In another sign of the growing virtual goods economy, in-game advertising startup SupersonicAds has raised $4.2 million in a first-round funding led by Greylock Israel, an affiliated fund of Greylock Partners. The company's BrandConnect platform lets brands run direct response campaigns in social games on Facebook by allowing players to earn Facebook Credits (virtual currency) in return for watching videos or taking other actions. That currency in turn can be used to buy virtual goods to progress through game play. The company, whose clients include Kelloggg's, Hasbro, Intel and Disney, says that 40% of people who viewed a …

Mobile ad network Mojiva is the latest company to become a premium member of the Mobile Marketing Association. The group's top-tier membership level involves a six-figure commitment by participating companies to help promote the mobile marketing industry. In its new role, Mojiva and the MMA will jointly develop a mobile sales training program for publishers led by Tony Nethercutt, general manager for Mojiva North America. It will highlight keys aspects of selling mobile marketing, as well as how to effectively integrate it into an advertiser's media budget. Mojiva will also be participating as a presenting sponsor at the …

Online video ad firm Jun Group is partnering with social gaming provider CrowdStar to allow players to watch branded videos in exchange for earning virtual goods for game play. June Group lists clients including HBO, Frito Lay, Intel and Dove and says 5% to 25% of viewers who watch its videos share them, visit a brand's Web site or engage in other social interactions. CrowdStar is the company behind popular social games including "Happy Aquarium", "Happy Island", and "Zoo Paradise." In May, it raised $23 million in a first-round funding led by Intel Capital and Time Warner investments. Read …

Major brands are continuing their support of funds-strapped U.S. state parks, with campaigns focused during the summer months. Cause-related state park partnerships include a number organized by marketing agency Good Solutions Group (GSG). Since its launch in 2003, corporate partnerships organized by GSG have raised $7.5 million in cash and services for state parks. This year, Coca-Cola Company brand Odwalla is donating $100,000 to GSG's "Plant a Tree" program, enabling planting of nearly 81,000 trees in parks. Odwalls has previously donated $350,00 worth of trees to that program. Coca-Cola Company, through a "Preserve Our Parks" fund-raising campaign with the …

Foxwoods Resort Casino will have its logo on David Stremme & Inception Motorsports Chevrolet Impala when it races at NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Foxwoods Resort Casino will sponsor the No. 30 Foxwoods Chevrolet Impala driven by Inception Motorsports' David Stremme in the NASCAR Sprint Series' Lenox  Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday, July 17. Foxwoods is also "official resort casino" of the Boston Celtics, the Boston Red Sox, the New Jersey Nets, the New York Knicks, and the New York Liberty, and holds sponsorships with House of Blues …

Dennis Maloney, VP multimedia marketing at Domino's, former Navy submariner, talked at Thursday's ANA Digital and Social Media conference in New York about how the QSR chain navigated the waters of the business. reviewed the company's reinvention, which had been in last place for taste, tied with Chuck E. Cheese. Maloney said that while the fix included fixing the crust, sauce and cheese, the company had to alter, fundamentally, how it presented itself to the public, and that has everything to do with integrating with social media. The company based the reinvention on transparency. "We launched with a very …

Canadian consumers recently polled by Technomic say they eat chicken more frequently than any other type of meat. But consumers say there are places where poultry could still work, like at breakfast or for snacking occasions. Younger consumers are the most likely to look for chicken on the breakfast menu, with 21% saying they eat chicken for breakfast at least once per week compared to 9% of all chicken consumers. Nearly a quarter of consumers eat chicken as a snack at least once a week. "Poultry is a very versatile protein that can be positioned in a number …

Chevrolet has been the official vehicle of Major League Baseball since 2005. With the ink still wet on a new contract, Chevrolet will hold that title for five more years. With the deal Chevrolet gets exclusive category rights, and presenting sponsorship of the annual Roberto Clemente Award, the Ted Williams All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award, and the World Series Most Valuable Player Award.  Chevrolet will also continue to serve as presenting sponsor of the annual All-Star Red Carpet Show, which takes place today in Phoenix prior to the All-Star Game.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau has introduced a set of best practices for conducting online ad effectiveness research. Written by Marissa Gluck of Radar Research, the guidelines are meant to provides online ad market a practical set of recommendations for standard operating procedures with respect to using ad effectiveness studies. Among the planning-related recommendations are: -To use online ad effectiveness surveys appropriately to make optimization decisions on an individual site, a study will optimally include at least 200 respondents. -A 15-million impressions campaign should be the minimum before a site should consider running a study on behalf of …

Courtesy of a sponsorship from AT&T, Amazon has lowered the price of the Kindle 3G with Special Offers to $139. The two companies announced the reduced price for the 3G model which includes advertising as Amazon's battle with Barnes & Noble's Nook intensifies. AT&T already powers wireless connectivity for the Kindle 3G, but the company is going a step further by subsidizing the device's cost. Launched in May, the Kindle 3G with Special Offers was previously priced at $164. The standard 3G model is $189. The Special Offers version is the same except that if includes special offers and …