Facebook will launch a real-time bidded marketplace that will allow advertisers for the first time to retarget audiences on Facebook based on their browsing history across other Web sites. Expected to debut in a few weeks, the new service called Facebook Exchange would bring intent-based ad targeting to the social network and make the site less of a walled garden for advertisers. An airline, for instance, would be able to show an ad to a Facebook user who had visited different travel sites searching for a flight but didn’t end up booking a trip. “By bidding on a specific impression rather than a larger group, advertisers are able to show people more relevant ads while also running more efficient and effective campaigns,” the company said in a statement Wednesday. The ads will be served through eight demand-side partners including AdRoll AppNexus, DataXu, MediaMath, TellApart, Triggit, Turn and The Trade Desk, and will be sold on a cost-per thousand basis. Facebook has started placing cookies on the Internet browsers of its users, which its technology partners will use to identify members of the social network, company spokesperson Annie Ta told Bloomberg. After being served an ad by Facebook Exchange, users can block cookies from an individual DSP but they can’t completely opt out of this tracking on Facebook. Given the company’s history of privacy-related controversies, it wouldn’t be surprising if the matching of Facebook user data with third-party information raises fresh privacy concerns. The ads themselves will be the standard “marketplace” ads on Facebook that appear on the right side of the page rather than the sponsored story ads that run in the news feed or brand-oriented premium ads on the site. That means the new exchange will likely appeal mostly to direct-response advertisers hoping to better hone in on specific audiences on Facebook. Advertisers mainly target users on the site now based on demographic information, interests they post on their profiles, and brand pages they “like.” But Facebook’s own targeting options won’t be available to its DSP partners to layer over the cookie-based data. As a result of the real-time bidding process, Facebook also expects to deliver users more timely messages. That means, for example, a sports apparel company that wanted to reach fans right after the last game of the NBA Finals could prepare ads geared to the Miami Heat or Oklahoma City Thunder, and choose which one to run depending on the outcome of the game, according to the Bloomberg report. The new ad offering comes as Facebook faces increased pressure following its May initial public offering to prove that the social network is an effective way for advertisers to connect with consumers. The company’s stock has fallen from its IPO price of $38 a share to a closing price of just over $27.27 as of Wednesday, amid concerns about revenue growth and its ability to monetize its more than 900 million users. Earlier this week, comScore released a study in partnership with Facebook showing that users exposed to brand messages on the site are more likely to make purchases than those who didn’t see them. In one test, for instance, people who saw unpaid posts about Starbucks on the site were 38% more likely to buy something at the coffee chain within four weeks than those who didn’t. If Facebook Exchange works as planned, it could boost ad effectiveness on Facebook while helping the company accelerate ad revenue growth. But it could have the unwelcome side effect of boosting prices for traditional Facebook advertisers as DSPs compete for inventory. “Since these DSPs will be retargeting users who have already shown purchase intent, they are likely to be wiling to pay more than advertisers previously have on Facebook,” according to an Inside Facebook post.
VivaKi Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer Rishad Tobaccowala channeled his inner Kafka Wednesday, explaining to a gathering of clients, agency executives, entrepreneurs, VCs, and a couple of journalists why ad agencies have managed to survive, and maybe even thrive, despite incessant proclamations that agencies were dying during his 30 years in the business: “The truth is, agencies are cockroaches.” Tobaccowala, who is known to strike striking metaphors to make a point, likened agencies to roaches, because like the insect, they have proven themselves to adapt and persevere regardless of what is thrown at them. “The reason is, we are cockroaches,” he concluded during the presentation, which opened a special VivaKi Ventures meeting at Digitas’ New York offices, which also included a “speed-dating” session with more than a dozen promising digital media startups that have been vetted and given a seal of approval by the agency ventures group, as well as a panel discussion of agency, client and venture capital executives that revealed some interesting perspectives on the role startups play in Madison Avenue’s digital ecosystem. Tobaccowala said his point about agencies’ ability to survive was that they “cannot do it alone,” and must rely on outside “third parties” to help them adapt and develop new business models and services to help their clients evolve their businesses. That’s the reason, he said, that VivaKi Ventures was founded 7.5 years ago, and why it continues to thrive. Acknowledging its founder -- former VivaKi exec Tim Hanlon, now CEO of The Vetere Group -- Tobaccowala said the ventures group has been instrumental in connecting VivaKi agencies and their clients to new and emerging businesses that have helped them adapt in a rapidly evolving media and marketing environment. “We don’t think we can do it alone. Without other partners on the outside, we are pretty pathetic,” he said. “We are pretty useless. Because we get a lot of help, we are less pathetic than everyone else. And that’s the goal -- to be less pathetic than everyone else in agency services.” The ventures unit, in fact, does not operate alone, but is actually part of a much larger “spoke-and-wheel” structure tapping into the 16,000 people working at various VivaKi agencies, as well their media partners. It’s this distributed approach, Tobaccowala said, that has enabled VivaKi to stay ahead of the curve and identify vital new enterprises, which are vetted and approved for use by Publicis agencies and their clients. The dozen startups represented at the ventures meeting ranged from analytics firms like C3 Metrics to Amazon’s ad-supported Kindle e-reader platform to an artificial intelligence storytelling platform called Narrative Science. While much of the conversation -- including the panel discussion that wrapped the event up -- focused on data, social, mobile, and the complexity associated with vetting so many new technologies, Tobaccowala said the area he was most personally interested in was the kind typified by Narrative Science. “How do you tell stories in new ways,” he said. “Brands are not built by data alone.” That, in essence, is what Narrative Science does, taking data from companies -- including publishers and brands -- and using machine learning created by expert “storytellers” to automatically generate content that can be used by publishers or brands to engage consumers. How successful any of the ventures represented at the event will ultimately be will depends on a variety of market forces that continue to change, evolve and reshape the industry -- which is exactly why an organization like VivaKi Ventures is necessary, Tobaccowala said. He also took a shot at other agency holding company venture models that are based on generating direct returns on their ventures efforts. While he did not cite any names, Interpublic’s Mediabrands unit has made no secret of the fact that it is looking to monetize its work with media startups, and has even brought its own products to market, including its “EML Magic Window” technology. MDC Partners’ two-year-old KBS Ventures unit is so sophisticated, it produces annual reports including details on the “return on equity” of the ventures it backs. “A lot of agencies think this is a way to make money,” Tobaccowala scoffed. “It’s a strange way to make money,” he continued. However, he added that it is in fact something parent Publicis is doing too, citing the massive $400 million venture fund it recently launched with Orange. “There are two ways to do it. One is this way,” he said gesturing around the room of the VivaKi Ventures event. “The other is with heavy air power. We are doing both.”
Expanding efforts to monetize its video-calling service, Skype rolled out a new display ad format Wednesday intended to spark “meaningful conversations” about brands among users. The new Conversation Ads will appear in the call window of Skype users who don’t have Skype Credit or paid subscriptions when they are making one-to-one calls to other Skype customers on the Windows version of the service. Running opposite the camera view in the Skype window, the placement of the 300 x 250 unit is designed to get people talking about the service or product advertised as part of their online chat. The existing rectangle unit and other formats that Skype has offered to date have appeared in the main page of the Skype client, but not in the actual chat window. Now people can see the ads right near the person they are talking to. Users also have the option of closing the ad. “So, you should think of Conversation Ads as a way for Skype to generate fun interactivity between your circle of friends and family and the brands you care about,” stated a post today on the Skype blog. In particular, Skype and parent Microsoft want to encourage word-of-mouth among friends as a more effective way to promote brands. “We know from our research that people on Skype are more likely to discuss products, make recommendations and decide what to buy with their close relatives and friends,” noted a separate post on the Microsoft Advertising blog. Whether the new ad format actually stimulates brand conversations isn’t clear. Other than its placement, the ad itself is a standard rectangle unit with regular interactive features. A sample ad shown in the Skype blog post for the game “Pleasure Hunt 2” allows users to click to start playing. The ads, which launch in 55 markets globally, will be silent and nonexpanding, and “run after we’ve completed our regular detailed quality checks on your connection,” according to Skype. The announcement did not indicate whether Conversation Ads will be extended beyond the Windows platform or to mobile devices. In fine print appended to the post, Skype explains it may use non-personally identifiable demographic information including location, gender and age to target Conversation Ads. Users can opt out of the company using that data (except location) for ads in its privacy settings. Skype reaches an audience of 41 million unique users. Skype introduced display advertising last year prior to its May 2011 acquisition by Microsoft for $8.5 billion. The company historically had been slow to adopt advertising because of concerns over alienating users. “The user experience on Skype is always job No. 1,” stated the company last March in debuting advertising in its software. But since the Microsoft acquisition, Skype is under more pressure to prove it’s a money-making business and not just a popular video-calling tool.
RadiumOne has released a URL shortener that creates data pulled through an analytics platform to target online display ads. The tool, re.Po.st, collects data from shared content and pictures in social sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. The data from re.Po.st serves up in a dashboard as consumers share information about a specific product, which expresses interest. RadiumOne uses the signal to target display ads by building audience segments on the fly. Companies focused in automotive, entertainment, retail and consumer product goods have been testing the tool for the past three months. Gurbaksh Chahal, CEO of RadiumOne, said "within seconds, we can run and target the ads, creating 12 billion ad impressions per day," re.Po.st puts shortened URLs to work for brands vs. just serving as a utility. The challenge becomes getting consumers to use the shortener, rather than Bit.ly or goo.gl. Other utilities like Bit.ly will shorten a URL. Chahal said unlike RadiumOne, Bit.ly's data doesn't plug into a dashboard to collect and monetize the data through advertising inventory. The utility turns links into a return on investment. Sharing might prove more lucrative than Likes for RadiumOne, but Likes will become the target tool for ads in a Facebook stream integrated into Apple's next operating system iOS 6, Mountain Lion. Earlier this week, Apple launched Tap to Post -- Facebook and Twitter buttons that will appear in Mac OS. Similar to RadiumOne's re.Po.st, Apple's Open Graph objects will come complete with Like buttons. Apple can target ads to people who Like them. The Facebook stream will have ads.
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) Wednesday released a list of generic top-level-domain (gTLD) names for which companies and organizations applied. It means moving beyond standard .com URL addresses to a more custom approach. Brands can now have their own string of top-level domain names; consumers will soon have a new way to search for URLs. The process, however, could initially confuse search engine marketers and online advertisers. Each applicant for more than 1,900 TLDs paid $185,000 to apply. If granted, a minimum annual renewal fee for each name of $25,000 to keep the suffix applies. ICANN will evaluate the names in groups of 500, and could delegate strings as early as January 2013. The process will likely take next year to complete, as the companies and governments will have an opportunity to object. Google applied for about 100 names under the applicant name Charleston Road Registry Inc., submitting requests for .ads, .android, .chrome, .car, .cloud, .corp, and dclk. The company also applied for .and, .blog, .baby, .book, .buy, .dog, .film, and .fun. Few surprises came from Microsoft. Aside from the company's namesake, it submitted names for .bing, .docs, .hotmail, skype, .windows, .office, .xbox, and .live. It also submitted a request for .skydrive, and .azure. Apple submitted for .apple. Russian search engine Yandex submitted for the name .yandex. Verisign applied for transliterations of .com and three IDN transliterations of .net. The applications represent 12 of the 14 gTLD applications Verisign submitted. Consumer products goods (CPG) companies jumped in, too. L'Oreal applied for .garnier. Could these new TLD suffixes change search engine marketing? A discussion on the forum Webmasterword.com suggests the "limit of 1,000 such suffixes a year will mean a lot of frustrated people when they seek an ending that doesn't exist, yet." Some search marketers expressed concern about spam, while others pointed to organic ranking for URLs with .google in the name.
Online coupon provider RetailMeNot.com has introduced a new app for the iPhone that allows users to get discounts when shopping online or in brick-and-mortar stores. People can use the free app to browse top coupons, popular stores, daily “Hot Deals” and product categories. It also includes a drag-and-drop feature to enter coupon codes for redemption and the ability to save coupons for later use. At most participating stores, an app user will show a cashier their phone at checkout to redeem a coupon after the code is manually input. In other cases, people will be able to scan the app at the point-of-sale via barcode reader. The new app is part of RetailMeNot's broader effort to extend its coupon service from the desktop to mobile devices while users are out shopping. A companion Android app is also in the works. Among the 1,600 in-store coupons available through the RetailMeNot iPhone app: $5 off $50 purchases at Target, 30% off select shoes at Macy’s and 50% of jewelry items at Bloomingdale’s. In connection with the app launch, the company partnered with Ipsos Research on a new study showing that 62% of smartphone owners download apps and that more than one-third (34%) of adults have used a smartphone or tablet to shop or research a purchase. The same percentage said they would be more inclined to make a purchase in a physical store if they could find a good coupon for a product or service on their mobile device. Some 15% say they’ve made an online purchase on a mobile device within a store because they found a better price online. Consumers are still getting up to speed on mobile coupons. Only one in five have used a coupon they found online through their mobile phone or tablet while shopping in a store. About a third of those under 35 have done so, compared to 19% of those 35-54 and just 10% of those 55+. The findings were drawn from an Ipsos survey of 1,005 U.S. adults in mid-May.
Apple's privacy policy says it isn't responsible when app developers violate users' privacy. But the company also allegedly promises users that it takes precautions to protect their privacy. Those arguably contradictory statements are among the reasons a federal judge rejected the company's motion to dismiss a class-action privacy lawsuit brought by iPhone and iPad users. The consumers allege their privacy was violated when their devices' unique identifiers -- 40-character strings of letters and numbers -- were transmitted by Apple to app developers and their affiliates. U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh in San Francisco ruled in May that the consumers could proceed with some of their claims against Apple, but didn't issue a written opinion in the case until late Tuesday. In her 44-page decision, Koh rejected Apple's motion to dismiss claims that it violated two California consumer protection laws, including the Consumer Legal Remedies Act. That law prohibits companies from engaging in unfair or deceptive acts; the consumers argue that Apple violated the statute by misrepresenting that its devices came with safeguards that would protect users' privacy. But Koh granted Apple's motion to dismiss a host of other allegations, including claims that it violated federal wiretap laws, computer fraud laws and the California constitution. Koh specifically ruled that Apple's alleged transmission of users' data isn't the kind of "egregious breach of social norms" that's covered by the California constitution. Last year, Koh dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit on the grounds that users didn't show how they were harmed by the alleged transmissions. The consumers subsequently amended their lawsuit to include allegations that they wouldn't have paid as much as they did for iPads or iPhones had they known the devices were capable of transmitting the information. The users also argued that transmitting data -- including material like gender, age, ZIP code and searches -- consumed battery power, storage and bandwidth. Koh ruled that those allegations of economic harm were sufficient for the consumers to proceed. Apple recently started rejecting apps that access unique device identifiers, or UDIDs. The company reportedly will soon unveil a new tracking mechanism. Google also faces a potential class-action by Android users who allege the devices tracked their location. That case is pending in front of U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White in San Francisco.
Gunning for content-rich rivals like Netflix, Amazon just reached a major licensing deal with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. Among hundreds of other classic films and TV shows dating back to the ‘80s, Amazon can now lure potential video-on-demand subscribers with "The Terminator," "Rain Man," and "The Silence of the Lambs." “We are focused on adding even more titles to … Prime Instant Video library,” said Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon. In total, Amazon’s VOD service now features more than 18,000 movies and TV episodes, which subscribers can instantly stream on their various devices. By contrast, VOD leader Netflix boasts more than 60,000 movies and TV shows, but Amazon is steadily working to shrink the divide. The company, which rose to prominence selling products -- rather than “renting” them -- has recently forged licensing partnerships with Paramount, Disney and Fox. Easing Amazon’s effort, studios like MGM are increasingly desperate for alternative revenue streams, as the Web’s rise has cut into the sale of DVDs. For that reason, MGM already has deals in place with Netflix, YouTube and other digital distribution leaders. As it currently stands, the deal with Amazon excludes MGM’s library of older classics, including "The Wizard of Oz" and "Gone with the Wind." Rights to those particular titles are presently controlled by Warner Bros. Amazon Prime costs subscribers $79 a year, and includes unlimited free two-day shipping on physical products, as well as immediate access to digital content.
While there is increasing value of social media platforms in relation to entertainment, recommendations of products/services in these arenas aren't universal.One-third of respondents in a recent survey -- 29% -- appreciated the recommendation, with 15% feeling negatively about a brand as a result of any recommendation, according to public relations agency Edelman. It studied 2,022 respondents in the U.S. and the U.K., the sixth year it has done such research.Andy Marks, general manager, MATTER, Edelman Sports & Entertainment Marketing, stated: "Audiences want and expect to be entertained. If done organically, branded entertainment can be a powerful vehicle to connect brands to their audiences, driving conversations on and off line."That's good news for entertainment-connected social media efforts. Overall, the survey says while 40% of people see the value from social-media areas -- up from 34% a year ago -- the perceived value of entertainment has doubled versus a year ago.Gail Becker, chair of U.S. Western Region, Canada and Latin America, Edelman, said: "Value can represent cost, but a consumer's time is also a contributor to value in today's world."Almost half of U.S. (42%) and a third of UK (31%) in the survey like being able to interact with entertainment, such as the ability to vote -- an increase of 15% and 8%, respectively, over last year's results. Free merchandise is seen as the biggest incentive to encourage viewership of content on social media sites, according to nearly half of those surveyed.Price continues to be an issue for consumers when it comes to entertainment, but not when it comes to giving up personal information. Nearly half of UK (48%) and U.S. (50%) consumers surveyed said they would be willing to watch ads in exchange for free entertainment, but won't compromise on privacy.