• AdServer Focus: AdManager 6.0
    When CMGI didn’t renew a $50 million loan to Engage last year, the online ad world thought the latter company — once the world’s second biggest ad network — was never coming back. From a media perspective, that was the right assumption. Engage has officially gotten out of the media business. But the technology side of its business is ready for a return engagement. Making its official debut at the upcoming @d:tech Los Angeles conference on June 19, Engage’s AdManager Version 6.0 ad serving technology could prove to be a worthy competitor to the 800-pound gorilla that is DoubleClick. …
  • ClickPicks: Ads.com
    If you’re one of those people who actually pay attention to TV commercials and often find yourself pondering questions such as "I wonder what agency put that commercial together" or "Do they have a website?" or even "I wonder if there’s a way I could ever see that spot again," look no further than this month’s ClickPick — Ads.com. A fairly new website, Ads.com allows users to search for TV ads either by brand or by product name, or by the TV show in which it ran. It also has a Top 10 list of funny ads, as well …
  • Media for a New World: The New Media Agency
    In March, I wrote an article for MediaPost’s MediaDailyNews (see MediaDailyNews Archives at www.mediapost.com for 3/4/02) titled "A New Planning Organization." In it I discussed the concept of the new independent media (planning) agencies taking over the account planning function. In this article I will expand on the concept and talk about "The New Media Agency" from a global standpoint. A little history is in order here. Media planning and buying always used to coexist within the same organization as creative. Yes, kids, it’s true. They were called full-service agencies. In the late ’60s and through the late ’80s, …
  • Media Circus: Softening The Target
    Standing in line at a Ralph’s grocery store here in So-Cal not too long ago, I refused to absorb ad impressions and other information from a small TV set babbling at me from in front of the register. Well, I tried, anyway. These unwelcome broadcasts cut into the important business of surreptitiously perusing the prurient rants of the scandal sheets and the near-bare bosoms exploding off the covers of the women’s and fitness mags, and resisting the overwhelming desire to rip through Cosmopolitan to find out what "secret spot" will "drive him wild," for surely I’m missing something here …
  • Media for the Online World: No Denying - Web’s for Branding
    If you’ve been part of this industry for a significant period of time, you no doubt recognize (and groan at) the ongoing circular debate about whether this medium is in fact a branding or response-driven medium. At some stage, the more intelligent members of this community declared, “It’s both.” The term “branded response” emerged to describe a dual objective, which could be achieved with any online campaign. Today, I’m telling you that no one is correct. First of all, this is not a medium. We’ve done ourselves a major disservice by comparing the Internet to other media and illustrating how …
  • Shop Talk: Good Things in Small Packages
    Maybe small is beautiful. I’ve been thinking about that lately, as I research the small creative shops that serve the interactive business. My 20-year career has been spent at creative and/or media agencies with billings in excess of $100 million annually. So working with smaller numbers in billings and employees astounds me. Here’s an example: a young, dynamic entrepreneur who came from the big agency business much like myself – we’ll call him James - runs a five-person interactive shop out of the Hamptons in Eastern Long Island. The delightful surprise is the caliber of marketers who send business …
  • Internet Advertising 101: Effective Performance-Based Marketing
    Identifying Cost Per Action (CPA) campaigns that have a reasonable likelihood of success is an art form. It takes (Internet) years of experience. But I’m a friendly guy and I’m here to help. Here’s my personal four-point vetting process. 1) Establish the consumer viability of the offer. The viability of the offer is a function of its attractiveness to the consumer and its ease of completion. First, is there a significant enough audience of potential consumers online that would respond to this offer? Last week, a potential advertiser offered me a campaign that paid per sale on the purchase of …
  • Agency Profile: Zentropy Partners
    Using a customer-centric approach, Zentropy Partners helps clients find their direction online.
  • The End of Rich Media
    Is rich media still the savior of interactive marketing, or just more hype to be piled onto the bonfire of the dot-com meltdown?
  • Hot Fun In The Summertime
    Everyone knows that Web traffic and advertising slow down in the summer, but there are sites that succeed while the others are sweating it out. Data from Nielsen//NetRatings says Yahoo! was last summer’s leader, with 1,562 individual advertisers. Meanwhile, Webshots was second with 1,154. The Web’s number one photo site, according to ZDNet, which allows users to store, share, and print digital photos, "was not hit by the summer falloff as far as traffic [is concerned]," says company president Narendra Rocherolle. Since the site deals with photography, it may be used heavily during the summer by users with vacation …
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