Marketing Pilgrim

No, really! Does anyone actually know what the unveiled Google Punch does?

Apparently Google Operating System spotted Google Punch listed in a Google Documents drop-down–within the video below.

Speculation has already started as to what Google Punch could be, but I’d love to hear your thoughts.

A few days ago, Glam Media, the number one vertical media company for women, announced that they were going to buy ad technology start-up AdPortal. The idea was that their tech would help bolster Glam Media’s GlamAdapt program which allows publishers to run their own self-service ad portals. The emphasis is on detailed demographics that will allow the advertisers to place ads based on very specific audience and geographic stats over a wide-range of sites all under the Glam Media roof.

AdPortal is a spin off of Sportgenic, a sports ad network. Now, with today’s announcement, it all becomes quite clear.

Glam Media is now going after the male market with the launch of their new vertical “BrashSports.”

The press release states:

We like to think of colleges and universities as places where learning trumps all else, but the truth of the matter is that institutions like these are still businesses, which means they need to make money. Says Rob Moore of Lipman Hearne, a marketing company specializing in non-profits:

“Higher ed institutions today are facing a conflation of challenges that can best be met through more effective marketing. Increased competition for students, deep tuition discounting, demographic pressures that put many traditional markets at risk—all have a huge impact on the institution’s bottom line.”

In response to this, colleges and universities are actively adding new marketing tactics to the mix including social media and interactive marketing. Lipman Hearne recently published the results of a study called “Marketing Spending at Colleges and Universities” and here’s what they found:

Although it comes as no surprise to most, the integration of e-mail campaigns and social media outlets is becoming more popular. Leading the charge are Facebook and Twitter which is probably no surprise either. What is a little surprising is just how quickly the numbers dive with regard to other options for social media integration. The following chart from eROI shows results from a survey they recently conducted (hat tip to MarketingProfs).

With Facebook being the most mainstream option of these outlets its appearance at the top of the list is almost expected. Twitter on the other hand is much more dependent on the type of e-mail recipient because it’s mass appeal is much less than Facebook’s at this time. In other words, Twitter likely skews toward a tech-savvy and generally younger crowd while Facebook hits a more widespread demographic target.

Aol. is still around folks. Back in June I heard CEO Tim Armstrong speak at the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s content focused Innovation Days event. He was passionate about Aol. as a comeback story and was intent on focusing on how it would be generating a lot of custom content from real journalists. Honestly, I am not sure where that is at some 1 ½ months down the road but I’m sure Aol. will let us know of there is any success.

For now, though, there is a need to get their future search partners in order since the current $700 million a year deal with Google is set to expire in December. It appears as if Armstrong is looking to get creative which could mean more than one search partner for the company.

As the definition of a journalist gets stretched to the outer limits due to the proliferation of content farms and $10 per ‘article’ writers, it’s understandable that there is some concern in the ranks. It’s not there won’t be outlets for their work but it’s more about the state of the traditional outlets where most have made their living.

Mashable reports on a recent survey which reveal these concerns

In a survey conducted over May and June this year, PR network Oriella asked media moguls how the Internet was affecting their business, their publishing formats and even the quality of the content issuing forth from their newsrooms.