OK, so I admit, i was wrong. The puppet not only isn't Scott Monty, it doesn't look remotely like him. Scott did tell me, however, that Doug, besides saving lives and stopping numerous crimes, is the brainchild of Team Detroit, Ford, and -- of all people -- the Upright Citizens Brigade. There is a story somewhere in this about how marketers are using improv groups like UCB and Second City to develop off-beat, viral, and obviously humorous campaigns. Kraft's Macbeth videos a case in point. Maybe I should have stuck with stand-up...

Ad experts see big potential for retargeting, targeting users who've already visited a publisher's site, in mobile. At an afternoon panel focused on retargeting, Mike Venables, group planning director, Neo@Ogilvy, noted that mobile offers the opportunity generally to target more precisely through location and because each mobile device tends only to have one user. He suggested that as mobile browsing becomes more mainstream, there's potential to use retargeting in mobiel for focus groups, testing campaigns with customers or visitors you already know. And when you have buckets of people that have purchased via mobile, the aim is to try to …

Ford has a puppet. Doug, a Kermit like hand puppet is appearing in a series of Web videos on Facebook and elsewhere. Actually the videos are on the Facebook wall of John, a Ford marketing specialist. Now, I know a few of them, not John's but Ford marketing execs, and I don't know him, but he's a good actor, so I'm thinking he may be an actor. Ok, I'm going to say he IS an actor until someone tells me otherwise. On this Facebook page of John, "marketing guy at Ford" are a series of videos. One uploaded yesterday introduces …

Why does targeting online seem so different than targeting offline, MediaPost's Joe Mandese asked panelists this morning. Is it, he mused, because online targeting is more scientific? Not a chance, says David Jakubowski, CEO of Aggregate Knowledge. “We haven't graduated to something honorable enough to be called science," he says. Ed Montes, CEO of Adnetik, posited that online targeting seems more threatening because of the medium itself. “To me, it feels more personal to have someone target my browsing behavior” than for a store to send a coupon because of prior purchases.

Condé Nast is considering spinning off social news site Reddit, MediaMemo is reporting. The publisher would continue to own the site, which it bought five years ago, "but it's talking to investors about selling a stake," reports MediaMemo's Peter Kafka. "Sources tell me it is floating a $200 million valuation," Kafka writes. Last summer, Reddit was doing more than 400 million page views a month, but has since shot up to a billion. The theory, according to Kafka, is that "Taking Reddit outside of Condé Nast's corporate structure would make the site that much more valuable, and would give …

Causing concern for Foursquare and other LBS service providers, Facebook users can now check in to Facebook Events that they're currently attending through the touch.facebook.com site -- and soon through the Facebook for iPhone app. "When users are in geographic proximity to the address of an Event during its run-time, they'll see a 'Check In' button that publishes a news feed story to their friends stating "[Name] is at [Event],'" writes Inside Facebook. As such, users will no longer have to create a new Places page or add the name of an Event to a checkin's description when they …

Let the leaks begin! As The New York Times prepares to launch its metered paywall, the Web is abuzz with alternative for subscription-averse readers. Referring to code that will block cart blanch access to NYTimes.com, Nieman Journalism Lab writes: "Unfortunately for the Times, there are plenty of popular (or popular-among-nerds) tools that tactically remove little bits of CSS and Javascript." In on instance, Canadian coder David Hayes just released NYClean, a "bookmarklet," which, in one click, tears down The Times' paywall. In what he calls an "obligatory note," Nieman Lab's Joshua Benton says he thinks the Times is right …

Apple is suing Amazon.com on the claim that the online retailer is improperly using Apple's "App Store" trademark for a mobile software developer program. In a complaint filed on March 18 in California, Apple accused Amazon.com of trademark infringement and unfair competition and asked for a court order to prevent the company from using the "App Store" name, as well as for unspecified damages, Bloomberg reports. "Amazon has begun improperly using Apple's App Store mark in connection with Amazon's mobile software developer program," Apple said in the complaint cited by Bloomberg. "Amazon also plans to use the name with …

Marketing to small-business owners may be getting easier, according to the latest survey from Office Depot: More small businesses say they are expecting higher sales and profits in the months ahead, and expect to spend more money, as well. More than half of the small- and mid-sized businesses the retailer surveys say the economy is headed in a positive direction, with 56% expecting it to improve. As a result, 70% are forecasting a jump in their sales, and 67% to see an increase in their profits. But there are still some big concerns, with 80% worried about inflation, and …

At a press conference this morning, AT&T executives highlighted reasons why they believe the carrier's planned $39 billion acquisition of T-Mobile will be approved by federal regulators and how it benefits consumers. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson reiterated the deal would improve network quality, give customers access to a wider variety of services and will expand its 4G LTE service across the U.S. to 95% of the population. (AT&T's LTE rollout schedule will not change.) By expanding mobile broadband capacity, he also said the merger would help meet exploding demand for data use as well as fulfill the FCC's broadband …