Geary Search may be a new division of Geary Interactive, but the six-year-old San Diego-based firm has been using search, including geo-targeting, for years. "We were one of the pioneers that figured out how to do local search," says Andreas Roell, president, Geary Interactive. The company, founded in 1999 with the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas as its inaugural client, now has Trump International on its roster, and has since branched out into education and entertainment clients. Still, Roell likes playing the smart percentages and the return on investment payoff that search delivers. For one education client, …

Not going anywhere for a while? Visit SnickersSatisfies.com. The popular candy bar has updated its former slogan circa the 1980s, "Snickers Satisfies," by transforming it into an entertaining Web site complete with a viral component. Each day a different interactive scenario entertains visitors; once they've finished with it, users can e-mail it to a friend or download it as a screensaver (PC users only). One scenario features a mattress, complete with annoying mattress tag, and a pair of scissors. Visitors are encouraged to snip off the mattress tag, but must be prepared for the consequences: the police. Once the …

The Gizmondo handheld is a lot of things. It plays video games, movies, and music; it's capable of browsing the Web and sending e-mail and text messages; and it snaps pictures. It even has a global positioning satellite (GPS) navigation and tracking device. And for brands like Adidas, Sprite, and Levi's, the Gizmondo is a way to connect with young, impulsive, and increasingly elusive consumers. These brands and others have already partnered with the manufacturer of the device, Tiger Telematics, to target young consumers via a questionnaire distributed at the time of purchase. The questionnaire polls kids on their interests, …

When NBC's Universal Pictures created the marketing plan for its teen horror thriller "Cry Wolf," it pursued an unconventional advertising venue. To promote the flick, which hit theaters nationwide last month, it used a medium that was, until quite recently, considered marginal real estate: instant messaging. Rogue Pictures, a division of NBC Universal, teamed up with America Online to create a mobile horror movie trivia game for AOL Instant Messaging (AIM) users. To play the game, AIM users would text their screen names to a "Cry Wolf" screen address. The studio is hardly alone. Many blue-chip advertisers across categories …

It's no secret that the online sector is booming. And you, dear readers, have a front-row seat to witness this trend firsthand. As the economy hums along and digital media businesses, technologies, and content properties grow, we take a look this month at the long-term outlook for the interactive industry. omma contributor Lynn Russo delivers a comprehensive online forecast. As we went to press, TNS Media Intelligence reported that total advertising expenditures for the first half of 2005 increased 4.5 percent over the same period in 2004, to $70.5 billion. Online display advertising increased 9.4 percent for the first …

In opting to market its Air Jordan basketball sneakers to a new generation, one whose youngest members were not even born when the retired basketball legend Michael Jordan won his first NBA championship, Nike knew it was taking a chance. "We knew that competition in the hotly contested athletic shoe space had grown exponentially since Michael played in the NBA," recalls Michael Smit, client director for Vancouver-based Blast Radius, Air Jordan's lead agency. "So just showing up to compete wasn't enough. We had to make it clear to everyone, one more time, who the real champion was - and …

These days, it seems like every time you turn around someone is coming up with a new way to use the Internet as a medium to infringe on your privacy and rob you blind. Last year, it was "phishing." Today's buzzwords are "pharming" and "evil twins." So what exactly do these new words mean to consumers and publishers? Unlike phishing, pharming doesn't rely on e-mail to get users to divulge their personal information. Rather, it capitalizes on a vulnerability of Internet service providers (ISPs) that store Internet protocol addresses on local servers to speed up their connection times. If …

Interactive marketing pioneer Michael Hayes was recently tapped by Initiative North America, a division of Interpublic Group, as vice president, interactive marketing. Most recently at 10th Degree and The Walt Disney Company, Hayes has been involved with online media since its birth, which offers him with a wealth of insight into the future. OMMA's Lynn Russo reports. OMMA: What ideas do you have to grow Initiative's interactive group? Hayes: One capability we're adding is advergaming. My belief is that the gaming business is now bigger than the motion picture business, and in 2006, it's projected to overtake books and …

Forget about TV this fall. Okay, we'll grant you an exception for "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost," both on ABC. But online industry players are really hoping that millions of eyeballs and attention spans gravitate from the TV to the Web as it becomes more and more a destination for original and licensed episodic programming. Unscripted reality TV shows like NBC's "The Apprentice," CBS's "Survivor" and "Rock Star: INXS," and Fox's "American Idol" have helped spur the drive from TV to the Web, as marketers see myriad opportunities for consumer engagement with such properties. Deeper involvement with shows that have …

This just in, online media mavens: Teenagers occasionally spend time on the Internet. They play games, contribute to online communities, blog about topics both smart and silly, and grab every last nugget of information worth grabbing for school reports, future purchases, and more. And yet many mainstream marketers still treat teens as if they're a lesser species of online denizen, rather than a group that boasts the sophistication of their 30-something predecessors. Remember, Generation Y has grown up with the Internet. "Young people operate in this space on such an intuitive level," notes Dr. Pamela Kiecker, a …