Ad Operations Daily

Fullscreen video ads are still seen as the last big thing in advertising agencies and they surface when you expect them less, usually in a not very fortunate size and behavior.

Below is an example of an Eyeblaster fullscreen video ad developed for the movie “13th Street”, ad that ran in the Netherlands.

http://creativezone.eyeblaster.com/#ItemName=13th%20Street

It would’ve been nice if the ad stayed in its expanded window and not open a new browser window on its own, without user interaction.

Read more

ATLANTA – July 23, 2008 – EyeWonder, Inc., the pioneering Interactive Digital Advertising provider that extends the reach of rich media from online to any interactive digital display, announced today the appointment of Mr. Ricky McClellen to the position of Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Mr. Bruce Reese to the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

“We’re experiencing tremendous growth in terms of our company’s geographic footprint and corresponding client demand. We’ve added three new offices in the first two quarters this year: Amsterdam, Madrid, Hamburg; not to mention the office in Cologne we opened last year,” said John Vincent, chairman and CEO of EyeWonder, Inc. “With growth comes a high-level of responsibility, accountability, and proactive planning,” continued Mr. Vincent, “and that’s why we sought out and recruited two excellent additions for our team.”

“Mr. Reese joins us from his former post as the CFO of a leading data management systems company,” said Vincent. “And, Mr. McClellen’s information technology background and business process expertise will ensure that EyeWonder continues to remain at the technological forefront both internally and externally.”

Read more

Unicast has just announced the launch of their premium rich media ad platform, named Universe.

According to the announcement that found its way to my inbox just a bit earlier, “Universe leverages Unicast’s simple-to-use technology and enables agencies, advertisers and publishers to create and deliver highly engaging, interactive Premium Rich Media content that incorporates photorealistic visual fidelity, HD3D, video and Flash components.”

There are four dimensions to the Universe platform:

- uCreate - creation of premium rich media with simple tools and templates
- uMedia - employment of new media intelligence tool sets
- uDeliver - using a dynamic ad platform to efficiently deliver ads
- uMetrics - campaign performance reporting

Benefits of the Universe Platform:

- flexible plug-and-play solution for creation, delivery and reporting of premium rich media;
- rich media technology empowers creatives and media planners to think outside of the browser for innovative premium rich media executions;
- insightful engagement tracking and reporting capabilities to truly measure how users connect with the advertised brand.

The Unicast Universe Platform seems to be both creatives and media planners centric - you can check out their rather cool demo here.

Paris, France - July 22, 2008 – Publicis Groupe (Euronext Paris: FR0000130577) announced today the acquisition of Portfolio, one of Korea’s top digital marketing agencies. Portfolio is a pioneer in fully integrated online services, and is widely celebrated for its innovative web-based creativity and commitment to results. Portfolio will become part of Publicis Modem, the digital arm of the Publicis Worldwide global network, and the agency will be rebranded Publicis Modem Korea. Publicis Modem currently has Asia offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taiwan, and New Delhi.

Founded in 1998, Portfolio provides complete digital services including website development, website maintenance and marketing, online advertising campaigns, search, database marketing, data tracking, analysis and optimization. Portfolio’s client roster includes a number of prominent Korean and international brands such as Microsoft Korea, Prudential, Marriott International, Nissan Korea, Estée Lauder, Woonjgin Group, Epson, Choongwae Pharmaceutical Corp, Yuhan Kimberly and Nongsim Kellogg. Heewoon Park, founder and CEO of Portfolio, will remain at the head of the agency.

Read more

The folks at IAB as well as players in the online advertising industry seem active and busy these days, even though most of us would be thinking of July as a slow month. The MIXX Awards 2008 have reached an all-time high level of submissions - check out the IAB press release below.

New York, New York(July 22, 2008)—The  Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced that submissions to the fourth annual MIXX Awards hit record levels, surpassing 2007’s entries by nearly 40 percent. Since their founding in 2005, the MIXX Awards, the only advertising awards to recognize creativity and effectiveness, have evolved into the most prestigious interactive advertising award and have attracted a distinguished cross-section of the world’s top brands and agencies.

·         This year’s entries include submissions from hundreds of agencies—“native digital” shops and large traditional ones as well.

Read more

A recent OpenX blog post announced yesterday that OpenX 2.6 is now available and includes some much needed features focusing on:

- OpenX API - Save time by automating common tasks and linking OpenX with other systems.
- Faster ad tag - Deliver ads faster and reduce your server load using the single page call.
- User management tools - Control users permissions and log all trafficking activity.

New ad targeting options are also available in the new version, as well as a number of UI improvements.

You can check out the whole release notes here.

NEW YORK – July 21, 2008 – 24/7 Real Media, Inc., the leading global digital marketing company, today announced an agreement with Realogy Corporation, a global provider of real estate and relocation services, to provide advertisement management for Realogy’s participating network of residential real estate Web sites. The network includes premier brands in the real estate industry including CENTURY 21, Coldwell Banker, ERA, and OpenHouse.com, among others.

Realogy is now able to serve targeted ads and online displays to valuable home buying and selling audiences, and enable each participating site to view measurable analytics around the success of campaigns. The advanced targeting capabilities of 24/7 Real Media will enable advertising agencies and advertisers to reach specific targets among Realogy’s over 5 million monthly unique users for the first time.

“We chose 24/7 to deliver this new advertising capability for our Web sites because of its proven experience and targeting capabilities,” said Cathy Hoag, Realogy vice president of marketing. “This partnership combines our leading online real estate destination sites, with 24/7’s reach and digital marketing expertise, to provide advertisers and agencies with a powerful marketing vehicle.”

Read more

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (July 21, 2008)—The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release of “A Mobile Advertising Overview,” a document that demystifies the mobile platform and showcases it as a vital and growing medium for interactive advertising. It is the first report issued by the IAB on the mobile advertising platform and outlines a broad spectrum of opportunities for marketers and agencies as more and more of them utilize this emerging platform.

The document:
• Educates media companies, agencies, marketers and users about how advertising is currently implemented within the mobile platform
• Explores the mobile platform as a viable part of the interactive advertising ecosystem
• Includes case studies of mobile advertising campaigns designed to assist marketers and agencies in campaign execution.

Read more

As expected (see my earlier article), ValueClick has officially announced the launch of their Precision BT suite, providing new opportunities for behavioral targeting. Below is the press release, issues just moments ago.

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 21, 2008–ValueClick Media, a division of ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK), announced the availability of its Precision BT(TM) suite today, combining access to a wealth of anonymous consumer online behavior with an innovative predictive technology to create the most robust and scalable behavioral targeting solution available to marketers.

The Precision BT(TM) suite contains two products, including Precision Retargeting(TM), an enhanced version of the user retargeting capabilities offered by ValueClick Media since 2005, and Precision Profiles(TM), which uses a proprietary predictive algorithm to identify a marketer’s best prospects in hundreds of consumer interest segments.
Read more

San Mateo, California (PRWEB) – July 21, 2008 – Jivox, a self-service online video advertising platform for local businesses, today announced that WatchNBuy.com has been named the Jivox June 2008 Advertiser of the Month. The new interactive online shopping service is being recognized for its innovative use of the Jivox online video advertising platform to promote a wide range of consumer products to highly targeted audiences.

WatchNBuy.com is a recently launched San Antonio, Texas-based interactive online shopping service that shows videos of products to help consumers make a more informed decision when purchasing an item. WatchNBuy.com displays original video content of items “in action” and enables consumers to click on items in the videos to buy them. The site features a wide range of specialized products such as monogrammed diaper bags, artisan pottery and UV protective clothing for children.

Read more