• The Rosy Local Forecast
    Local Internet advertisers are battening down the hatches in 2009, preparing for a harsh year ahead. But despite the tanking economy, local ad dollars in digital media will still rise in 2009, at least as far as Borrell Associates can see through its rose-colored glasses.
  • Countdown to Extinction
    As a light and fun distraction from the events of the day, why not ponder what 12 things you'd save if the world were ending? What a refreshing break from total economic collapse. Moxie Interactive created the campaign "The Earth's Vital List" as part of the promotion for the Twentieth Century Fox remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. On the day the movie is released, Dec. 12, Moxie and Twentieth Century Fox will name the 1,212 most popular things.
  • If You Can't Stop It, Monetize It
    Entertainment companies have had little success stopping fans from illegally uploading their content. Now, MySpace has a way to ease the pain: Slap ads on the stuff.
  • Running on Fumes
    In what is perhaps a last-ditch grab for some of that federal bailout money thought to be coming Detroit's way, Burst Media announced in November a new vertical network aimed at "auto intenders" - people thinking of buying a car. The company says it can greatly influence auto sales by reaching consumers whose online behaviors suggest they're in the market, a window that averages 30 to 90 days. (When it finds out that what consumers are in the market for these days are Vespas, mopeds and rickshaws, there might be trouble.)
  • Live Wired
    "Individuals don't sort themselves by media channel," says David Rich, senior vice president, strategic marketing, worldwide at experience marketing company George P. Johnson. Rich was explaining why his company, which has its roots as a sail-maker in the early 1900s, recently acquired mobile marketing platform MobilePromote and interactive agency JUXT Interactive.
  • Getting Diggy With It
    In a move that would make even polygamists and swingers envious, Diggywood Studios recently announced partnerships with five different production houses. The digital media studio will provide its DiggyActive technology to Loose Cannon Films, Kihou Productions, Big Fat Institute, Building D and Crowned Kings Production.
  • Stoned Slackers Get the Message
    The hordes of squatters are a perennial free Wi-Fi dilemma in coffeehouses. They buy one cup of coffee and then sit for hours, scaring away new customers and taking up space. But they might have a solution - they being the Amsterdam-based agency that came up with a plan to deal with the freeloader conundrum for its client The Coffee Company, Holland's largest coffee chain. And if it works there, it might work anywhere: Imagine something that can motivate slackers who are not just lazy but also stoned, and loafing with laptops.
  • Social Climber
    A Boston start-up is banking on the notion that teenagers who download a pretend version of a branded item will want to buy the real thing. Hangout.net is sort of a cross between MySpace and The Sims: Users design their own online avatars and three-dimensional bedrooms, which they decorate with virtual, branded merchandise - 3-D cartoon renditions of Vans shoes, cans of Red Bull, posters from art.com and so on.
  • The Se7enth Seal
    There are seven deadly sins, seven days of the week, seven brides for seven brothers, seven dwarves, and, according to eMarketer, seven ways to tighten your belt in these lean times.
  • Up With Veeple
    Veeple has a pretty simple proposition: Spend $49 a month for its service and you might generate an 18.1% click-through rate, too, just as its 100-plus customers did in its first month. The interactive video technology firm, which launched in October, offers Web publishers the ability to make anything in a video clickable.
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