26MM Monthly Unduplicated Audience on What?!?!

MediaPost Publications - Meebo Adds IM Network Partners - 10/14/2008

Instant-messaging site Meebo has added nearly a dozen new partners for the syndicated IM service it plans to launch next month. The new sites include youth-oriented properties FanPop, GlobalGrind, OrangeShark and Zorpia.

Along with existing partners such as DanceJam, Flixster, myYearbook, MTV Networks' Addicting Games, the sites have an unduplicated U.S. audience of 26.2 million.

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So you're asking yourself: What the heck is Meebo?! It's a web-based instant messaging aggregator. In other words, if you use more than one IM -- such as AIM, Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Gtalk, etc. -- then you can sign up with Meebo and use them all at the same time, crisscrossing your buddy lists, on the Web. (If you're older than 35 years old, this is a foreign language. Sorry.)

Now ... name one print publication that delivers an audience of 26MM per month.

Right. Now that's (at least partly) why CosmoGirl has gone bye-bye.

Viral Video Marketing Budgets Expected to Increase in 2009

Viral Video Marketing Budgets Expected to Increase in 2009

Blatant self-promotion of the day ... Warning: I am quoted in this press release. And I want YOU to know all about it.

MediaPost Publications - Premier Retail Networks Strikes Ad Deals for Interactive Shopping Carts - 10/10/2008

The first companies to advertise via the shopping cart displays are Unilever, Cadbury Adams, Bush's Baked Beans, American Greetings, and Church & Dwight Co., which includes brands like Arm & Hammer, Aim toothpaste, Arrid deodorants, and Scrub Free.

Their ads will appear on screens in Cabco's TV Karts in Wal-Mart, one of PRN's biggest retail partners.

MediaPost Publications - Premier Retail Networks Strikes Ad Deals for Interactive Shopping Carts - 10/10/2008

Oooo ... Looks like the "radical fringe" of marketing maniacs are adopting insane technologies in a desperate attempt to reach consumers because the death knell of advertising-as-we-knew-it has rung. (That's humor, people.) If we succeed in putting the right offer in front of the right consumer at the right time, our clients win. Growing the client's brand comes from a combination of positive messaging and effective marketing - getting the brand into the consumers' hands.

Sounds easy enough.

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Camera Toss (The Blog)

Camera Toss (The Blog)

The coolest part of growing up in the dot com era has been the incessant invention of new forms of expression. Today, my colleague Martin Serra turned me on to Camera Tossing. It's a form of digital photography in which the photographer sets the camera on auto-timer and tosses it in the air. What happens, happens. The images are wonderful.

The blog is a great resource. But there's a wild world of camera toss images on Flickr as well.

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A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain - Forbes.com

Companies such as Gaia Interactive and Habbo are expecting a boost as consumers reduce spending on real-world goods and luxuries and console themselves with so-called virtual goods--digital copies of products that can cost just pennies, allowing users to indulge their materialistic fantasies without spending much.

"As the 'real world' gets worse, virtual worlds get better," Gaia Chief Executive Craig Sherman told Forbes.com

A 'Virtual' Escape From Economic Pain - Forbes.com

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Study: Mobile Web sites need improvement | News - Wireless - CNET News

Keynote Systems, which provides testing tools to help companies improve their mobile experience, found in a study released Thursday that satisfaction rates of iPhone users using certain sites were low and only a small percentage of users clicked through on advertising. The results suggest that the usability of many mobile Web sites still needs improvement. It also suggests that advertisers might have to adjust their practices on the mobile Web.

Study: Mobile Web sites need improvement | News - Wireless - CNET News

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MediaPost Publications - iPerceptions: 'Old School' Ad Units Fare Better Than Emerging Media - 10/06/2008

"I think the biggest takeaway from the data is that the current ad formats aren't very effective," said Jonathan Levitt, iPerceptions' vice president of marketing. "Brands are going to have to start looking at things like direct content integration and product placement. There's still a place for things like banners and skyscrapers, but it's much more about brand awareness than inducing conversions."

MediaPost Publications - iPerceptions: 'Old School' Ad Units Fare Better Than Emerging Media - 10/06/2008

It's not that banner ads (or as I'd prefer we call them, display ads) are ineffective. In fact, their presence increases brand awareness, recall and perception. The problem is that agencies and clients rely on display ads for clicks, a task they're less and less capable of performing.

The problem I encounter every day is that so many marketing professionals are just embracing foundational interactive tactics - such as banners - at a time in which the interactive sector is undergoing rapid change. So you've got agency people advising their clients to jump in with a mix of tactics - banners and microsites, usually - that don't fit the business problems and marketing outcomes the clients wants to address.

The game of catch up is no fun to play.

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techPresident – Ask Sarah Palin: CA Dems' Interactive Billboard Goes Live [UPDATED]

techPresident – Ask Sarah Palin: CA Dems' Interactive Billboard Goes Live [UPDATED]

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Turn On, Tune Out, Click Here - WSJ.com

Complete episodes of about 90% of prime-time network television shows and roughly 20% of cable shows are now available online, according to Forrester Research analyst James McQuivey. There are still notable holdouts, such as Fox's "American Idol" and current seasons of HBO series like "Entourage."

Turn On, Tune Out, Click Here - WSJ.com

Here we go. Another conspiracy theory: When the economy tanks, consumers will cut cable and keep broadband. Most of their favorite shows are online already anyway. Besides, we can't survive without Facebook. Now here comes a far-fetched (but eminently possible) prediction -- once the bad economy doesn't let up, consumers cut broadband and keep their mobile contracts. Why? We can't survive without Facebook. But we've got it on our phones already anyway.

In sum, the bad economy will accelerate the convergence. Discuss.

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