Yahoo confirmed Sunday that CEO Scott Thompson is stepping down amid the controversy that erupted when it was revealed that his resume and a regulatory filing exaggerated his academic credentials. Ross Levinsohn, the company’s global media head, has been appointed as interim CEO. Fred Amoroso was also named as Yahoo’s nonexecutive chairman, replacing Roy Bostock. Yahoo is awarding three board seats to major investor Third Point to settle its proxy fight with the hedge fund, which holds nearly 6% of the company’s stock. It was Third Point CEO Daniel Loeb who exposed the inaccuracy in Thompson’s bio that included a computer sciences degree he never received. In addition to Loeb, media company consultant Michael J. Wolf and restructuring specialist Harry Wilson will join the board. Former NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, who had also been on Third Point’s proposed slate, however, said he will not join the board. The five current directors, who were to leave at the company’s annual meeting this summer, will do so immediately. The blog AllThingsD first reported Thompson’s ouster. Yahoo did not elaborate on the reasons for Thompson’s departure, saying only that he has “left the company” in its statement Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reported the company is continuing its investigation of Thompson’s hiring to determine whether it can fire him for cause, which would allow it to avoid paying out millions in severance money. Yahoo last Tuesday named a three-person committee led by Amoroso to conduct a “thorough review of Thompson’s academic credentials." It also announced last week that outside board member Patti Hart, who headed the search that led to Thompson’s hiring, would not stand for reelection this summer. “The Board believes in the strength of the Company's business and assets, and in the opportunities before us, and I am honored to work closely with my fellow directors and Ross to continue to drive Yahoo! forward," said Amoroso in a statement. When Third Point brought Thompson’s fake degree to light just over a week ago, Yahoo initially called the misrepresentation as an “inadvertent error” before pledging to investigate the matter under mounting pressure from Loeb. The error in Thompson’s bio, included in a Yahoo regulatory filing in late April, said he had earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science and accounting from Stonehill College. But the school confirmed he had only received the accounting degree. The inaccuracy in Thompson’s resume had appeared periodically in his public record for years, including while was president of eBay unit PayPal before joining Yahoo in January. Previous regulatory filings by eBay, however, listed only his accounting degree in biographical material. Thompson last week issued an apology to Yahoo employees for the distraction caused by the resume flap in a memo, while reportedly telling board members he had no knowledge of the error until it was brought up by Third Point. The Journal said the board obtained evidence over the weekend to contradict that claim. His exit will end the immediate crisis. But Thompson’s botched hiring is only the latest setback for the Web portal as it seeks to keep pace with competitors like Google and Facebook. During his four-month tenure, Thompson’s main effort toward a turnaround was the layoff of about 2,000 employees, or about 14% of its workforce. Levinsohn, who joined Yahoo in late 2010 as head of media and ad sales for the Americas, is an Internet media veteran. In addition to having served as president of News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media, he has held management positions at AltaVista, Sportsline and HBO. Yahoo said Levinsohn would manage the company’s day-to-day operations with assistance from the company’s existing senior leadership. Among the immediate issues facing the interim CEO is restoring morale at the embattled Web portal, which has suffered as a result of the uncertainty surrounding Thompson's status. He will also have to take over Yahoo's negotiations to sell its 40% stake in China-based Alibaba, estimated to be worth $11 billion. For its part, Madison Avenue may welcome a familiar media figure like Levinsohn leading Yahoo again after being headed by executives in Thompson and predecessor Carol Bartz, who joined from technology companies. Whether he can return Yahoo to days of strong growth with Facebook eating into its display ad dollars is another question. “We have found advertisers and marketers to be generally indifferent rather than ambivalent towards Yahoo as a media owner. For durable growth to return, advertisers and marketers must by and large 'love’ Yahoo or find that they can’t otherwise do without it,” wrote Brian Wieser of Pivotal Research Group, in a research note Sunday on Thompson’s departure.
Where's the last place you had sex? That's one question in a list that DKT International, a nonprofit organization promoting family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention, asked in an online campaign running in Brazil. Google AdWords and Facebook Ads drove traffic to a dedicated Web site where consumers were asked numerous questions related to their sexual experience. The online campaign ran for 45 days, ending April 15. It asked consumers to post a description of their last sexual experience, location, partner gender, and position. It also asked participants to reveal their favorite type of condom. The DKT Condom Tester Program in Brazil that ran last year resulted in the prevention of nearly 10 million infant deaths and about 250,000 unwanted pregnancies in 2011. The promotion that asked consumers to share their experience came from a Planned Parenthood campaign where 55,000 condoms with QR codes were distributed in the United States. The codes encouraged college students to anonymously "check in" and boast about the great safe sex they had. DKT's contest sparked more than 100,000 Web site visits, 10,000 registered participants and 3,000 submitted stories from consumers in Brazil. It also pulled in stores from consumers in Europe, as well as the United States, Canada, Mexico, Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, and Japan. While Google AdWords proves successful for targeting consumers in Istanbul, Turkey, where about 10% of sales come from online, Facebook drives more traffic and sales in Brazil. Targeting ads to specific audiences prompted Fans to Like the Facebook page or sent them to the Web site where visitors could sign up for the newsletter, participate in the promotion, and eventually make a purchase. Facebook provided the best targeted approach for the promotion. This year's drew in 78% men and the remainder were women. It allowed DKT to serve ads to specific groups, such as married men looking for relationships with men. DKT also ran banner ads and advertisements in men’s magazines, but Daniel Marum, DKT's country director in Brazil, said the Facebook portion of the campaign, targeting members ages 18 to 25, worked so well that he moved part of the budget allocated for portal banners to Facebook Ads. The shift occurred about three weeks into the campaign. "The campaign created nearly 30,000 Facebook Likes in about 45 days," he said. Christopher Purdy, executive VP at DKT, said reaching consumers in countries outside the United States and Europe, and asking them to purchase goods online isn't always easy. For example, Africa and some Asian countries don't have strong postal delivery services and ecommerce systems for consumers to buy online. Turkey and Brazil are two countries working out the kinks in ecommerce and postal delivery services, allowing DKT to drive traffic and sales through online campaigns, Purdy said. This campaign didn't have a mobile component, but Marun said DKT has done some integration with Foursquare.
Narian Technology will soon begin marketing a Web portal that allows mobile app developers and consumers to create a near-field communication (NFC) application in minutes. The group spearheading the project, the NFC4ALL initiative, encourages the use of NFC technology. The free app development tools include an NFC Tag Writer App that encodes, secures, and initiates content in one step. Narian aims to prove that through its tools that a variety of developers and consumers -- from corporations to soccer moms to college rock bands -- can create NFC-enabled apps, according to Einar Rosenberg, Narian’s CEO. In a post on LinkedIn, Rosenberg explained how he hopes the not-for-profit project will help "evangelize and inspire" the use of NFC. "This is for creating awareness to the 10s of millions and soon to be 100s of millions of people who have NFC phones today," Rosenberg wrote. Global sales of handsets with NFC-enabled features rose to 30 million units in 2011, and should reach 700 million units in 2016, according to research by Berg Insight. Some of the creative uses of the site during the beta include developing sign-up lists for a Junior PTA meeting and parent drop-off confirmations at a preschool. Companies have begun adopting NFC. Google Wallet supports the technology. Virgin Mobile on Friday said it will launch the LG Optimus Elite this month. The phone will have NFC technology. Much of the attention to date on NFC has focused on mobile payments, but the technology can enable marketing, advertising, digital content delivery, access control, gaming, device pairing via Bluetooth and location-based services, according to VDC Research Analyst Mike Liard.
The U.S.’s place at the forefront of mobile advertising is quickly coming to a close as Brazil, China, and India (the BRIC nations minus Russia) prepare to take center stage. That's the conclusion of a new Yankee Group study projecting that mobile ad spending across the three countries will grow sixfold to more than $6 billion by 2016, while the U.S. total flattens to about half that amount in four years. Europe will see even less expansion, with mobile ad revenue expected to rise little from the estimated $1 billion total this year. Yankee Group analyst Jason Armitage argues that ad dollars will increasingly flow to emerging markets where mobile is the primary digital platform, rather than the PC. He predicts, for example, that mobile will make up more than half (51%) of digital ad revenue in India in four years, compared to just 11% in the U.S. A recent Interactive Advertising Board estimate put U.S. mobile ad spending at $1.6 billion in 2011, or about 5% of total online ad sales of $31 billion. But given growing opportunities in the “BRIC” countries, the research firm projects that growth here will slow as mobile ad investment spreads out internationally. The study finds that ad spending per mobile device in the U.S. is still at a low level, with dollars going to PC-based Web campaigns 70 times higher than those on handsets. It attributes that disparity in part to time spent on the two platforms. U.S. consumers averaged 1.3 hours daily usage of mobile Web and text, compared to 3.8 hours online on a desktop computer, in 2011. But Armitage also points to two other factors: the mismatch between traditional online ad formats and the quick-check patterns of smartphone usage, and the lack of user data in the mobile sphere. In the latter case, he suggests that things are improving rapidly as mobile operators and technology providers find ways to generate data tied to demographics, location, and user behaviors. “This is enabling better targeting of ads, frequency capping and contextual promotions,” the report states. In particular, it points to in-app ads as the best bet for mobile advertising because of the greater targeting capability they afford. Roughly a quarter of U.S. app downloaders across smartphones and tablets have clicked on an ad this year, according to a Yankee Group survey. Targeting on the iOS platform, of course, has become more challenging for developers since Apple’s decision last year to begin phasing out access to unique device identifiers (UDID) for tracking user activity across apps. When it comes to devices, the report highlights the emergence of tablets as a favored mobile ad vehicle. It shows that tablets in the first quarter generated $13.43 on average in ad spending compared to $5.06 for smartphones and $2.05 for feature phones. “Low creative costs and high click-through rates (CTRs) attract brand advertisers and deliver CPMs over three times the smartphone level,” the study says of tablets. By 2016, Yankee Group estimates that tablets will account for 38% of smart devices in the U.S., providing wider reach to match up with promising early results in ad performance. Regardless of device type, Armitage stresses that user-first focus will by central to success in mobile advertising given the personal nature of handheld gadgets. Mobile differs fundamentally from online advertising in making consent a key element of marketing programs, posing a higher bar to advertisers in reaching consumers. That’s especially true in mature markets, where privacy-related regulations around mobile are more likely to influence ad activities. “Data on context and personal circumstances provides enormous potential for mobile, but the winners will be companies that implement strategies that start with the user,” wrote Armitage. Considering the series of mobile privacy controversies that have erupted in the last year from iPhone location-tracking to address booking-grabbing by the Path app, it seems that message hasn’t taken hold as companies scramble to suck up all the user data they can get. The Yankee Group findings were based on interviews with more than 15 mobile ad-related companies, its U.S. and European consumer surveys on mobile advertising, and its quarterly data on device usage.
Google has been hit with a lawsuit alleging that it infringed copyright in photos of John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix in a promotion for its music store. The case, quietly filed late last month in Los Angeles federal court, alleges that Google used a backdrop created by street artist Thierry Guetta to promote Google Music -- the music store that Google launched last November. But Guetta himself allegedly violated copyright with the backdrop, because it included key elements of photos taken by James Marshall, according to the lawsuit. Marshall's estate is now suing Google as well as Guetta, also known as "Mr. Brainwash," and the subject of the movie "Exit Through the Gift Shop." Guetta is known for graphic art that appears to be based on photos of musicians. The lawsuit says that Guetta's backdrop included large copies of his depictions of Hendrix and Coltrane. But Guetta's creations allegedly were based on Marshall's photos; therefore, the backdrop infringed copyright, according to the lawsuit. Google "staged the announcement to the media its launch of its new service called 'Google Music' by displaying the infringing backdrop," the lawsuit alleges. The Marshall estate adds that Google (and others involved in the promotion) "held an invited commercial event that they had the right and ability to supervise, wherein they invited, directed, requested and authorized others, to photograph the infringing backdrop, for the purpose of reproducing the images." Even if Google licensed the work from Guetta, the company could be liable for infringing Marshall's copyright -- regardless of whether Google did so intentionally. Google said in a statement that it believes the claims lack merit and that it "will defend vigorously against them." This lawsuit isn't the first time that Guetta has been hauled into court for allegedly basing his work on copyrighted photos. In a prior lawsuit, brought by photographer Glen Friedman, Guetta unsuccessfully argued that his art made fair use of a photo of the rap group Run-DMC. In that case, Friedman alleged that Guetta infringed copyright in the photo by incorporating key elements of it into his art. U.S. District Court Judge Dean Pregerson in the Central District of California agreed with Friedman, ruling that Guetta used "substantial" portions of the photo. Pregerson noted in his ruling that the subjects of Guetta's drawing wore the same clothes as in Friedman's photo, were standing in the same poses, and had the same facial expressions. "Defendant took a substantial portion of the photograph ... and the portion defendant took was at the heart of the photograph," Friedman said in a ruling issued last May.
Facebook may not be making much money in mobile yet, but it’s having a major impact on wireless operators’ revenue stream from SMS text messaging. A recent report from Denmark-based tech research firm Strand Consult suggests the social network is wiping out carriers’ SMS cash cow. With its 500 million monthly mobile users, the firm estimates Facebook probably transports more mobile traffic, number of messages and time spent online than the world’s largest operator. That’s on top of the toll that messaging apps like BlackBerry Messenger and Apple’s iMessage have already taken on SMS revenue. “In many ways one can compare Facebook’s development in the mobile industry to how the Internet affected the media industry. Market players like Google, Skype, Twitter and MSN are only marginally important to the mobile industry compared to Facebook,” according to a Strand posting spotlighted by the BGR blog Friday. That's because people use the social network every day to keep in touch with family and friends. Strand did not cite specific data or revenue figures in the post to back up its assertions. But mobile industry consultant Chetan Sharma, commenting on the analysis, agreed that IP-based messaging services from Facebook to Viber Media are eating into operators’ SMS revenue. Even so, he suggested there could be an upside to the trend for carriers -- at least in emerging countries, where IP messaging is helping turn regular mobile users into data subscribers. “So it’s having a positive impact as well,” he said. The Strand report also pointed out the Facebook effect is less threatening to carriers in countries like Denmark and the U.S., where subscribers can buy monthly, flat-fee SMS packages instead of having to pay per-message fees. The latest comScore data shows that text messaging remains by far the most popular mobile data activity in the U.S., with about three-quarters of mobile users texting in March. In any case, don’t feel too bad for the carriers. According to research from Chetan Sharma, mobile operator profits have more than doubled over the last 10 years, and total industry revenue is expected to hit $1.5 trillion in 2012, representing 2% of global GDP. Mobile data sales will account for some $300 billion of that amount.
How does online marketing translate to in-store purchases? Well, for CPG brands, new research shows that online targeting results in an 18% in-store sales lift versus non-targeted shoppers. The 3-month study from market researcher SymphonyIRI and Legolas Media involved 50 million rich media and banner impressions on premium Web sites from three unnamed brands. “Participating brands and their agencies were able to see the impact and correlation that online ads were having on their offline sales,” said Srishti Gupta, EVP of New Media Solutions at SymphonyIRI. Testing multiple ad campaign strategies, SymphonyIRI and Legolas found targeting based on a consumer’s prior purchase history to be the most effective ad strategy. Consumers who were regular users of a brand resulted in more than a 48% in-store sales lift, with a 23% lift for buyers of competitive brands. Other strategies tested included hyperlocal, demographic, and psychographic targeting. For the study, campaigns were planned, bought and delivered via the Legolas Media “futures” marketplace. The campaigns were measured through SymphonyIRI’s Consumer Network panel, which includes data on shopping behavior from more than 86,000 consumers. Campaign effectiveness was determined in terms of actual spend per household and actual value per sale versus the general population, and was then compared with thesame period a year earlier to determine impact on sales lift. SymphonyIRI and Legolas are hardly the only firms trying to collect marketers’ online and offline efforts. A long list of researchers and Web titans -- including Adobe, Coremetrics, Clickable, Google, Experian, GroupM, Nielsen, and ClearSaleing -- are on similar missions. Google just recently introduced Active GRP and Active View features into DoubleClick for Advertisers, so brands can use offline measurement standards for online campaigns. Just last month, meanwhile, Adometry launched a platform that seeks to identify the offline media driving online conversions -- and vice versa.
The spread of smartphones in the last year has led to a jump in the number of Americans using real-time, location-based data on their handsets. A new study from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project shows that almost three-quarters (74%) of smartphone owners used their devices to get directions and other location-related information as of February -- up from 55% last May. That increase coincides with a rise in smartphone ownership to 46% this year, from 35% in 2011. That means that the overall proportion of U.S. adults who get location-based information has almost doubled over that time period-- to 41% in February 2012 from 23% last May. The Pew report also found that smartphone users are more likely to turn to geosocial services like Foursquare to check in to certain places and share their location with friends. Some 18% are doing so as of February -- up from 12% in 2011, equating to 10% of all U.S. adults. “We’ve watched mobile phones become increasingly entwined in people’s everyday activities, and location-based services are an important part of that,” said Kathryn Zickuhr, the Pew Internet researcher who authored the report, in a statement. The uptick in usage of geolocation services brings some welcome news to Foursquare as it struggles to establish itself as a moneymaking platform. But other recent data from comScore showed that the service attracted a smartphone audience of 5.5 million in March, representing just 5.7% reach among social networking properties. (Facebook dominates with more than 80%.) Foursquare has also been eclipsed by upstarts like Pinterest, with 7.5 million visitors on smartphones, delivering reach of 7.7%. Not surprisingly, the Pew study indicated that younger people are more likely than older adults to use both location-based information services and “check-in” services. More than four out of five (82%) of those ages 18-29, for example, used either or both of those services, compared to 66% of people 50 and over. Another demographic distinction the research pointed out is that while smartphone owners in lower-income households are less likely to use location-based information services, they are more likely to use geosocial tools like Foursquare. Men and women used these services about equally (74% versus 76%), while segmenting by race showed that whites were more likely to do so (77%) than blacks (67%) and Hispanics (71%). The Pew findings were based on a survey conducted from January 20 to February 19 among a nationally representative sample of 2,253 adults.
Yahoo CEO resigns over resume discrepancyChief Executive Scott Thompson steps down after a dissident shareholder calls attention to an apparent misrepresentation of his college credentials. -- L.A. Times March 12, 2012 It is a great pleasure now being associated with MediaPost, a position I attained thanks in no small part to a resume compiled over many decades and a spotless reputation. However, in the past few days, a few matters have arisen that I believe must be cleared up before they get blown out of proportion. First of all, it has been brought to my attention that my biographical material references “winner, Congressional Medal of Honor.” This was inadvertently added by a junior staffer some years ago and simply did not come onto my radar. The accurate information, which I have corrected on my CV, is “winner, $20 Maryland Lottery Mix ‘n’ Match scratch-off.” I apologize if anyone was misled due to this clerical error. Similarly, the line that mentions “Chief Executive Officer, Ford Motor Co." should have read “Lessee, 1999 Mustang.” I daresay, however, that I did not win this position based on some resume on file. MediaPost called me.* But there is always some malcontent just looking to tear a successful person down. For instance, there was also some confusion about the years I attended Cambridge University as a Gates Cambridge Scholar. The education field on my job application mistakenly lists 1973-1977. The correct dates should be “never.” Meanwhile, a thorough audit of my records by Deloitte & Touche turned up an apparent discrepancy in my first expense report. The item identified as “Lexis-Nexis research for blockbuster investigative series” should read “hotel sexcapade with floozy.” I hasten to add that as a matter of fiduciary responsibility, Madyson and I each had the cereal and croissant breakfast. Neither of us so much as approached a chafing dish. This I explained to the maitre d’, who was persistent in questioning the sausage and egg residue on my plate. As I explained to both him and the police officer, the hot entrees were placed there due to a clerical error. This matter was satisfactorily resolved when I paid the difference out of my own pocket. Due to another oversight, the expense item “taxi to Newark Airport” should have read “differential, continental breakfast and hot buffet.” I must say I am as mystified as anyone as to how these minor discrepancies slipped through the cracks. Likewise, I am neither a 10th-degree judo blackbelt or a 33-degree Mason. To be an absolute stickler, in 1988, vacationing on Long Beach Island, I failed to administer sunscreen and suffered a second-degree burn. Also, for clarity, the word “Abbottabad” should be replaced with the words “Port Authority.” I hope this clears up any outstanding confusion so I can put these distractions behind me and commence the work MediaPost hired me to do. Semper Fi! *Returned call.