Google has stepped up efforts to re-engineer systems that plan, buy, sell and deliver online ads. Neal Mohan, Google VP of display ads, said the platform will help make that transformation at a customer conference on Tuesday. The DoubleClick ad platform upgrade, once known as DoubleClick for Advertisers, ties together technologies that large advertisers and agencies use to buy digital media. It claims to improve on several core Google components, including Invite Media rebuilt on the Google stack, rebranded DoubleClick Digital Marketing Bid Manager and DoubleClick Search. Google said in a blog post Monday that Search Query reporting was released in May. The feature provides insights into the search queries, or terms, that are driving visits for a company's ads and the revenue it derives from these queries. DoubleClick Digital Marketing also integrates DoubleClick Studio, the company rich media creative solution, with Teracent's dynamic creative technology to powers ad units. In 2011, rich media ads accounted for 10% of all display ads, doubling in volume over 12 months. Agencies, publishers and brands want one platform that integrates ideas and processes. Combining the creative concept and building block tools to deliver ads should help agencies improve return on investment for campaigns. Panelists from Vivaki, R/GA, Interactive Advertising Bureau, the Mobile Marketing Association and others during Google's DoubleClick conference voiced concerns about challenges related to crafting creative campaigns backed by data. Some also talked about technology companies spending too much time on the process and not enough time on the creative. Is technology too integrated into the creative process? One panelist wants to "banish technologists" from the creative suite because he believes companies like Google and DoubleClick should be the "great simplifiers that give creative people the platform to bring ideas to life."
BloomReach took another step to optimize Web sites through its Web Relevance Engine (WRE) on Wednesday. The technology now supports real-time optimization techniques that automatically update Web pages to only serve up relevant and in-stock items with current pricing. Custom content is served to site visitors based on whether the person came from a social network or a search engine and what they queried. It seems like a simple concept to only show in-stock products and update pricing. IT enterprise inventory systems do this automatically. But BloomReach Co-founder and CTO Ashutosh Garg calls it a complicated task for the Web to determine real-time content based on search terms or destinations. While marketers know landing pages related to paid-search ads and organic listings must continually have up-to-date and new content or risk being pushed down search results pages, those related searches still serve up outdated content. Relevance is the most important factor in consumer satisfaction when it comes to the online shopping experience. Customers often receive outdated products and prices because companies are sacrificing relevance for Web rankings and page performance. Worse yet, if the Web site offers a specific type of sports shirt, but doesn't support the theme, such as football or golf shirts, the keyword the consumer searches on will not serve. The technology doesn't slow the page rendering as it updates content, according to Garg. BloomReach created WRE to quickly analyze one billion consumer interactions and interpret products and services on more than one billion Web pages daily. The technology, which supports companies like Williams-Sonoma, Orbitz and Drugstore.com, assists Web sites to capture existing requests across search, social and advertising channels, driving an average 80% increase in non-branded natural search traffic and revenue. The technology can update data across hundreds of customers and millions of products in less than 100 milliseconds. Doing so in real-time reduces the possibility of inaccurate product information being displayed and frustrating potential buyers. BloomReach points to IBM data that estimates 90% of Web content was created in the last two years alone.
In a mixed ruling, a federal judge has narrowed a potential class-action privacy lawsuit alleging that Amazon thwarted users' attempts to block tracking cookies. But U.S. District Court Judge Robert Lasnik in Seattle rejected the online retailer's bid to completely dismiss the case. The lawsuit stems from allegations that Amazon circumvented privacy filters built into the Internet Explorer browser by giving wrong information to the browser. The consumers who filed suit alleged that Amazon violated a federal computer fraud law, as well as Washington consumer protection law. The consumers sued shortly after researchers at Carnegie Mellon published a study concluding that many Web companies thwart users' privacy settings by providing incorrect data to Microsoft's Internet Explorer. That browser has long enabled users to automatically reject tracking cookies, but the feature only works when Web site operators provide accurate data about their privacy policies. The lawsuit alleges that Amazon sent "gibberish" to the browser, rather than using a readable code. In a ruling issued on Friday, Lasnik dismissed the computer fraud charges on the theory that the consumers didn't allege that Amazon caused them economic injury. The computer fraud allegation at the center of the lawsuit requires damages of at least $5,000. While the consumer argued that her Web-surfing data was in itself worthwhile, Lasnik ruled that users' "raw information is not valuable." The judge also rejected arguments that cookies set by Amazon caused users' computers to run slower. "Not one plaintiff alleges that he or she experienced any noticeable difference in his or her computer’s performance traceable to defendant’s actions," he wrote. "This is not surprising. It is a matter of common understanding that cookies are minute in size and thus incapable of noticeably affecting the performance of modern computers." Lasnik previously dismissed the computer fraud charge for the same reason, but that dismissal was "without prejudice," which left the consumers free to revise their complaint and try again. Friday's dismissal was with prejudice, meaning it is final. But Lasnik sided against Amazon on one point and ruled that the consumers can proceed -- for now -- with their claim that Amazon violated a Washington state consumer protection law that bans companies from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts. That victory for consumers might only be temporary. Lasnik said in the 17-page ruling that the consumers will have to convince him that Amazon accessed their computers without authorization in order to continue with that claim. Lasnik indicated that the question will likely turn on whether Amazon's privacy policy adequately notified users that they were being tracked. While the ruling isn't a complete win for either side, it could pave the way for a settlement, Internet legal expert Venkat Balasubramani tells Online Media Daily. He points out that other Web companies have resolved privacy lawsuits after losing bids to dismiss the cases at an early stage.
Although they are a practical security tool, CAPTCHAs have long been the bane of consumers as well as engagement-obsessed publishers. Turning the little obstacles into assets, however, Solve Media will now help brands use CAPTCHAs as mini research and branding tools. Starting today, Solve Media’s network of more than 4,000 publishers will begin to replace CAPTCHAs with select brand logos -- including Purina -- and then ask site visitors to type in a word or phrase that they most closely associate with the featured brand. The brand descriptions will then be aggregated and given to marketers to be analyzed. Dubbed Brand Tags, the initiative is an expansion of the digital ad firm’s performance-based brand ad platform. “Brand Tags is designed to provide our brand and agency partners with an alternative [to market research reports] that offers useful insights into consumers' stated identification with a brand in real-time," according to Solve Media CEO Ari Jacoby. Positioned as a “big data” analytics platform, Solve Media says Brand Tags can shorten the research cycle, and give brands more timely data. Jacoby credited Noah Brier, currently the co-founder of Percolate, with originally developing Brand Tags. Solve Media took over operations of Brand Tags last year. Although very much a niche brand research tool, Gene Munster, senior research analyst at Piper Jaffray, said Brand Tags represented “a unique approach” in helping advertisers understand consumer sentiment around their brands. Combined with the company's Type-In ad product, however, Munster said the new service puts Solve Media “in a position to be one of the most important branding vehicles on the Web.” The startup’s flagship product, Type-In lets advertisers survey consumer interactions with ads by measuring how effectively they remember the brand's messages to complete a transaction. These Type-In ads replace CAPTCHA authentication systems with a logo or video, a brand message in quotes, and an input box. The technology relies on a link inside of a Type-In ad unit.
Digital marketing company Blue Calypso has named former Motorola Mobility Chief Marketing Officer Bill Ogle as its new chairman and CEO. He starts in the new post June 11. Ogle succeeds Blue Calypso founder Andrew Levi, who will become the company’s chief technology officer. Dallas-based Blue Calypso provides a loyalty and rewards platform that marketers can use to generate word of mouth about products or services. Through the platform, advertisers run display campaigns on Calyp.com or Calyp mobile apps for the iPhone and Android devices that customers use to endorse brands and distribute their campaigns through text messages or social media posts. In return, consumers earn rewards including cash, gifts, discounts and VIP perks. Motorola Mobility tapped Blue Calypso in December to help promote its then-new smartphones Photon and Bionic as well as the Xoom tablet. Ogle, who joins the company on the heels of Google closing its acquisition of Motorola in May, said he was impressed with Blue Calypso’s technology and ready to switch gears to lead a startup. “I’ve always worked at these huge multinationals,” said Ogle, whose background also includes stints as CMO at Samsung Telecommunications America, and earlier, at Pizza Hut. “But I’ve always wanted to be an entrepreneur and try something like this. This is the perfect opportunity, because it’s something I know very well, which is social media.” During his three years at Motorola, Ogle helped lead the launch of the successful Droid line of Android-based smartphones that in turn helped revive the company’s fortunes in the market for sophisticated handsets. However, Motorola’s Xoom tablet, launched in early 2011, has failed to make a dent in the iPad’s dominance. In his new job, Ogle said one of his initial tasks is simply to make Blue Calypso’s offering better known. “The most important thing is to get the idea out there,” he said. "One of my goals is to help get it over the deadline and really start to spread it.” Blue Calypso, formerly JJ&R Ventures, gained a somewhat higher profile when it went public last September through a reverse merger and now trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board as BCYP. In a June 4 filing with the SEC, the company reported four board members -- Paul Jarvie, James Rose, Richard Fennessy and Andrew Kerner -- had resigned as of May 31. Two new directors -- Ian Wolfman and Charles Thomas -- were appointed as of the same date.
Ovation, the network looking to merge art and pop culture, will offer nonsubscribers a chance to purchase a coming reality series for Facebook viewing. The series, “A Chance to Dance,” launches in mid-August. Pricing has not been determined, but the seven episodes will be available for individual purchase or as a group on Ovation’s Facebook page, which has about 53,000 “likes.” Episodes will be available after on-air debuts. The network, owned in part by Hubbard Media Group, is in 51 million homes. Subscribers will be able to view the series at no charge via video on demand or a TV Everywhere platform. “A Chance to Dance” producers include “American Idol” showrunner Nigel Lythgoe and son Simon. The show focuses on the selection of dancers, which a pair of U.K. choreographers hope to turn into a dance company. Ovation will use the Facebook opportunity in an attempt to drive consumers to subscribe to operators offering the network, which include DirecTV and Dish Network. The network has partnered with Milyoni, a company that bills itself as being able to “convert Facebook fans into customers.” Late last year, it worked with Adult Swim in the U.K. to offer episodes of five shows on Facebook.
The E3 entertainment expo running this week in Los Angeles typically features dedicated living room and handheld consoles as well as PC-based online and downloadable games. But as it has informed just about everything else in American life and media in the last year, mobility became one of the persistent themes of this year’s show. New research from the Entertainment Software Association reveals that 33% of Americans are now gaming on their smartphones, up from only 20% a year ago. Thirty-eight percent of households are playing games on someone’s smartphone, while 35% of households are playing on a dedicated handheld game console. Mobile gaming has been at the center of the revival of casual genres. When asked which games they played most often on mobile devices, 47% of respondents to the survey said they played puzzle, board game, game show, trivia or card game titles. Action, sports, strategy and role playing -- which tend to dominate the larger consoles -- accounted for only 12% of mobile gaming. One of the largest extensions of traditional video gaming onto mobile platforms may be Sony’s upcoming PlayStation Mobile, which it announced at E3 earlier this week. The company had earlier announced that its “PlayStation Suite” of titles would allow a common line of games across multiple mobile platforms, including smartphones as well as its own PSP and Vita handheld gaming systems. But in renaming the project PlayStation Mobile, Sony is taking specific aim at the Android platform, and plans to release titles in partnership with hardware OEM HTC. “Very soon we will be bringing the PlayStation experience to Android tablets and smartphones in a major way,” the company said in its presentation. Sony plans to have “PS Certified” phones designed to play these titles. The company appears to be acknowledging the market migration away from dedicated handheld gaming devices and toward tablets and smartphones running other company’s operating systems. Sony released its high-priced and technologically sophisticated PlayStation Vita handheld earlier this year, but the company recently said it has sold only 1.8 million units worldwide. Microsoft also announced this week that it would be leveraging smartphones and tablets across all the major operating systems to work in tandem with its Xbox gaming system. Echoing the functionality of Apple’s AirPlay oniOS, the new SmartGlass system will allow users to play media from smartphones and tablets on their TV via the Xbox. It will also allow second-screen functionality for some games. The app, which will work on Windows 8 devices as well as iOS and Android, can show complementary information about the main screen programming or offer some interactivity off of the TV screen. Apple did not have a pronounced presence at E3, but its operating system was obviously among the most popular sites for development. In recent weeks, CEO Tim Cook has diffused rumors that Apple wants to get into the game console business itself. Nevertheless, the impact of touchscreens, second screens, casual and mobile gaming that the iOS operating system helped ignite seems to be informing all game platforms. The gaming industry could use the boost. The industry’s computer and video game sales for 2011 totaled $16.6 billion -- down from $16.9 billion in 2010, according to NPD Group sales tracking figures. While traditional physical video console games saw a sharp sales decline to $8.8 billion from $9.4 billion the previous year, games delivered via digital means -- including mobile apps -- saw growth to $7.3 billion from $6.8 billion.
When is a Mom Not A Mom? Answer: When she’s a co-worker. Or a friend. Or a spouse or partner. Or simply when she’s alone. We’ve always had a tendency that borders on the obsessive to focus on consumers by defining them in narrow and mostly inflexible categories. Partly this is down to how demographics work. And although people have acknowledged for years that demographics alone aren’t enough, their ubiquity and simplicity have ensured their survival at the heart of every communications plan. And fair enough -– to some extent. They have a role. After all, if you sell a product that is ultimately used by kids, then you are definitely going to want to reach and influence parents -- and moms in particular. But to always and only talk to moms as moms misses the point. Sure, the fact of their having brought a child into the world means that they are indeed moms through and through, and they’ll never stop caring for their children, no matter how old they are. But throughout each day, the vast majority of moms -- just like the rest of us -- transition through different roles and responsibilities that push their status as mothers to the rear. One way to consider this is in the context of who they are interacting with at different times. It’s a pretty good indicator of their mind-set and sense of self at those times -- both of which are important to brands wishing to engage meaningfully with them. For example, according to USA TouchPoints data, when looking at the average day of moms aged 25-54, we see that while the clear majority of the sample spent time with immediate family (97% spent time with their children and 80% with their spouse or partner), 83% also spent time alone. Perhaps during this time, it is better to talk to the woman rather than the mom. Similarly, 38% time spent with friends in an average day (and I don’t mean on Facebook), and 29% spent time with co-workers. These two very different sets of circumstances suggest the need for different communication styles and media strategies to maximize the efficiency of the consumer contact. Beyond this, there is time spent with parents, strangers (when out shopping for example) and others. Of course, all this applies to any group you care to identify. While we can all be unified within groups that make us relevant to brands, none of those groups are so one-dimensional to justify only being spoken to in those terms. Unless we know how the social context of our target audiences change through the day –- and hence how their mind-set, their roles and their receptivity to different types of messaging may vary –- marketers will be consigned to see more of their communications activity fail to fully resonate.