Marketing and Technology News

Google has begun beta testing “gadget” ads — interactive applications that advertisers can embed into Web pages, which will add a rich media solution to the search giant’s suite of products.
Although Google executives revealed the beta during a marketing summit for the auto industry, the Gadget Ads will be available to all ad categories by [...]

AT&T’s Cingular unit and Travelocity are among the marketers whose brands’ presence in adware is continuing — despite their pledges to cease participating in such programs. But industry observers say companies bear responsibility for tracking their marketing. “They have the power to monitor their own ads, and so they should,” said Kevin Heisler, analyst at [...]

All media will be going digital in the next five years, said Brian McAndrews, president/CEO of aQuantive.
In the keynote address at an industry conference titled “The Digital Decade: What the Last Five Years Can Teach Us About the Next Five,” Lynne Johnson, a senior editor at FastCompany.com, interviewed Mr. McAndrews yesterday about how past developments [...]

While Microsoft has dominated sales of personal computer operating systems and business software, it’s lagged behind rivals Google and Yahoo! in terms of Web search traffic and online ad sales. Analysts are divided on whether Microsoft will be able to mount a serious challenge to Google in the Web search space.
Source: CNNMoney
http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@mac.com

It is no longer just a good idea to add search to your marketing mix — it is imperative for marketers to do so if they want to succeed.
Panelists at the “Putting Search into the Marketing Mix” session at the Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo emphasized the importance of embracing search and integrating it [...]

Google’s new free directory assistance is sure to be popular with consumers, but it means trouble on the line for the big phone companies

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The days of paying north of a buck for directory assistance over the phone may be coming to an end—at least if Google and a gaggle of startups have anything to say [...]

In report published on Wednesday, sources indicated that Microsoft was leading the way in negotiations to buy ad-serving provider DoubleClick from the private-equity group Hellman & Friedman for an estimated $2 billion. Why?
An acquisition of DoubleClick would drive home the point that Microsoft’s build-not-buy strategy just isn’t working via Web-based advertising. DoubleClick, however, “is right [...]

Here are the top 20 Internet display advertisers ranked by parent company for the year 2006, TNS Media Intelligence reported Tuesday.
1. Vonage Holdings Corp.
$185,660,200
2. AT&T Inc.
$166,394,500
3. Dell Inc.
$136,889,900
4. Walt Disney Co.
$132,699,600
5. General Motors Corp.
$129,520,300
6. Experian Group
$128,042,100
7. Verizon [...]

These blog posts are polluting the blog world and misleading consumers by blurring the line between advertising and unbiased opinion
The LA Times reports that thousands of bloggers are writing sponsored posts touting such diverse topics as diamonds, digital cameras and drug clinics. The bloggers are spurred by new marketing middlemen such as PayPerPost that connect [...]

Internet ad spending grew 34% to hit a record high of $16.8 billion in 2006, with fourth-quarter spending the highest to date, reported the Interactive Advertising Bureau in its preliminary estimate of the year’s spending released Wednesday.
Source: Laurie Petersen, via Mediapost
http://geoff-caplan.com, email geoffcaplan@mac.com

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