Marketing Pilgrim

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz spoke up for self-regulation of targeted advertising during a presentation at ad:tech New York on Tuesday.

He stated that consumers must be given a choice as to how much of their personal data is tracked, but it’s up to the ad industry, not the government, to make it so.

“We at the FTC have no interest in shutting down the Internet party,” he said. “Our only concern is that, if guests understand there could be a cover charge to the party [in the form of giving up some privacy], they should be able to make meaningful choices about how much they’ll pay.”

This comes just as the Digital Advertising Alliance released an up-dated set of principles regarding online data collection.

As if there wasn’t enough data flying around these days now Google has opened up a veritable information maniac’s fantasy land with their just out of beta Think Insights offering.

Here’s how the Google blog puts it

Quick pop quiz:

Based on search history, consumer demand for pretzels peaks in what month of the year?
How much (in $) does search add to the world’s GDP?
In 2011, what percent of people dreamed and brainstormed about their next vacation?
What percent of the daily queries on Google.com have never been seen before?

These are just a few questions that can be answered* on the new Think Insights with Google, our information and resource hub for marketers. The site is fresh out of beta and sporting a playful new look, helpful tools, more studies, the latest trends and exciting videos. We invite you to visit the site, take a look around and see what’s new.

A recent survey of 1,000 consumers returned a very nice result — 62% said they’d be willing to make a purchase on their mobile device. . . but only if they were incentivized to do so. Coupons, discounts, loyalty points and gift cards were all mentioned, but oddly, so was text alerts. So maybe it’s not so much about saving money, as it is about being given an easy link to click on.

According to the survey, which was conducted by Sybase 365 and the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), shows that mobile interest is increasing at a rapid rate. Last year, only 32% of those surveyed said that an incentive would encourage mobile spending.

With nearly 2,000 attendees and a reputation that is growing each year, the Internet Summit in Raleigh, NC on November 15-16 promises to the best summit yet.

Where else can you get the following for two days of speakers and sessions for just $295 if you register before November 14th?

Keynote Speaker, November 16 – Gary Vaynerchuk Co-founder VaynerMedia, Dailygrape.com

Speakers from the following companies will be part of the over 80 sessions and panel discussions available to attendees.

TheLadders.com
Gannett
Twitpic
TRUSTe
Google
Formspring
ESPN
Discovery
POLITICO
StumbleUpon
IBM
and MANY MORE!

What will be covered? Glad you asked.

Social media
Mobile applications
E-commerce
SEO/paid search
Internet usability
Analytics & measurement
Streaming/interactive video
Cloud computing/virtualization
Online advertising/branding
AND MORE!

Facebook’s position at the top of the social media food chain exists for many reasons. First and foremost is the size of the network itself. With over 800 million accounts and over 500 million users accessing accounts on at least a monthly basis it’s impossible to ignore.

Get past the numbers though and one has to REALLY start to examine exactly what Facebook delivers beyond high level, top line numbers. If you are a brand and you are looking for something beyond a Like (which has honestly been so watered down in meaning like the word friend that marketer’s have to take a long hard look at what a Facebook Like really is) then you may be disappointed according to some research from Crowd Science and re-packaged by Marketing Charts. Take a quick look at what might be referred to as “The Meaning of Like”

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Remember being a kid and hearing the words “We’re having leftovers for dinner tonight.”? There was that sinking feeling that comes with the “Ok, I am not getting the best of the best here” realization.

Now take that mindset over to advertising. When a sales rep is trying to sell their leftovers it implies that what he or she is pushing has been passed over by those who are picky about their ad placements. As a result, there are inventory gaps that occur and you get to choose from the crumbs leftover on the display table.

Not very appealing, huh? Well, now imagine that Microsoft, Aol, and Yahoo have announced that they are looking to empty their ad refrigerators, if you will, as a team effort. It’s kind of like a garage sale for leftover display ad space. Let’s just say that the response is not exactly overwhelming.