Sizmek made general availability Wednesday its Ad Builder for HTML5, a web-based rich media authoring tool that allows users of the Sizmek platform to create HTML5 ads for mobile and desktop. The version extends its HTML5 ad-creation capabilities that available together linked with its ad serving, analytics, and customer service offering.

Blenheim Chalcot has acquires the Interactive Marketing division that includes ClickZ, Search Engine Watch (SEW), ClickZ Live, and SES. The U.K. company group already includes Contentive Media, Bobsguide, and StrategyEye. 

A patent awarded to Google outlines a projection system that can display images on a wall painted with photo-reactive paint. Google’s idea would essentially turn any wall in a house into a massive e-book screen, similar to the way electronics companies like Intel and IBM worked on conductive materials that would turn paint on a wall into WiFi hotspots. Quartz explains.

Mike Ramsey shares a guide to local content strategy and marketing. He tells marketers that local content doesn't necessarily mean just the written word and scalable doesn't mean fast and easy growth. He explains how to create goals and rules to develop local content marketing tactics.

Phone calls have become a critical factor in gaining new business for a variety of companies because many online advertisements and mobile services support phone calls. Margot da Cunha points to data from AdInsight that suggests 43% of all search-related conversions occur on the phone, and 65% of businesses consider phone calls to be their most valuable, highest-quality source of leads. She guides marketers through the major issues involving the calls that come in through paid-search campaigns and details how to solve them.

Google knows how to make a splash in the media. Tuesday marks the day Google boosts the ranking of mobile-friendly pages in mobile search results. The move is intended to help individuals find more relevant results where text is readable without tapping or zooming, tap targets are spaced appropriately, and the page avoids unplayable content or horizontal scrolling. Brands can check their pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test or the status of the entire site through the Mobile Usability report in Webmaster Tools.  

Elon Musk reached out to Google cofounder Larry Page in 2013 to acquire the company after potential orders for cars were put on hold. At the time, Musk proposed that Google buy Tesla outright for about $6 billion, and another $5 billion in capital for factory expansions. He also wanted guarantees that Google wouldn’t break up or shut down his company before it produced a third-generation electric car aimed at the mainstream auto market. Ashlee Vance explains.

Lead generation remains the most challenging problem facing marketers, according to CSO Insights' 2015 Sales Management Optimization Study. The study found that the percentage of qualified leads accepted calls from salespeople continue to fall during the past five years. Only a fifth of companies said they had first-conversation rates of 75%, and a quarter reported a rate between 50% and 75%. Al Urbanski explains.

Remember Josh Bernoff, former Forrester Analyst, self proclaimed "troublemaker" and coauthor of Groundswell? He analyzes who created media, marketing and advertising content in the 1980s versus today, and how brands can produce better content. He identifies the change to identify the opportunities in clear, powerful writing. Bernoff explains.

Smarts or arrogance? You need one, not the other, to work at Twitter as a security experts, but Chris Roberts took his expertise a bit too far. He was removed from a United Airlines flight by the FBI after joking about messing with the security system. CNet reports his tweet as: "Find myself on a 737/800, lets see Box-IFE-ICE-SATCOM, ? Shall we start playing with EICAS messages? "PASS OXYGEN ON" Anyone ? :)" He agrees it would have made more sense to search for another way to tweet the message.