ANA Chief Bob Liodice just told TV and Everything Video attendees that Nielsen has agreed to integrate the ad industry's Ad-ID codes into its digital watermarking system, and that it will lead to "brand-specific commercial ratings" soon. "We will leave it up to the buyers and sellers to determine the implications of these ratings in valuing the currency of TV advertising," Liodice said. "But for now, we appreciate the opportunity to materially move up the marketing accountability ladder."

In his opening remarks at the ANA TV and Everything Video Forum, ANA Chief Bob Liodice just announced that the ANA is partnering with Canoe Ventures to launch a consumer panel of interactive TV households. "Today, I am desighted to announce that a select group of ANA members have signed up to participate in the first year of this innovative project," Liodice disclosed. "These are Fidelity Investments, GlaxoSmithKline, Honda, Kimberly Clark and State Farm."

If you think about it, Sears was always a pioneer in mobile media, long before the smartphone, the iPad, or whatever comes next. That's what Miles Kirkpatrick, manager of online & emerging media at Sears Holding Corp., just reminded Mobile Insider Summit attendees. Of course, the medium Sears first pioneered mobile marketing with was print-based: the catalogue. But even back then, the retail marketer understood the power of apps as a concept, and branded the 1933 version of its catalogue with an app-like nomenclature that would make Apple's Steve Jobs green with envy. They called it the Wish Book. …

The adoption of the iPad and tablets generally as more than media devices is one of the themes that's emerged from the conference. Miles Kirkpatrick, who leads online and emerging media at Sears, noted customers are transacting more via tablets than on smartphones. The retailer has also seen strong response rates on marketing geared to the iPad. David Hewitt, VP mobile, at Sapient Nitro, pointed to the continued growth of tablets to be one of the big trends this year, especially with more Android-powered units coming on the market. But is it really a mobile device at all? " …

Rick Gardinier, chief digital officer for Brunner and moderator on panel on mobile and local, asks whether big box stores are going away because of all the other digital and mobile options consumers now have for transacting. David Berkowitz, sr. director of Emerging Media & Innovation at 360i, says brands will always want prominent placement and promotion in brick and mortar stores, but companies now have a pathway through mobile to get more information or discounts about products in big box stores. He cites LG as an example of a manufacturer doing a good job of supplying consumers with product …

In the second keynote of the day, Sean Finnegan, the CEO of Interpublic's new Geomentum unit, declared that "local is the arena of opportunity." Well, perhaps that's not surprising for the head of a hyper-local marketing agency. Finnegan outlined a new "14-10-3" paradigm for local, essentially meaning 80% of retail takes place 14 minute drive from a store, then there's another opportunity to engage consumers within 10 yards of a store, and finally, 3-feet is the distance between a sales person and a shopper. Using different technologies from geo-fencing, to QR codes to GPS, marketers and retailers can take …

That is what Coca-Cola hopes to do via mobile media, according to Mobile Insider Summit opening keynoter Tom Daly. Daly who is group manager of strategy & planning at Coca-Cola Co. says the strategy is actually an extension of Coca-Cola's seminal marketing plan, which was conceived in the 1930s, and it just so happens to fit in nicely with the way the world of mobile media is evolving. "Our mobile strategy was written in the 1930s," Daly notes, recalling Coke's original marketing mantra, which was to put "our brands within arm's reach of desire." Wow. And what …

Leading off the Mobile Summit's second day is Tom Daly, Group Manager, Strategy & Planning for Coca-Cola, who laid out what the top priorities should be for mobile marketers, starting with SMS text marketing. "If you want to reach every consumer on the planet, texting is the way to," said Daly, pointing out that 2.3 trillion messages were sent last year. (That's 7.7 times the number of stars!) Coke has gotten a 14% lift on vending machines that let people use shortcodes and make cashless payments to buy beverages. Priority No. 2 is the mobile Web. Globally, 90% of …

Mobile ad platform Amobee Media Systems just announced a new performance-based model that integrates mobile campaigns with fixed out-of-home media. The system, which can utilize SMS, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi tied to create an interactive backchannel for out-of-home media campaigns, is proximity-based and utilizes a pay-for-performance model that charges advertisers only when a mobile user interacts with the medium in that location. Amobee did not disclose what kind of coverage the new system has, but said the model was similar to online performance-based advertising models, such as paid search campaigns. "Whether a billboard in a subway, a sign …

Interestingly, a significant percentage – 25% -- of U.S. smartphone owners don't know that they actually have a smartphone. They think it's simply an old-school, not-so-smart phone, er what we used to call cell phones. How do I know this? Because Joy Liuzzo, the research guru at InsightExpress is telling us at the mobile summit. Liuzzo, who did some special research for summit attendees, says this stat is one of the bombshells, and the reason it's so important is that that segment – a segment she calls the "pleasantly surprised smartphone owners" – behave more like regular phone …