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DirecTV Close to Rolling Out Targeted TV Commercials

posted on December 20, 2010

I don’t have a pet and I have no interest in male enhancement products, yet during an average week, I’ll see plenty of commercials for kitty litter, dog food and ExtenZe. DirecTV says that’s going to change and it may happen as soon as the summer of 2011.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, DirectTV has a $10 – $20 million dollar commitment from Starcom MediaVest, a company that buys ad time on behalf of heavyhitters.

Under the new program, the ad buyer would list the characteristics of their target household and DirectTV’s system would search the data pools to find a match. A variety of commercial options would then be loaded into the box and the box itself would decide on the most appropriate commercial for each occasion.

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Commerce Department, Ma’am. Privacy Division

posted on December 17, 2010

I can see it now. The black screen, the ominous ba bum sound and then the words, Law & Order: Privacy Division. They’re federal agents who put their lives on the line every day so that you, the internet user, can surf without fear of being molested by targeted Old Navy ads and free lunch coupons on your birthday. Sure they’re making it hard for the small business marketer to sell his wares, but hey, that’s the way the browser cookie crumbles. Get over it.

So, maybe it won’t be on next fall’s TV schedule, but it may be coming to a computer near you, if the federal government gets their way. Yesterday, the Commerce Department released the Internet Policy Task Force Privacy Green Paper which is loaded with recommendations “aimed at promoting consumer privacy online while ensuring the Internet remains a platform that spurs innovation, job creation, and economic growth.”

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Is Do Not Track Something to Worry About?

posted on December 3, 2010

This past Wednesday, the FTC released a report stating that they were behind a “Do Not Track” program that would automatically stop all ad tracking unless the consumer opted in. The consensus from the government is that advertisers aren’t doing enough to assure consumer privacy, so they’re being forced to step in.

As of this morning, a dozen plus blogs and news outlets have chimed in on the topic discussing everything from the possibility of it becoming a reality and who will be hurt if it happens.

Multichannel news covered a Time Warner media VP’s appearance before the subcommittee on Thursday. Joan Gillman’s point was that “Do Not Track” would interfere with the “vibrancy” of the internet in that it would restrict a company’s ability to be marketing innovators.

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Super Bowl Ads and the Evolution of Online Marketing

posted on November 11, 2010

Do you remember Pets.com? Back in 2000, the internet company made a big splash with a clever Super Bowl ad that had pet owners rushing to the site to buy dog food. Actually, not the second part. Like a lot of companies during the dot.com boom, the Super Bowl ad was the first and final hurrah for Pets.com.

While you won’t see the return of the dot.com dandies this Super Bowl, Advertising Age is predicting a big run on ads that are digitally and socially enhanced. Go read the article. I’ll wait.

(Insert “The Girl from Ipanema” here.)

Back? Great. Pete Blackshaw makes a reference to a POEM framework: paid media, owned media and earned media. It’s his contention, and I totally agree, that the successful brands will find a way to balance the golden POEM triangle in order to get the very most out of every ad dollar.

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Competitor Gone Out of Business: Their Loss is Your Gain?

posted on October 20, 2010

Mike Michalowicz, has an article in the small business section of today’s Wall Street Journal that talks about ways of siphoning off the clients from a competitor who has gone out of business. The concept is based on the idea that the world is full of ads that lead to dead phone numbers or defunct websites. It happens because companies don’t anticipate going out of business when they buy that phone book ad or drop 10,000 postcards with their web address from a hot air balloon. So Michalowicz says you should claim old phone numbers and web addresses and redirect them to your own active business.

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Eloqua Report Offers Tips on Lead Generation & Email Marketing

posted on October 19, 2010

Marketing automation has made it possible for a small sales staff to contact and monitor 1,000 of customers with just a few key strokes, but such ease of use has its downside. Just because you can send out mass mailings, doesn’t mean you should. 1,000 randomly targeted emails might bring in a couple of dollars, but Eloqua, a provider of marketing automation solutions says that proper lead scoring and nurturing are more likely to pay off in the long run.

As part of their Eloqua Experience user conference, Eloqua collected data from more than 700 B2B and B2C companies to come up with their new report: How Do You Stack Up? Marketing Automation Trends, Benchmarks, & Best Practices.

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Video Aids Double-Digit Growth in Online Ad Spending

posted on October 12, 2010

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is reporting record breaking numbers on ad spending, but don’t put the down-payment on the Ferrari just yet. While it’s clear that the first half of 2010 saw a hefty increase in online ad dollars, the 11.3% increase is over the first half of 2009 which was an exceptionally bad moment in time.

Display advertising pulled in $4.4 billion in the first half of 2010 which is a 16% increase over the same period in 2009. Much of the growth came in the area of digital video advertising which is as high as it’s ever been, a full 31% over last year. This increase points to two things – consumers are responding to video advertising and ad buyers are more comfortable with the medium. Still, I’d say it’s the buyers not the consumers that are keeping video advertising from going through the roof.