Google has gone not only from online advertising to offline with print and radio ads, but it’s aiming higher - way, way up, in fact - announcing an ad deal with XM satellite radio.
Digital consultancy Denuo and user-generated advertising platform ViTrue Inc. have formed a partnership that will allow agency clients to bring social networking to advertising and marketing, reports MediaPost. ViTrue develops promotional video-sharing sites for clients that allow consumers to create and upload their own ads.
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Pitney Bowes Inc. has agreed to purchase Print Inc., provider of bundled offerings of printer supplies, service and equipment to manage document production, for $47 million, and will integrate Print Inc.’s operations into a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, Pitney Bowes Direct, writes DM News.
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Google is updating its algorithm for evaluating “landing page quality” in an effort to weed out low-quality sites that are linked to from AdWords ads, writes ClickZ (via MarketingVox). As a result, “over the coming days a small number of advertisers who are providing a low-quality user experience on their landing pages will see increases in their minimum bids,” according to the official Inside AdWords blog.
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Shaw The television networks seemed primed to move from using program ratings to using commercial ratings as the currency for selling ad space beginning in the fall. Nielsen Media Research will begin offering syndicated data on commercial ratings to the industry at the beginning of the new TV season, and it is likely that the commercial ratings will be the currency media buyers use when making their upfront decisions next May, Adweek writes.
A new approach to TV advertising buying will be launched later this summer with a medium that allows authorized buyers to see every ad unit available, click on it and put it in a shopping cart. When enough ad inventory is selected to meet an advertiser’s rating point goals, they can proceed to the checkout page and complete the buy, MediaPost reports.
This simple system follows a year of major advertisers calling for a more simple approach to media buying. Julie Roehm of Wal-mart, for example, has been considering funding a multimillion dollar test to see if TV can be bought more effectively via online trading.
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KMC Marketing Inc. announced today that it has a new list available for client usage and rent, through list manager NAI Inc., made up of 25,000 active competitive tennis players from 40 states. Over 90 percent of the players maintain a USTA rating between 2.5 and 5.5, according to the company.
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Joining the likes of AOL, American Express Open and Yahoo Search Marketing, internet services company WSI Internet Consulting & Education has teamed up with email marketing services provider Constant Contact’s Business Partner Program, in a move to provide WSI customers the ability to create, design and manage email marketing campaigns, writes DM News.
Joining a growing trend among companies to launch product-labeling initiatives that help consumers identify healthful foods and beverages that are free of trans-fat and low in sugar and sodium, Unilever unveiled its “Choices” program, in which its products display a logo that indicates that it is healthful, writes Brandweek.
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Entering into a deal with marketer Infront Sports & Media, the BBC has announced that it would simultaneously stream all of its live televised coverage of the 2006 World Cup over broadband for free, writes Media Life. Along with the live online coverage, users can view bonuses like minute-by-minute commentary written by BBC journalists, World Cup on-demand highlights packages and an hourly desktop sports alerts.
In a review of creative duties on its account worth between $150 million and $200 million, Progressive has distributed requests for proposals to nine agencies, excluding incumbent Doner, sources said, writes Adweek.
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Perfectmatch.com, a subscription-based online dating service with over three million members, has signed a season-long deal to be integrated into the storyline of Lifetime channel’s new series about a dysfunctional dating service, Lovespring International, writes The New York Times. Throughout the 13-episode season, Perfectmatch.com will appear as a faceless nemesis that steals clients from Lovespring.
Eliteweb’s internet portal and search engine division Elite Email Marketing plans to launch an email marketing service to help small businesses create email programs in a few minutes, according to the company, DM News writes.
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According to results released from Jacobs Media’s technology poll conducted in February 2006, XM and Sirius are now equally popular, with current satellite radio subscribers selecting either XM or Sirius largely because of the programming and marketing strategies employed by each company, writes Billboard Radio Monitor.
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Hoping to snag the attention of concertgoers in Cleveland this summer, the Columbus, Ohio, convention and visitors bureau has placed 2-foot by 2-foot pavement decals in the neighboring city, reports The Columbus Dispatch. The “Experience Columbus” branded decals mark Columbus’ latest guerilla-marketing tactic in its first summer ad campaign for special or seasonal events.
In a move that will give FedEx Corp. complementary offerings in the less-than-truckload (LTL) sector, the shipping company has paid $780 million in cash for the LTL operations of the nations largest privately owned long-haul LTL carrier, Watkins Motor Lines, along with certain affiliates, writes DM News.
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Katz Radio Group has signed with HipCricket for its wireless marketing expertise and service, planning to provide Katz Radio Group radio stations with wireless marketing opportunities such as offering electronic media to cell phone audiences, Radio Ink writes.
Next month, TNS Media Research, a major TV ratings provider outside the U.S., will become the first significant player to challenge Nielsen Media Research domestically since the 1980s, when TNS commercializes its ratings service that’s based on anonymous viewing data collected from Charter Communications’ 55,000 Los Angeles-based subscribers, writes MediaPost.
Posing more competition to cable companies, telecommunications giant AT&T is reportedly spending $4.6 billion on efforts to provide TV over broadband in up to 20 U.S. markets by the end of the year, reaching some 19 million homes across more than 40 markets by the end of 2008, writes Informitv. Some analysts, however, are skeptical regarding the feasibility of the plan in the proposed timeframe.
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Last week, Motorola launched the promotion for its smart phone Q, with a campaign themed “Let there be Q,” which includes print and outdoor ads that emphasize the Q’s ability to email and play music and video, writes BrandWeek.
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