Former political figures, however, are considered least persuasive

NEW YORK – The issue of celebrity endorsements is something a number of companies grapple with as they are planning their advertising campaigns. Do they go with an endorsement or let the product or service speak for itself? If they decide to move forward with an endorsement, what type of celebrity should be the one facing the camera? Some types of celebrities can help and persuade someone to buy the product while others may be less persuasive in their pitch. The age groups being targeted are a factor as well; certain celebrities can be seen as more persuasive with different age ranges.
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Emotional Connection Should Lead Consumers to Relevant, Interactive Online Experiences, Says Donat Wald CEO in Chapter of New Book
‘Rather than rising to the occasion, Madison Avenue is moving in the opposite direction,’ Says Lucas Donat

DMA09 Conference & Exhibition
SANTA MONICA, Calif. – Donat Wald CEO Lucas Donat believes most companies are missing an opportunity to connect with their consumers because their advertising campaigns fail to take into account the fact that the computer screen has surpassed the TV screen as the place where consumers are emotionally engaged.
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EDINA, Minn. – Representatives from Integrated Advertising Network, a full-service advertising agency in Edina, MN, announced the much-anticipated launch of a new creative division, The Network by ian. The Network by ian consists of a collection of “who’s who” of the advertising world. Members are based in creative meccas around the world including New York, London, Sydney, San Francisco and of course, Minneapolis.
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Fully-integrated, End-to-End Solution Simplifies Contract Management for Web publishers

NEW YORK – 24/7 Real Media, Inc., the leading global digital marketing company, introduced Open AdStream® with fully integrated end-to–end contract management functionality powered by FIVIA. This functionality will integrate seamlessly with Open AdStream to offer publishers around the world a powerful all-in-one ad management solution.

Open AdStream streamlines the advertising management process while the addition of contract management automates workflow for publishers every step of the way, from sales to billing. With the added efficiency, Web publishers can now maximize resources and consolidate advertising management, ultimately increasing revenue and decreasing costs.
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Paris, 5 March 2009 – Smart AdServer, a leading player in Europe in adserving and digital marketing, announced the interfacing of its solution for the management and delivery of advertising banners with Alenty’s advertising visibility measurement tool. There is a dual objective:  optimising the advertising inventory by refreshing adverts only once they have been seen, and also offering advertisers, media agencies, media brokers and publishing sites to purchase or sell advertising using purchase methods close to those used for television, that is to say based on the visibility time. Canal+Régie can now guarantee the exposure of advertising campaigns broadcast on canalplus.fr by using these two technologies.

Alenty has developed a tool enabling it to measure the visibility of advertising banners online, a visibility which varies according to the format used, the location but above all the sites. In analysing the structure of the page, Alenty scripts make it possible to find out where a campaign banner is, and which part of the web page is displayed on the user’s screen. The presence of the user in front of the screen is measured by computer activity. Put another way, the tool measures whether the banner has been seen, how long it will be see for, what proportion of it, etc.
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SAN FRANCISCO – Mission AdWorks (www.missionadworks.com) launches as the nation’s first socially responsible advertising network. Mission AdWorks connects publishers, bloggers and other site owners who are making a positive impact on the world to marketers who are looking for an engaged audience of consumers with which to develop a deeper affinity relationship that reflects their values.

By allowing publishers to aggregate their ad space together into thematic verticals – Environmental/Green Community, Social Enterprise Community, Youth Media & Community – Mission AdWorks gives advertisers a way to reach audiences that are difficult to identify and reach in a highly targeted manner on the open marketplace.

The national marketplace model benefits all parties involved, while doing meaningful good in the world and reaching the highly motivated, action oriented, influential, yet difficult to reach, socially-responsible audience, using behavioral social values to get as close to this target consumer as possible.
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Philly Ad Club Announces Winners of 2009 Annual ADDY® Awards at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

PHILADELPHIA – The Philly Ad Club will pay tribute to the region’s best and brightest advertising minds on March 5, from 6:30-10 p.m. as the Philadelphia Museum of Art plays host to this years ADDY Awards ceremony. Once again, this Philly Ad Club annual competition drew hundreds of entries for the organization’s highest honor. Guests at the event will also enjoy a private showing of the Paul Cezanne exhibit.

Aptly situated this year at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, surrounded by the efforts of the world’s greatest and best known artists, the ADDY Awards ceremony is annually attended by a who’s who of the Philadelphia advertising community, to recognize the finest advertising campaigns and creative thinkers in the city. ADDY Awards winners are chosen by judges from leading agencies across the country, including this year from DraftFCB, Ogilvy & Mather, Vigilante Advertising, DDB, Burrell, and Smashing Ideas.
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Eyeblaster Tool Makes Adverts Easily Adaptive at Any Time

NEW YORK – Eyeblaster announced Smart Versioning, an intuitive tool that empowers media and creative professionals to easily enhance relevancy, optimize creative, localize global campaigns and cut production costs through automating ad variations and dynamic updates. Available now, Smart Versioning enables marketers to easily update ads live, without the need for complex change procedures.

With Smart Versioning, any aspect of new or existing ads can be easily modified, including images, text, video assets, sounds, fonts and languages. Advertisers and agencies can positively impact ROI of direct response campaigns by creating ad versions that improve performance with better optimization.
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