Pay per click search engine advertising is growing in popularity, but advertisers aren't doing it right. They can't manage their bids, so they end up paying too much for them. 360i.com, an interactive agency with many pay per click advertisers, is trying to solve that problem with a software program it developed called Bid Optimizer. The software interfaces with the top five pay per click search engines and continuously updates a client's bids so they are never more than one cent above the next lowest bid. For instance, if the top bid for a key word is $2.00 and the third bid is $1.50, an advertiser could buy the second position for $1.51 by using Bid Optimizer. "It creates efficiency and saves money," says David Williams, president of 360i.com in Atlanta. Williams says the company has been using Bid Optimizer for the past few months, but is just starting to sell it to advertisers and is offering it as a free test to some. They'll pay for it on a per click basis, at three cents per click, he says. One of the first advertisers to use it is Proflowers.com, the second biggest online florist after 1800flowers.com, Williams says. Bid Optimizer interfaces with Goto.com, Sprinks.com (About.com's pay per click search engine), Findwhat.com, Canoodle.com and Ah-ha.com. Goto.com is the leading pay per click search engine, with the other four ranking behind it but above other pay per click search engines. Listings on Goto.com and other top pay per click search engines are placed on partnering portals such as AOL, Excite, Lycos and MSN. Thus, the listings get 75% coverage across the Web, Williams says. A recent study by CyberAtlas notes that 80% of American companies optimize their search engine buying in house. This creates problems because they are unable to manage the more than 1,000 key words they often buy. They may update their bids once a week, which creates inefficiencies, because by the time they do update, the amount they bid may be far higher than the next lowest bid. Bid Optimizer solves that problem by placing new bids once an hour that are never more than 1 cent higher than the next lowest bid. This eliminates bid gaps, large price gaps in successive pay per click search engine bids. The savings can be huge for advertisers who buy lots of key words. "If they do it across the board for many terms, it starts to add up," Williams says. Advertisers will have to work with 360i.com to use Bid Optimizer. It will be offered as a value added service. The introduction of Bid Optimizer comes at a time of increased use of pay per click advertising. Unlike many other forms of online advertising, pay per click is growing this year, with Goto.com reporting increased revenue of more than 200% during Q2, compared with Q2 2000.
There seems no end to using taxis as an advertising vehicle. E-caps, the taxi hubcap ads from E-Caps North America, have expanded to Toronto with Yahoo! Canada as the first advertiser. Its e-cap ads debuted this week. E-caps, which debuted in Singapore, are a product of Kobe Eco Car Pascal Laboratory in Japan. E-Caps North America, Winnipeg, Canada, is the exclusive North American distributor. It launched e-caps in Los Angeles in May and has had success there, according to marketing director Ed McCullins. Prime Outdoor, Toronto, a media rep firm, is selling e-caps for E-Caps North America. Ross Dann, Prime Outdoor's president, says he made the Yahoo! deal by talking with Yahoo! and its ad agency, Bates Canada. He sold a ten-week package on 100 cabs. The cost to Yahoo! -- $250 per cab per month. The cost to other clients will vary depending on the number of cabs and the duration of their programs, Dann says. Bates Canada is using e-caps as part of an outdoor campaign. Transit shelters, vertical posters and digital screens in office elevators are also being used. "We want to build brand image and awareness through the media," says Lynn Mayer, Bates director of media planning. She's happy to be the first to use e-caps in Toronto. "Novelty generates word of mouth. Yahoo! will build off the media buzz from hubcap advertising," she says. Isabelle Hemond, Yahoo! Canada's brand manager, says Yahoo! likes e-caps because they're different. "Whatever hasn't been done before, we jump on it," she says. Yahoo!'s e-caps are purple with yellow lettering with the Yahoo! Canada logo and the familiar tag line, "Do you Yahoo?" The cabs come from a variety of companies. Dann says there is a core of six or seven top cab companies in Toronto he's working with. The idea is to work with different companies to find out which are best for future efforts. The companies receive a fee for running the e-caps, but Dann wouldn't say how much they get. He's convinced e-cap ads will work. "They're so eye-catching," he says. "Cabs have been used for a long time and they're very successful. The reaction has been good, there's a lot of finger pointing." He is trying to sell e-caps to other clients but says winter is a bad time, so he'll focus on programs that will begin next March. In the meantime, he's extremely happy that Yahoo! is the first client. "We needed a launch client and Yahoo! was one that will help us maintain the business." Dann says no studies have been done to determine how many people in Toronto will see the e-caps. Cabs in New York City generate 40,000 impressions per day. Cabs in Toronto travel close to 300 miles a day in heavily trafficked areas, so Dann believes they'll be highly visible. "The strength is they go where the crowds are, so people see them." McCullins says Vancouver will be the next city for e-caps. It is trying to get approval from the chief of police, which is needed there.
Every week new ad campaigns and websites are launched, and it's hard to keep up with them all. If you missed a few, here are the highlights from this week: from luxury cars to extreme home-keeping, let's go Out To Launch. Let's get this party started right, let's get this party started quickly. Polaroid announced its "Life of the Party" promotion, developed to encourage consumers to use Polaroid cameras and film at their seasonal celebrations. The centerpiece of the promotion is an instant-win sweepstakes game open to U.S. residents that can be played on, or off, line, giving consumers the chance to win $100,000 to throw the party of a lifetime. At retail, consumers will find a scratch-off game ticket in specially marked packages of Polaroid products. Participating products include OneStep Express, Silver Express, Spectra 1200FF and JoyCam instant cameras, and multi-packs of 500, 600 and Spectra film. Specially marked packages will also contain a "Party Card" redeemable for $5, $8 or $10 off the next purchase of Polaroid products. Consumers also may register to participate in the sweepstakes at www.polaroid.com/party. Visitors can play on-line once every 48 hours. If you're attending that huge party, what kind of car are you going to pull up in? Well, Infiniti, the luxury division of Nissan North America, Inc. unveiled a marketing campaign for its new I35 luxury performance sedan. Drawing inspiration from the car's significant increase in performance, luxury, technology, and flagship Q45 attributes, the campaign underscores the I35's many new features for 2002. The campaign, designed by TBWA\Chiat\Day of Playa Del Rey, Calif., features a single broadcast TV spot and a series of print, radio, newspaper, direct mail and Internet executions. Broadcast ads break on September 24; newspaper, including a Free Standing insert, begins Sept. 30; print and outdoor ads debut in October. Or you can pull up in a Lexus. Lexus is set to break a campaign touting its entry-level luxury car, the redesigned ES 300. Created by Team One Advertising in El Segundo, Calif., ads feature the new tag "Welcome to a new world of luxury." The base price of the car, which features a new body, roomier cabin and DVD-based navigation system, is $31,505. The campaign includes four 30-second TV spots, print, outdoor, online and in-theatre ads, as well as a TiVo contest encouraging viewers to find the commercials, direct marketing, sponsorships and a consumer ride and drive tour. Ads break on Oct. 1. From parties to sports, FOXSports.com recently launched their newly redesigned online presence. As an online destination, the site is an extension of Fox's sports programming and related businesses. With total involvement of the sports shows' creators, producers and on-air personalities, the new site is filled with the same type of information as the network. Also in sports, All-Pro running back Emmitt Smith is launching his "Help Emmitt Help Kids" national fundraising campaign. As Smith's pursuit of the all-time NFL rushing record continues on the field, he is also paving the way for another run: raising $22 million in the first-ever national online fundraising campaign for America's schools. Participants start their fundraising "teams" by signing up on the www.HelpEmmitt.org website, and can easily enlist the support of friends and family members by sending personalized emails from their own customizable website. More than 1,500 schools pre-registered prior to the website's official launch on Aug. 31, which is supported by a multimillion-dollar billboard advertising campaign. When Emmitt takes one too many hits, he's going to need a nurse, and Nurses for a Healthier Tomorrow, a coalition of 32 leading nursing and health care organizations addressing the nursing shortage, is launching a national advertising campaign to recruit young people into the nursing profession and encourage existing nurses to remain. The campaign targets middle- and high school-age youth, and current nurses who may be considering leaving the profession. Honorary campaign co-chairs are Luci Baines Johnson and Elizabeth Dole. The campaign consists of seven print advertisements and one television public service announcement featuring seven real-life nurses in different capacities. The coalition plans to add a radio spot, brochures and other materials as more funding is secured. And now, the rest: Fidelity National Bank has launched a marketing campaign. The first phase of the marketing campaign debuted on September 24th. Phases two and three will continue through 2002. The theme of the campaign is, "Service. Solutions. Simplicity." The multi-media campaign will focus on reaching new commercial banking customers. Fidelity National customer testimonials will be featured in the ads. The campaign will focus on print, outdoor and online ads in the metro Atlanta area. There will also be radio spots and enhancements to the branches, including newly designed posters and brochures. Jacksonville, Fla.-based Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. will rollout a multi-million dollar ad campaign in 14 states to communicate a new "Real Deal" brand position - "real good food, from real good people, at a real good price." The campaign is part of the company's ongoing initiatives to increase brand awareness and market share. A series of eight television commercials, including four brand spots and four price-item retail spots, will focus on Winn-Dixie's core brand competencies -- real good food -- real good people -- real good prices. The first television commercial is expected to break on October 3, 2001 in all major networks. "Real Deal" themed radio and print ads also will appear across all markets in which Winn-Dixie operates. Rainbow Rentals, Inc., an operator of rent-to-own stores, today unveiled a new advertising campaign that tells its customers, "You're the Boss." The campaign is the largest in Rainbow history and marks the launch of "You're the Boss" as the company's new advertising tagline. The campaign will begin Monday, October 8 with television and radio commercials and in-store materials, and will later include print and online elements. Rainbow developed the campaign with Innis Maggiore Group, an Ohio advertising and public relations firm. In each of the campaign's six TV spots, a customer suggests a discount or other promotion to a Rainbow store manager. The store manager welcomes the suggestion, implements the promotion in the store, shows a store full of name-brand products, then thanks the customer for shopping "at Rainbow Rentals, where you're the boss." Home and Garden Television Network (HGTV) has initiated a comprehensive advertising and marketing campaign in Chicago and Philadelphia, to increase awareness and viewership for the network's special series "Extreme Week" hosted by Survivor II Winner Tina Wesson. The series, which will showcase unique homes and the creative people who build and live in them, airs on HGTV beginning Monday, October 1st and ending Sunday, October 7. The advertising and marketing efforts include spots on top radio stations, leafleting and grass roots marketing teams called the "Extreme Team" throughout the city. Radio spots began running on Chicago and Philadelphia radio stations on September 24.