In what appears to be a first for an agency holding company, Publicis' VivaKi unit has created a chief social media officer role, and appointed a top public relations industry executive -- Edelman's Michael Wiley. The move is telling for several reasons, and illustrates how quickly big Madison Avenue agencies are reorganizing around the rapid ascent of social media as a marketing communications platform. Wiley -- perhaps the biggest name yet to move from PR to a top role overseeing social media at a major full-service agency entity -- will work closely with Rishad Tobaccowala, the chief strategy and innovation officer at VivaKi, to whom he reports. VivaKi is the holding company level unit that oversees all of Publicis' media agencies, including Starcom MediaVest Group, Zenith Optimedia Group, and its digital operations, including Digitas, Razorfish and Denuo. Most recently managing director, Central region, for Edelman Digital, Wiley spent five years at the agency, where he played a key role in building the firm's digital business in the U.S. and Europe. He was an early member of the firm's global media lab, me2revolution, and oversaw social media and other digital work for clients such as Abbott, Disney, Harley-Davidson, Kraft Foods, Quaker and United. Prior to Edelman, Wiley was a global communications director on the client side, spending nearly 10 years at General Motors, where his innovations included the 2005 co-development of one of the first company-written consumer blogs, "FastLane." Such "engagement" activities, including RSS feeds and site comments, which he began doing at GM in 2000, were something "PR people could grasp," he recalled, and "top-down" marketing people "weren't comfortable with." But in the past few years, Wiley noted, social media has moved beyond the early goals of "reputation management," awareness and viral buzz to the point where paid social media such as Facebook pages now drive the consumer engagement side. With PR people "not in position" to initiate that, the brand-side chief marketing officer has begun to win the social media struggle with the chief communications officer, he added. With PR and advertising often encroaching on each other's social media turf, Wiley said he has agreed -- for a year -- not to work on any clients that may simultaneously be using a VivaKi agency for "owned" social media" and Edelman for "earned" social media. He won't be dealing directly with clients, in any case, as that remains the function of VivaKi's individual agencies. "What I'm being entrusted with," Wiley said, "is making sure VivaKi agencies have the skills, platforms and talent" to own the "earned space." An overall goal is to have VivaKi agencies use social media to "create a path to purchase." An initial aim, Wiley said, is "to increase the internal awareness of the changing media landscape and to do that with a global client base." His specific tasks include "upgrading the capabilities for client-facing agencies," working on standardization of product offerings, looking at potential mergers & acquisitions, developing best practices, and providing education and training. Wiley said he would like to emulate an online distant learning system he instituted at Edelman. Called "digital belt," attendees earned "white belts" to "black belts" based on their levels of achievement. He said he believes in "enterprise social architecture," a top-to-bottom approach to social media that includes everything from customer acquisition to social CRM (customer relationship management." While he said that VivaKi agencies already have ample social media capabilities, Wiley added that those capabilities are "isolated and informal." "I want to get passionate people involved," he said, inviting such employees from across VivaKi properties to share with each other at regular twice-monthly meetings. In addition to VivaKi's four agencies, Wiley is also expected to be heavily involved with Vivaki's Nerve Center, its digital platform think tank, and The Pool, which tests and creates new ad models. His move reunites him with Curt Hecht, Nerve Center CEO, who was previously chief digital officer at Starcom MediaVest, with a dedicated client focus on General Motors.
Lawmakers have recently proposed measures that would require Web companies to allow consumers to opt out of online data collection, but significant questions remain about whether such laws would violate companies' First Amendment rights to communicate with each other. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could go a long way toward answering those questions. The matter stems from a Vermont law that prohibits pharmacies from selling records of prescriptions written by doctors without their opt-in consent. The law, which was enacted in 2007, bans such sales even though pharmacies mask patients' names by "de-identifying" the records. Data mining companies including IMS Health challenged the law in court, arguing that it violated the First Amendment by restricting speech -- in this case, their ability to obtain information that is used to market drugs to doctors. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with IMS Health and struck down the law. Vermont's top law enforcement official is now attempting to convince the Supreme Court to reinstate the measure. Tuesday's Supreme Court proceeding drew the attention of a host of outside groups that weighed in with friend-of-the-court briefs, some of which raise arguments that would apply to laws regarding online behavioral targeting, or serving ads to people based on sites they previously visited. For instance, the trade groups Association of National Advertisers, American Advertising Federation and American Association of Advertising Agencies argue in a joint brief that marketers have a constitutional right to collect information. "The First Amendment safeguards the entire communication process, including the gathering of data used to create a commercial or non-commercial message," the associations say in their brief. Those same arguments also have been raised to the Federal Trade Commission. In 2008, the Newspaper Association of America filed comments with the FTC arguing that any rules curbing newspapers' ability to serve ads to readers would violate newspapers' First Amendment rights. (The following year, the group retreated somewhat and voiced support for the idea that Web companies should voluntarily allow users to opt out of online behavioral targeting.) On the other side of the issue, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was among the groups supporting the Vermont law as necessary to protect patients' privacy. The EFF says that enabling doctors to prevent the sale of their prescription-writing histories -- even with patients "de-identified" -- ultimately protects people from the risk that their identities will be pieced together. "There are substantial concerns today about the efficacy of this 'de-identification' for protecting privacy given the enormous trade in consumer data," the EFF argues. During Tuesday's hearing, Antonin Scalia indicated that he saw restrictions on data mining as problematic. After an attorney advocating on behalf of the Vermont law said that it wasn't a restriction on speech but on "access to the information that the pharmaceutical manufacturers would like to use to inform their advertising," Scalia interjected with the following comment: "The information necessary for effective speech is what you're saying, right?" Sonia Sotomayor, on the other hand, indicated that she believes that the government has a valid interest in protecting consumers' privacy. "If you're a consumer who doesn't want a million catalogs, the industry is giving you the right to opt out, so they don't sell your address," she said, before wondering aloud whether Vermont should have passed a statute allowing doctors to opt out of having their prescription-writing histories sold rather than banning sales without opt-in consent. She also remarked: "Today with the Internet and with computers, there's virtually no privacy individuals have."
Facebook launched a new local deals service Tuesday that allows users to get special offers and discounts directly through the home page as well as email and notifications. The new feature (not to be confused with the mobile check-in Deals Facebook launched last year) is being tested initially in five cities: Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego and San Francisco. It will eventually be extended to other cities. The initiative reflects Facebook's efforts to compete more directly with popular daily deal services like Groupon and LivingSocial. With its more than 500 million users worldwide, the social network clearly has the potential to drive significant business for merchants and become a major player in the space. The daily deals market is expected to reach $2.7 billion this year, according to a recent forecast by Local Offer Network. Through its new offering, Facebook users have the option to buy, share and "Like" deals. One example the company highlighted in its announcement is a promotion from Austin City Limits for an "All Access Experience" for concerts starting next month; it includes backstage passes, sound check access and a catered dinner in addition to attending the show. The idea is that the deals will not just be about getting discounts on products or service, but taking advantage of "interesting experiences" in your area. Facebook is working with a host of third-party partners to syndicate deals including Opentable, Gilt City, Tippr, PopSugar City, Plum District, ReachLocal, Zozi, Home Run, KGB Deals, aDealio, and ViaGoGo. For Facebook users who have listed any of the five pilot cities as their "current location," a new Deals tab will appear on the home page to find offers. When it comes to buying deal coupons, Facebook is planning to include its Credits virtual currency as a payment option, in addition to credit cards. Facebook began promoting the new deals service last month through a special "coming soon" message that appeared in users' news feeds, urging them to subscribe to get updates about offers and invite friends to do the same. It also set up an informational page for businesses interested in providing deals. Facebook unveiled Check-In Deals in the U.S. for mobile users in connection with the launch of Facebook Places last November. But the feature has yet to gain widespread adoption by businesses, according to the Inside Facebook blog. That suggests the broader deals program kicking off today will not necessarily have an immediate impact on Groupon or LivingSocial. As its expands deals to other cities, however, Facebook represents as a growing threat to their dominance.
Magnetic and C3 Metrics have launched a retargeting and funnel attribution model. The combination of platforms from the two companies -- search targeting and attribution technology -- allows marketers to understand the words consumers search to arrive at an advertiser's Web site. The duo unveils the partnership Wednesday with an undisclosed consumer product group company. Magnetic retargets display ads based on consumer search history. Partnering with search engines allows the company to see about 8 billion searches monthly, according to Josh Shatkin-Margolis, Magnetic CEO. The code on result pages of search engines allows Magnetic to gain the insight. Now Magnetic's embedded code supports macros and instructions from C3 Metrics to monitor attribution. C3 Metrics will serve the line of code on the search engine and pass on to Magnetic the specific search term. The two companies will exchange data to support clients. "Keywords are the insight advertisers choose to define their target audience," Shatkin-Margolis says. "Any additional information you can provide to marketers is invaluable. It will change the way companies spend the approximate $20 billion on search campaigns." The Search Engine Professional Marketing Organization estimates the North American search marketing industry will rise 16% in 2011 to reach $19.3 billion. More companies this year will begin to integrate search data into other types of media. In display advertising, the integration allows advertisers to track campaign clicks and specific keyword searches. Along with Shatkin-Margolis, C3 Metrics CEO Mark Hughes says the deal gives advertisers insight into the "upper funnel," especially the competitions' keywords. Hughes says one competitor often bids against four others on search terms. If Audi knows it can capitalize on the positive correlation to a searcher searching on the word "Cadillac," it may want to capture the data from the search terms so it can begin remarketing display ads to people who search on the competitions' keywords. Hughes defines "positive correlation" as when a car manufacturer like BMW spends $7 million more online this year, compared with last. The increase also benefits similar manufacturers like Audi. "For every dollar spent on search marketing with the keyword 'BMW,' if you're Audi, you might get $4.32 back in revenue value," he says, explaining that the advertisers buys the ads against competitor bids and terms. "Cadillac might get $8.32." C3 Metrics is looking to capture the data that tells advertisers which words began the transaction or completed the conversion for the advertiser and its competitors.
Paving the way for more online activity, 99.4 million U.S. households will be online by the end of 2016 -- of which 97.9 million will have broadband services -- according to a new forecast from Interpublic Group's Magna Global. As of the end of the fourth quarter of 2010, about 84.7 million homes -- or 71.5% of the total -- were online, while 90% of these homes accessed the Web using broadband services. Magna now predicts that 61.9 million U.S. homes -- or 50% of the total -- will subscribe to DVR services by the end of 2016, which would be up from 39.2 million -- 33.5% -- at the end of last year. By 2016, Magna expects that Video On Demand -- which it now defines as all Over-the-Top services -- will reach 70.1 million households, or about 57% of all TV-viewing households). This compares with 52.5 million VOD households -- 45% -- at the end of the fourth quarter of 2010. Overall, the "increase in broadband access and DVR/VOD penetration means consumers are still watching TV. They're just doing it differently," says Alex Feldman, a manager at Magna Global. "The Web is supplementing traditional TV and at the moment, we're not seeing the Web and DVRs take away from the sheer volume of traditional TV consumption." For a number of reasons, Feldman insists that DVR and VOD do not threaten the Web. "Pros for DVR usage include size and quality of the screen and more limited premium content options available online," he says. "The pros for Web viewing include limits to DVR box storage space and consumer's ability to catch up with content he or she may have forgotten to record." Last week, Magna predicted that U.S. advertising sales would increase 1.8% in 2011 -- less than last year's 3.2%. Meanwhile, online media spending will show an 18.7% gain this year, Magna said. Earlier this year, Magna said it expected digital display advertising to grow by 11.6% on a normalized basis during the year. Standouts should include mobile advertising, which Magna saw soar by 60.1%, along with paid search, which it estimates will grow 11.1% this year. Overall, however, Magna suggested that growth remains hampered by "continuing weakness in unemployment ... the absence of a meaningful pick-up in the overall economy and constrained deployments of capital among businesses of all kinds."
Independent mobile app store GetJar is going social with the latest version of its site. The updated portal includes integration with Facebook Connect -- the tool that allows people to sign into third-party sites with their Facebook login -- so users can see what apps friends are downloading and share their own selections through the social network. GetJar -- which offers apps for multiple smartphone platforms, including Android, iOS, BlackBerry and Symbian -- boasts 1.5 billion downloads to date. It claims to be the first app storefront to fully embrace Facebook as part of its offering. In addition to sharing download activity, users can also extend comments and app ratings posted on GetJar back to Facebook. "Now that users can share apps with their friends on Facebook, recommendations are really a bit old school," stated GetJar CEO Ilja Laurs. "Our recent research clearly showed us that what consumers care about is what their friends are downloading and using, not what we as an app store think they should download." The company points out that only 21.6% of app users actually find titles by searching in app stores, according to its recent App Meter survey. But the same study found that only 8.8% discover apps based on recommendations from friends, and only 5.8% through social media. The majority of users (53%) said they learn about apps via the Internet. This suggests GetJar's Facebook integration could help drive more traffic to the site, but it may not make a big difference in how users find out about apps. The revamped site also allows consumers to track their personal downloads with GetJar's My Apps feature, which consolidates the user's downloaded app history for reference. If consumers want to get recommendations or search for apps on their own, GetJar's redesign is intended to simplify the process. The new interface includes navigation tabs for fast browsing, improved search to find apps more easily, a Top Apps section to find the most popular titles, and another new section highlighting new apps. The 75,000 apps in the GetJar catalog are far fewer than the more than the estimated 225,000 apps in the Android Market or 350,000 in Apple's App Store. But the company tries to compete with its larger rivals by offering an "open" alternative, with an app storefront that is not tied to a single mobile platform. That cross-platform approach in February helped GetJar secure $25 million in third-round venture funding from Tiger Global Management and other investors and a total of $42 million to date.