In a bid to maximize the benefits of its global search operations, Omnicom Media Group is re-branding search agencies it uses in 40 countries under the Resolution Media banner, which it acquired in 2005 and had previously just operated in the U.S. The rollout, which represents roughly $2 billion in search billings globally, is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. The benefits are expected to include improved pricing leverage on behalf of clients and optimal use of data and marketplace knowledge. Nonclients will be made aware of the scaled capability that Omnicom has assembled globally as stand-alone search pitches become more common, said Daryl Simm, CEO Omnicom Media Group. With a global team of 700 staffers, the Resolution operation will implement the search needs of OMD, PHD and other Omnicom clients around the globe in concert with media agency planners. In addition to the U.S. and Canada, the search agency now operates in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America. Resolution will continue to be overseen by its president, Alan Osetek, the former managing director of iProspect, a unit of Aegis Group’s Isobar. He joined OMG in January 2011 to run Resolution. He reports to Scott Hagedorn, CEO of Annalect Group, Omnicom Media Group’s digital data and analytic company. Said Simm: "We’ve won global search assignments and built social content management capabilities in key markets. It’s now time to present these assets under a single global structure to optimize our data and investment scale for clients.” The technological heavy lifting of connecting its search agencies globally has been ongoing for years, said Simm. “As we’ve built it up -- we’ve always done it on an integrated basis,” he said, essentially because global Omnicom clients like HP, Intel and Visa have needed a global search presence. “Our clients know about our capabilities in global search, but clients we don’t have don’t know about them. So from a branding standpoint, it makes sense to formalize it” to better showcase the scale, and to leverage potential in terms of technology transfer, data management and pricing with search and digital vendors, he said. Stand-alone global search pitches are a relatively new phenomenon. “We saw a few of them last year, and we hadn’t seen them before,” Simm added. Whether that trend expands significantly is hard to gauge, "but the trend to global client assignments in the media space is well-established. And those clients are increasingly looking to consolidate all forms of media with a media agency; whether it’s conventional media, or so-called digital media or search and increasingly social," notes Simm. "So you need to be able to communicate effectively what your credentials are in those areas.”
A new report from Juniper Networks underscores the downside of the Android Market’s hands-off approach to approving apps. In its annual Mobile Threats Report, it reported a record number of mobile malware attacks, especially to the Android platform. While there was a 155% rise in mobile malware across all mobile operating systems last year, attacks targeting Android jumped 3,325% in just the last seven months of 2011. The rise of Android as the dominant mobile operating system has made it an inviting target for scammers. The Google mobile platform now runs on just over half the world’s smartphones, according to data released today by Gartner. Android Market, which offers more than 300,000 apps, suffered a series of much-publicized malware attacks last year, leading Google in some instances to disable infected apps remotely. When it comes to Apple’s iOS system, Juniper said its research remains limited because of the closed nature of the platform. But it noted that security researchers were successful in getting an unapproved app into the App Store last year. Apple is generally known for having a much more rigorous vetting process for apps than Google. But the company ran into trouble this week when it became clear the App Store has permitted apps such as Path that transmit a user's full address book to remote servers for later reference without permission. Apple on Wednesday said grabbing contact data without user consent violates its app guidelines, and as a result it will require apps seeking such data get explicit permission beforehand in future releases. The same policy applies to apps using location information. The Juniper study found that spyware made up the majority (63%) of mobile malware in 2011, followed by SMS Trojans (36%), which send text messages to premium rate numbers owned by the attacker in the background of a legitimate app without the mobile user’s knowledge. A new attack method dubbed "Fake Installers," which trick victims into unknowingly paying for pirated versions of popular free apps, was the fastest-growing type of malware in 2011. Overall, the report found malware is getting smarter as cyber criminals find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities and consumer behavior across all mobile platforms and devices. And as more people download more apps than ever before, the opportunity for hackers to pilfer data or money continues to grow.
Yes, there’s still growth in paid search, and the search engines will continue to make money from advertisers eager to market to consumers who are actively searching. On the other hand, that growth is slowing dramatically. eMarketer Daily recently predicted that by 2015, U.S. growth in search advertising will flat-line and even be surpassed by online display advertising. Why the stagnation in what has historically been a booming market? The answer comes down to keywords. SEMs are held hostage by them. Their time and resources are constrained; there are only so many keywords they can create, manage, and optimize with current tools. This bandwidth constraint is reluctantly accepted as a necessary evil by the industry, which recognizes that the same unit of trade that permits granular, performance-based ad targeting also limits the ability to build campaigns that are both large and highly relevant. Given this, how can the search industry unlock the true value of SEM campaigns? Responding to the Challenges Google ignited search engine marketing in 2001, and in the ensuing 10 years, the industry has evolved into a complex discipline with its own set of best practices, pitfalls, and paradoxes. Ten years seems like a long time to those of us immersed in search-based marketing, and yet as Alliott Cole espoused on Forbes.com in “Google’s Fundamental Flaw is Search,” there’s plenty of room for innovation and improvement in how consumers and advertisers interact with search engines. Put plainly: "The sector as a whole remains in its infancy." Keywords provide advertisers with a helpful granular unit of trade and management, but they cause a lively ecosystem to suffer in two ways:
As we all know, Google has been a publicly traded company for many years now. So it faces the rather daunting challenge of consistently showing value and growth to its investors. But Google also has a big problem, with several contributing factors: How can it maintain its superstar stock status, or even just survive long-term? This week I’ll spell out Google’s challenges; in my next post, I’ll offer some solutions. The Problems1. Advertising is Google’s main revenue source -- by a wide margin. Yesterday, Business Insider posted a piece claiming that Google has the least diversified business online. (Here’s a graphic that demonstrates the findings from Dan Frommer of SplatF.) What the article shares is what we’ve all known for years -- the majority of Google’s revenue (90% last year) was generated from advertising. That percentage has dropped some in the past few years, but needless to say, advertising is still the cash cow for Google. For many years, with Google commanding a high percentage of the overall search traffic (most months between 60%-70% or more of total search volume), Google hasn’t had too many worries about competitors like Bing or Yahoo eating away at its slice of revenue from search ads. But unlike Microsoft, Google’s mere survival is tied to its advertising. Bing isn’t as strong in the search marketplace as it could be – but then again, it doesn’t have to be. As any financial advisor would tell you, don’t put all your financial eggs in one basket. And that advice holds true whether you’re a company or an individual. Right now, Google’s eggs are pretty much all in the advertising basket, and that’s dangerous. Just ask other one-trick-pony companies how that worked out for them. Disruptive technologies come along and force change. In business, you have to evolve – or die. 2. Enter the competition. Not only is Google challenged with having too much of its revenue tied to one product, it’s also facing a myriad of new competitors in the advertising space -- not least of which is Facebook. I’m sure back in 2005 Facebook looked like a mere diversion, and many might have felt it would go the way of MySpace. But it hasn’t. In a study from late last year, measurements from Citi Investment Research and Analysis showed that users spend more than double the time on Facebook as they do on Google sites, including Gmail. That’s somewhat to be expected given the nature of the two entities. And users are still flocking to Facebook in all age groups, which means that Facebook has expanding reach and influence. Couple that with the growing amount of time Facebook users spend on the site, and you’ve got a large captive audience. The final blow from Facebook is its attractiveness to advertisers. Unlike other forms of online advertising, including search, Facebook offers unprecedented demographic targeting for ads -- by age, gender, geographic location, likes, and even status updates. The response? A recent OnlineMediaDaily piece reported how Facebook ad growth is outpacing search advertising, with advertisers increasing Facebook advertising budgets by 109% in the fourth quarter of 2011. 3. U.S. search market begins to level off. That post also mentioned how the U.S. search advertising market may be slowing down. Search advertising has been around now for more than ten years (be it through AdWords or other platforms), and advertisers clearly understand the benefits. However, at some point, search advertising as a tactic will likely plateau. Evidence of Google’s possibly reaching this plateau came to me late last year. Each year I guest lecture at my alma mater, James Madison University, and help college students in the Google Online Marketing Challenge (GOMCHA) course with basic comprehension of Google AdWords and how to manage campaigns. Each team is given $250 free advertising dollars from Google to spend over a three-week period for a client. One of the contest rules deals with the types of companies students can recruit as clients for GOMCHA. Several years ago, students had to select a company that had NEVER used Google AdWords before, clearly showing that Google was trying to introduce AdWords to new prospective companies. However last year the rule loosened somewhat, and now students must work with companies that have not advertised on AdWords in the past six months. To me, that was a clear sign that Google understands that the U.S.-based search ad market is reaching saturation. It would be almost impossible for a student today to find a company (unless it was a new company) that had NEVER tried AdWords before. Other signs showing an imminent plateau include studies like one from eMarketer recently, showing how search ad spend compared to all online marketing spend is beginning to level while online marketing spend overall continues to grow. So those are the problems Google faces. Stay tuned for my suggestions on how to solve them.