, 4:32 PM

  Friday isn't just a dumping ground for ratings-challenged shows, according to Andy Fixmer and Edmund Lee. "Fridays offer networks a chance to turn the commercial-skipping DVR to their advantage," they write. "The idea with the schedule shift is that viewers, especially the younger ones marketers like, catch up ...

• Rodale Brings 'Best Life' Back To Life
  by Phyllis Fine Yesterday, 4:28 PM

  Rodale is resurrecting its men's luxury lifestyle pub Best Life, which went belly-up three years ago. "Rodale is being cautious this time around; Best Life will come out as a 300,000-circulation SIP (special-interest publication) priced at $5.99 for three months starting Oct. 23," according to Lucia Moses. ...

• Social Media Gives Additional Push To TV Ratings
  by Wayne Friedman Yesterday, 4:25 PM

  Social media influence continues to significantly add value to some shows -- especially those that don't have the biggest ratings. The largest gains for this 2011-2012 broadcast season went to Fox's "Glee," Comedy Central's "South Park" and MTV's "Jersey Shore," per Optimedia's Content Power Ratings. ...

• Major League Eating (!) Extends Deal With ESPN
  by Phyllis Fine Yesterday, 4:19 PM

  Yes, we checked, and there really is a Major League Eating, which has extended its deal for Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest through 2017. Financial terms were not disclosed. Great seasonal story, huh? ...

• Ad Diversity Challenged In New Ad, 'Pitch'

  AMC and multicultural shop Muse Communications are about to turn up the volume on the discussion about the ad industry's lack of diversity. A new spot blasts the industry and is featured in AMC's "The Pitch." ...

• Buffett To Buy More Newspapers

  Warren Buffett isn't done buying newspapers. Berkshire Hathaway may acquire more newspapers in the next few years, according to the Omaha investment mogul, fresh from the acquisition of 26 daily newspapers and 37 weeklies and community papers from Media General. ...

• Muse's Forceful Diversity Ad Will Air During 'Pitch'

  In what's a spot-on, perfectly targeted media buy, "one of the most succinct skewerings of the ad industry's lack of diversity" (according to writer Ken Wheaton) will run during this Sunday's episode of "The Pitch," the show in which two ad agencies compete to land a campaign. Wheaton ...

• Display Ads' Quality, Numbers Rising On Key Sites

  In some much-needed good news, display ads on Yahoo's home page appeared strong through the first half of the year. Per Macquarie Securities, sales of oversized and custom ad units on Yahoo's main page were up substantially year-over-year. AOL's home page display trends appeared largely stable, but with ...

• 'American Idol' Turns Live TV Into Tweet Fest

  The "American Idol" TV live season finale generated more than 1 million social comments, contributing to the 5.9 million for the season. A Flock to Unlock campaign on Twitter in real-time pushed the numbers higher compared with prior shows. ...

• Groupon Testing Payments Service?

  Potentially expanding its commerce offerings, Groupon is reportedly testing a payments service. Seeking an edge over existing services offered by eBay’s PayPal, Square and Google, Groupon is apparently offering an iPod Touch and card reader to merchants free of charge. “The other [services] provide only the readers for ...

• Why Facebook Needs Another Photo App

  Dubbed Camera, Facebook just released an iPhone app that lets users take photos, add filters to them, and share them on the social network. Naturally, Web watchers are asking why the company needs another photo app after expressing an interest in buying Instagram for about $1 billion. “To ...

• Fox Wins TV Season, NBC Jumps To Third Place

  Fox won another TV season, in the viewing metric that matters most to advertisers: 18-49 viewers. But the race was a lot closer, as CBS -- in second place -- came within two-tenths of a rating point. ...

• Search Marketers Can Hide The Bodies

  Major improvements in a company's campaign can be accomplished by either doing great work to raise the bar, or mediocre work on a badly broken program. That's one of the four reasons George Michie gives for not putting much faith in case studies. He also tells us that ...

• Updating The Beginner's SEO Guide

  From Pengiun to Panda to social sharing, SEO strategies have gone through an evolution during the last year. Considering all the changes, SEOmoz has updated its guide to include a new definition, why search engine optimization can be important to a Web site, social sharing techniques, link-building strategies, ...

• More On Google's Penguin

  SEO best practices are not clearly defined, and there are no safe shortcuts to improve a site's search engine ranking. Deceptions or attempts to shortcut the goal of serving Web site visitors and customers could drop a business from search results. Virgnia Nussey give marketers advice on serving Google ...

• Using Discount Vouchers To Drive Web Traffic

  What are the pitfalls to driving Web site traffic with online discounts? For starters, losing money. If the campaign catches on through Facebook, Twitter and other social tools, it can quickly turn a small promotion into a major ordeal. Kevin Gibbons serves up tips on voucher codes, mailing lists, ...

• Unilever Retains Mindshare For Media-Buying Duties

  Unilever will keep WPP's Mindshare as its media-buying agency in the U.S., the first shoe to drop in a $6 billion global review by the client. However, the media planning portion of the account is still up for grabs. ...

• IPG Shareholders Keep Roth, Exec Compensation In Place

  Interpublic shareholders met Thursday in New York and voted overwhelmingly to re-elect all members of the company's board of directors including chairman and CEO Michael Roth. ...

• Ford Gets Its Oval Back

  Ford owns the Blue Oval again, part of a deal that came with the Dearborn, Mich., automaker getting its credit rating back in the red, or blue. "It would not be the same company without that logo. Anytime you see that logo, it cues up everything you think ...

• Safeway CEO Apologizes to Clinton, Pelosi

  Steve Burd, chairman and CEO of Safeway, has sent a letter of apology to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for a joke the chain's general counsel made at last week's annual meeting, according to published reports. The letter from Burd ...

• Weird Tie-Ins For Queen's Diamond Jubilee

  The Queen's Diamond Jubilee is bringing out some bizarre brand associations. Jubilee-themed spaghetti and beer, are just some: Unilever's Marmite rebranding to Ma'mite in honor of the Queen; a truly bizarre T-Mobile UK spot about all the things the British love, set on the balcony of the Royal ...

• Chicken Mentions Increase On Menus

  After the recent report of mad cow disease in California, combined with the bad press over the beef industry from pink slime, chicken looks to be making a resurgence on the foodservice scene, per Mintel. "In addition to the recent health-related issues surrounding beef, and the already high ...

• Ketel Seeks Gentlemen With Ideas

  Ketel One Vodka has teamed up with GQ magazine to issue "A Gentleman's Call: In Pursuit of an Idea That Matters." The idea is to search for an original idea that champions "the lifestyle of the modern gentleman" and men are asked to head to AGentlemansCall.com to present ...

• Dish's 'Auto-Hop' Ad Skipper Versus Networks

  Dish Network and the major TV networks are suing each other over what Dish calls its "best in class DVR" technology that lets viewers skip over TV commercials with a single click. "Ultimately, this case is about consumer choice," said Dish in a complaint filed Thursday in Manhattan ...

• Android Adds In-App Subs, Apple Tweaks App Discovery

  Google is giving developers the ability to sell recurring subscriptions via its in-app billing service. Meanwhile, Apple has added new merchandising categories to its app store to aid discovery. ...

• Fox Sues Dish Network Over AutoHop

  Fox network has filed what analysts believe will be the first of many TV network lawsuits against Dish Network for its new commercial-skipping feature called AutoHop. In return, Dish has countersued Fox, as well as NBC, CBS, and ABC. ...

• PayPal Adds POS, Retail Partners For In-Store Payments

  PayPal has announced partnerships with two of the biggest point-of-sale (POS) terminal providers and the expansion of its in-store payment system to an additional 15 retailers. Together, the moves strengthen PayPal's bid to become a key player in the emerging digital wallet arena. ...

• Kohl Urges Scrutiny Of Verizon-Cable Alliance

  Verizon's proposed plan to co-market services with four cable companies presents "serious competition concerns," the head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee said on Thursday. ...

• Nissan's Schaffer Talks Races, Ride-and-Drives

  Jay Schaffer, Nissan North America's promotions manager, talks to Marketing Daily about the race, the company's hiring of local-market event and marketing consultants (dubbed Nissan Next Launch Managers), and a road show called Nissan Next. ...

• Facebook Still Commands User Loyalty

  Investors may have grown disenchanted with Facebook, but a new survey suggests that users are still highly engaged with the social network. In addition to its huge audience of more than 900 million, the amount of time spent on Facebook has long been one of the key selling ...

• Target Takes Shopkick App Nationwide

  Target says it is taking its relationship with Shopkick national, and will now accept the app at all its stores. Shopkick allows users to earn points as they shop, redeeming them for rewards and discounts at participating stores nationwide. ...

• TV Everywhere Apps Score Better On iPads Vs. Multichannel Distributors

  Over-the-top mobile video services -- and TV Everywhere services from content owners -- are generally better performers when it comes to iPad downloads than TV Everywhere apps from multichannel video retailers. ...

• 'New Orleans Picayune' Drops Daily Print Schedule

  The "New Orleans Times-Picayune" is ceasing daily publication and moving to a new print schedule of three days a week, according to Advance Publications. This marks the first time that a major American newspaper has opted to reduce its publishing schedule quite so drastically. ...

• How To Use SEO Citations To Attract Local Business

  Citation building can become tedious, but Eric Covino identifies a way to integrate this tactic into a part of a local search engine optimization campaign without being too boring. He explains what he believes is a better way to set up the project, find quality citations, compare the ...

• Kirby Winfield's Tech BS List For Online Advertising

  Kirby Winfield gives us a "total BS" list of the top seven things people in technology have been saying for the past five years. It begins with "brand dollars will come online if we just do ____ " and ends with "ad networks are dead." He explains why ...

• Optimizing Sites To Follow Customer Life Cycles

  Optimizing Web sites for software as a service (SaaS) vendors can become a long and drawn-out process. The sales cycle takes more time and consideration. It's not an impulse buy. And some potential clients can keep a company's brand in sight without actually making content. Naomi Niles gives ...

• Which Gets Better Buzz: Google Or Facebook?

  Facebook and Google are two of the most talked-about companies in the media. Does the search engine or the social network get more buzz? HighBeam Research measured the online attention of both to calculate the amount of media attention received during the past five years. ...

• Out-Of-Home, Cinema Ad Revs Spike

  Buoyed by increases in a number of categories, out-of-home advertising revenue increased 4.5% to $1.4 billion in the first quarter of 2012, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. This marks the eighth consecutive quarter of year-over-year revenue growth for the medium. ...

• OTT Apps Cut Into Mobile Video Revs

  What do you get when you give consumers the ability to access the full HTML Internet, over-the-top (OTT) video services, apps and TV Everywhere from mobile devices? A significantly reduced incentive for them to pay for dedicated carrier-based mobile video services, according to new research from SNL Ka ...

• Mag Bag: Food Mags Unveil New Cookbooks

  Two leading food magazines -- "Every Day with Rachael Ray" and "Eating Well" -- are helping consumers get ready for summer and eat healthy with free digital cookbooks. ...

• CNN Prime-Time Audience Dwindling

  The figures for last week were truly bad, deeply bad - the worst for the news network in 20 years. CNN averaged just 395,000 viewers in prime time for the week of May 14, a figure lower than any week of prime-time programming on the network since September ...

• New Membership Model Works For National Journal Group

  Nine months ago, Atlantic Media's National Journal Group took the bold step of converting the politics and policy publisher's individual subscription model to one based on membership in hopes of growing revenue and loyalty. The offering was unusual in a few ways: annual fees would go as high ...

• BuzzFeed Preps D.C. Bureau

  The buzz around BuzzFeed opening a Washington bureau is true. Political Editor Ben Smithconfirms to FishbowlDC that the LOL-laden site is shooting to bring on new blood by summer to get the cat pic operation up and running. Will he poach from his former stomping ground of Politicowhere ...

• Wieden + Kennedy Win Grand Efie For 'Detroit'

  Wieden + Kennedy won the Grand Effie for its “Imported from Detroit” campaign for Chrysler. It was one of 10 finalist; last year Wieden also won for the Old Spice "The man your man can smell like" work. The other contenders, included Leo Burnett/Starcom’s “Mayhem” for Allstate; BBDO’s ...

• Mindshare Retains Billion-Dollar Unilever Business

  Mindshare has successfully retained Unilever’s whopping $1.4 billion U.S. media buying account. The CPG giant decided not to go forward with a review of its U.S. media buying work and is nearing a selection for an agency to handle its global media planning chores. ...

• Wake Up! Select Comfort Puts Mattress Account In Review

  Select Comfort Corp., marketer of Sleep Number brand mattresses and related bedding products, is conducting a media agency review, according to sources. The company spent $90 million on ads in 2011, up about 30% from the previous year. ...

• App Platform Kony Cops $15M

  Mobile app development platform Kony Solutions has closed a $15 million series C round of financing, led by Insight Venture Partners. With cash in hand, “The startup is looking [to] fund the deployment of new sales and marketing programs, regional expansion, and to ramp up hiring,” TechCrunch reports.  ...

• Mobile Threatens Browser Diversity

  As it stands, consumers can freely choose between four or five browsers to surf the Web. Yet, some suggest that the rise of mobile devices threatens such freedom. “On personal computers running Windows, Macs, and Linux, you can pick from a variety of browsers, finding the best combination ...

• Skinnygirl In 'Drink Like a Lady' Campaign

  Women "know what they want...and the art of socializing should be on their own terms," says Skinnygirls Cocktails founder Bethenny Frankel. Both the brand and the new campaign are about "reinventing the art of cocktailing," she adds. ...