Real-time one-to-one relationship management is something every company dreams of but few companies achieve. Now more companies can attain it with the Applied Marketing Engine (AME), a new tool launched by integrated marketing agency Wunderman. AME's analytical processing system manages both on- and offline data, calculates metrics, analyzes business intelligence, and improves campaign management. Client data is supplemented with external information, such as socio-demographics and suppression lists. The net result is a robust and relevant customer profile that helps marketers deliver the most appropriate content to each individual. "AME takes a look at all the …

Broadband video is getting downright easy to pull off, thanks to so-called white-label online video services like WhiteBlox. The new service provides off-the-shelf modular software that lets potential broadcasters get on the Web quickly and cheaply. WhiteBlox creates software in chunks, with each chunk handling a different task. There are multicamera video chunks, e-commerce chunks, and bits for geographic targeting, streamed video, ad insertion, and other functions. Mainstream content providers are warming to the notion. WhiteBlox provided the software for the online multicamera in-car feeds for the recent Indianapolis 500 car race. It also supported …

A woman we'll call Suzy runs a book club. Twice monthly, six women gather to discuss books they're reading. They take suggestions from Oprah. They have a blog. And they're affiliate marketers. Rather than going to Barnes & Noble when they want to buy a new book, they simply post a Barnes & Noble link on their site and receive credit from the retailer for each sale. Though they're not a million-dollar account, they're just as important. Why? Because there are lots of Suzys, and they cost nothing to manage. They sell books for Barnes & Noble …

While search advertising has pioneered a real-time auctioning model for ad buying, display ads still operate on a fixed rate-card model. Ad network firm Experclick is out to challenge that model with an online ad exchange designed for display ads. Advertisers specify the audience they want to reach based on contextual, behavioral, or demographic factors, and then "bid" on how much they're willing to pay per impression, per click, or per action. When a visitor lands on a page in the network, Experclick's proprietary price engine SpotPrice compares impression bids, and the highest bid wins. Another …

The concept of opt-in marketing has so far been limited to e-mail. With the release of its new Concentri program, Akron, Ohio-based software firm Knotice strives to expand permission marketing across multiple channels. The platform enables marketers to integrate opt-in data about lifestyle, product, and media preferences for delivery and management via e-mail and Web ads, mobile messaging, and iTV all from a single console. It integrates easily with existing workflow and CRM investments to leverage marketing automation. "By using what we call personal relevance marketing, marketers can now customize both message and medium," says Knotice …

Behavioral targeting has long been an effective way for online advertisers to deliver the right message to the right person. Now companies can have the same targeting ability on their own sites, with "on-site" behavioral targeting marketed by UK-based Touch Clarity. The firm hired Brent Hieggelke, formerly of WebTrends, as its new CMO. Hieggelke will lead the company's branding and positioning strategies, demand-generation efforts, and analyst and PR initiatives. The firm opened a Boston office and hired a sales team earlier this year. With traditional behavioral targeting solutions, Hieggelke explains, "You would work with them …

Have you ever said to your TV, "I'd like to solve the puzzle"? Well, Pat and Vanna may not be there to cheer you on, but now you can play along at home with ReacTV, a new network that simulcasts on the Internet from 7:00 p.m. to 2 a.m. How does it work? At-home contestants answer multiple-choice trivia questions in five categories over a span of 30 minutes through one of three ways: online by logging onto 77tv.com; by tuning into channel 77 through their local cable operator using a special set-top box; or by purchasing a …

Online rug shoppers can now do much more than simply click to enlarge a product photo and then struggle to imagine it placed in their living room. On the site www.MyRugShop.com, shoppers can upload photos of their own rooms, then select and insert a desired rug to see whether it's a stylish match. The site has aggregated the rug inventories of leading interior design retailers, including Overstock.com, Home Depot, Home Decorators Collection, and Rugman.com. For those accustomed to shopping in person for rugs, running from store to store with swatches and color charts and making last-minute returns, …

As you've probably realized by now, the Internet has turned traditional TV models upside down and inside out.

A stubborn old-media video problem is beginning to appear in new media: What exactly are marketers getting when they buy a video spot online?