Twitter co-founder says no to ads
Speaking at a conference today, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone told the audience not to expect to see ads anytime soon on the popular microblogging platform.
"There are a few reasons why we're not pursuing advertising--one is, it's just not quite as interesting to us." Stone said.
Are web users ready for the :30 spot?
A new company wants to bring a not-so-innovative format to online advertising:a "deliberately interruptive" :30 ad spot -- just like the ones you get on your TV.
ShortTail Media plans to beta test its Digital 30 (D30) ad this summer, a full-screen interstitial that will run :30 and :15 second spots.
Mediaweek reports David Payne, former head of CNN.com, founded ShortTail and has been busy meeting with top-tier publishers to convince them to sign on for tests. Reuters has reportedly committed, while MSNBC.com and Weather.com are giving the proposal some serious thought.
IAB bows social media metrics
Social media is marketing, not advertising, but it's got to live somewhere, and it's got to be measured. So it's only slightly ironic that the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) would introduce definitions of social media metrics, given social media is the marketing channel that's actual beginning to replace advertising.
In a hefty 12-page document, the IAB's "Social Media Ad Metrics Definitions" (PDF download) slices social media into three subsets, and outlines relevant metrics for each. The major categories are defined as:
Bridging the interactive skills gap
Back in interactive marketing's beginning, a word you heard time and
time again was "silo." There were silos between digital and traditional
advertising and marketing at both the agency and client levels. The
gulf was broad and often seemed unbridgeable. These days, there are new
silos popping up all over the interactive landscape. And they're
attributable to an industry skills gap.
IAB to revise ad unit standards - with creative input
The Interactive Advertising Bureau is taking a new look at interactive ad unit standards. Only this time, they're looking for a new constituency to weigh in on the future of online advertising: the creatives.
"We believe we can make interactive advertising far more hospitable to the craft and practice of persuasion by putting creativity front and center in the development of advertising standards," said Randall Rothenberg, IAB president and CEO. "By bringing creative agency leaders into the discussion of the standards, we highlight our industry-wide mission to showcase brands and engaging consumers in meaningful ways."
Google launches site to market to advertisers
Have a lot of under-leveraged intellectual capital lying around the office (or the website)? Take a look at the marketing powerhouse Google just built almost entirely out of existing collateral -- and become inspired.
Google for Advertisers just launched, a site containing case studies, tools, and advertising solutions, all brought to you by Google to encourage you to advertise with Google.
Online video: Hulu rising
Hulu broke into the top-three most watched video sites in March, with 380 million videos viewed, thus capturing 2.6 percent of the U.S. market.
comScore Video Metrix finds users in the USA viewed 14.5 billion videos online in March, an 11 percent increase over February.
Google sites remain the top video destinations in the country, with 5.9 billion videos viewed (40.9 percent market share). In March, YouTube accounted for over 99 percent of all Google video viewed.
Good for advertisers: Time Warner scraps bandwidth metering
Time Warner's recently scrapped plans to bill consumers for bandwidth consumption based on effectively metering their usage isn't just the victory for subscribers touted by the media, it's also a coup for advertisers.
The company had planned to roll out metered bandwidth pricing in Rochester, NY; Greensboro, NC; San Antonio and Austin, TX. Customers who exceeded the monthly usage cap could, under the plan, be subject to steep overage charges -- not unlike mobile phone owners who exceed their monthly voice or text message allotments.
Politicians, as well as consumers, raised their voices in opposition to the plan, which TW finally abandoned -- at least for now.
This comes at a time when bandwidth consumption is steadily increasing, particularly with the rise of online video. But it's not just consumers who stand to lose in the face of bandwidth caps. Advertisers and publishers have a horse in this race, too.
DiGiorno launches new pizza on Twitter
DiGiorno is launching its new flatbread pizza via traditional media channels -- and on one not-so-traditional one. The brand is looking for highly influential twitterers and will be offering to deliver pies to their tweetups.
"We've always been out there with a lot of different media touch points, with a combination of online and offline," Tom Moe, director-marketing for Kraft's DiGiorno brand, told AdAge. "We're always looking for the newest and most relevant places to be in both areas, and we thought this would be a great offer to combine with Twitter."
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Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
