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.

This three-tiered competition begins at a local level with 210 AAF member clubs competing nationwide to be rewarded for creative excellence in the art of advertising. Winners are forwarded to the District 2 competition, one of 14 regional competitions, and lastly battle to be named the best in the industry at the AAF National Competition.

The Philly Ad Club proudly boasts more than 60 years as the voice of the greater Philadelphia area communications industry and would like to thank all of this years sponsors, including Inquirer/Daily News/philly.com – title sponsor of the 2009 Philadelphia ADDY awards; corporate sponsors – MY PHL 17 and Razorfish; gold ADDY awards sponsors – Blue Design, NFL Films, and Shooters; silver ADDY awards sponsors – Baker Sound and Business Wire; and bronze ADDY awards sponsors – SJ Miller Group, Serif Design, and Cubist Media Group.

The Philly Ad Club, a non-profit organization, serves the industry’s professionals with distinction. As one of the region’s largest and most active trade associations, more than 1,200 advertising, marketing and media professionals work to improve and promote high standards in the advertising industry.

Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AAF represents 50,000 professionals who guide the nation’s leading brands and corporations to advertising excellence. The 210 ad clubs across the nation connect the industry with an academic base of hundreds of collegiate chapters to promote the well-being of advertising, educate peers, and present the industry with its future leaders.

CHICAGO – Leading production and post production house, Optimus, announced that it has completed and aired “Done,” the TV commercial based on the winning script from the Optimus “One Shot” contest. The contest was staged last August in partnership with the firm’s brand marketing agency, Scott & Victor, LLC. It was a rallying call to the Chicago advertising community to showcase genuine creativity and generate excitement about Chicago as a creative environment. “Done” was initially aired on Comcast on January 22, and will be aired in 11 Chicago regions from January 26 through February 2.

“We came up with the idea to give away a spot that would be created by Chicago’s freshest young talent and produced start-to-finish by Optimus and our new in-house production arm, ONE. We also would handle media placement of the spot,” said Tom Duff, president of Optimus. “After developing the ‘One Shot’ contest concept with Scott & Victor last August, we issued a creative brief and asked for the most creative and original expressions of it.”

Based on a script developed by Jane Ackerson and Nate DeLeon from advertising agency DDB Chicago, “Done” was created with the challenge of “capturing the feeling and/or act of being done.” Conspicuously devoid of any product, the script was then executed by Optimus, whose job is to finish commercials – making them “done.”

One Shot Contest Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility for the contest was limited to advertising creatives with five years or less experience, as these professionals are the most in need of quality material for their reels and are less likely, in this market, to secure production opportunities. The contest also served as a chance to introduce Optimus to this younger target audience.

Based on the criteria of content, style, originality and creativity, Ackerson and DeLeon’s script was chosen by a panel of judges that included noted directors and agency creative directors. ONE and Optimus together provided the director, production and post production teams and aired the finished spot. “Done” was filmed using the RED digital motion picture camera, a key area of expertise for Optimus and ONE.

“Optimus is a house full of wildly innovative and inventive people bursting with original ideas,” said Scott English, partner of Scott & Victor, LLC. “The winning script made us laugh out loud, and the winning team of Jane and Nate won over all of us. They’re smart, funny, curious, meticulous – everything we’d hoped for. And so is the spot. We’re incredibly happy with the outcome.”

To view “Done”, please visit www.optimus.com.

About Optimus

Optimus is a leading production and post-production house with offices in Chicago and Santa Monica. A true one-stop shop, Optimus offers a full suite of creative services, including production, editing, film transfer, color correction, visual effects and design, audio mixing and finishing. With ONE, the company’s live-action production arm, Optimus offers all production services, from shoot through post, under one roof – a singular, streamlined creative-driven machine. For more information, please visit www.optimus.com and www.oneatoptimus.com.

About Scott & Victor

Scott & Victor, LLC is a strategic creative marketing communications agency based in Chicago. For more than 20 years, Scott & Victor’s leading talent has developed original, memorable and effective ideas built on true market insight for companies such as Turner Classic Movies, McDonald’s, Villiger (a division of Trek), Diageo (Oronoco Rum), Kellogg’s (Pop-Tarts), Coca-Cola, Ball Park Franks, Fila and many more. For more information, please visit www.scottandvictor.com.

NEW YORK – The New York Times announced that it has begun offering ad placements on its front page below the fold. CBS was the first to appear.

“This high impact placement represents an exciting new opportunity for our advertisers to reach our educated, affluent and influential readers across the country,” said Denise Warren, senior vice president and chief advertising officer for The New York Times Media Group. “In 2006 we began testing ads on some section fronts and received a very positive response from the advertising community. A strip ad on the front page of The New York Times will be highly attractive to advertisers looking for premium real estate for their campaigns.”

“With a weekday readership of 2.8 million and a Sunday readership of 4.2 million*, The New York Times is the largest seven-day newspaper in the United States,” added Ms. Warren.

“It’s exciting that CBS is kicking off The New York Times’s inaugural front page ad,” said George Schweitzer, president, CBS Marketing Group. “America’s most watched network will clearly have one of the most read ads – and we value this new means of prominently showcasing our valuable media properties.”

Another publication of The New York Times Media Group, The International Herald Tribune, also offers front-page advertising placements. To place a front-page ad in either publication, please contact: Alexis Buryk, 212-556-4104, alexb@nytimes.com.

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2007 revenues of $3.2 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 16 other daily newspapers, WQXR-FM and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

CBS Corporation is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets. It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and The CW – a joint venture between CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment), cable television (Showtime Networks and CBS College Sports Network), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), interactive media (CBS Interactive), music (CBS Records), licensing and merchandising (CBS Consumer Products), video/DVD (CBS Home Entertainment), in-store media (CBS Outernet) and motion pictures (CBS Films). For more information, log on to www.cbscorporation.com.

*Source: MRI Fall 2008

“The research has shown that a quality advertising environment delivers better results,” said OPA President Pam Horan. “Quality is proving to be a key point of differentiation during challenging economic times, increasing advertising performance relative to ad networks, portals, and overall MarketNorms.”

FINDINGS:
Since the first report in July, aided brand awareness scores on OPA member sites have increased 38%, while scores on ad networks have declined 19%.
Similarly, brand favorability scores for OPA member sites have risen 27%, while ad networks, portals and MarketNorms have dropped 29%, 17% and 6% respectively.
The new data also shows that younger audiences (18-34 year olds) are estimated to be about twice as likely (106% better, on average) to form favorable opinions about advertised brands on OPA member sites than on portals and MarketNorms (83% better). And the same trend holds true for affluent audiences, where OPA member sites are estimated to be 94% more effective at impacting brand favorability than MarketNorms, and 118% more effective at impacting brand awareness.
Horan continued, “This data is particularly important because the current recession is the first since online advertising has become a mainstream reality. At a time when every advertiser is looking for the best return on their investment, a quality environment matters more than ever. While advertisers with tight budgets may consider the cheap alternative provided by ad networks, the adage ‘you get what you pay for’ is as true today as it was a hundred years ago.”

The full report is available at www.online-publishers.org and includes more extensive comparisons.
Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms® is a marketing effectiveness database of 4,460+ campaigns across more than a dozen industries collected from 6.8 million surveys worldwide. The results cited have not been adjusted for exposure frequency, demographics, ad size, websites, advertiser industry and other factors that may contribute to brand lift. These findings are aggregate in nature, reflect past results and are not a guarantee of future results for individual campaigns. The data in this report referred to as overall MarketNorms refers to the average performance of all online campaigns measured by Dynamic Logic in the last 3 years, including those on branded content sites, portals and ad networks. www.marketnorms.com
About the OPA
Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 149.3 million visitors, or 79% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, August 2008 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

New York, NY – December 3, 2008 – The Online Publishers Association (OPA) today announced that time spent with online content reached a 2008 high in October, according to the group’s Internet Activity Index (IAI). And while content soared in October, share of time spent with e-commerce hit an all-time low. The exclusive Index, which the OPA launched over four years ago, measures the amount of time consumers spend online each month with commerce, communications, community, content, and search.

Content has consistently led all categories since early 2006, and October’s data marks a new high for 2008*. Over 45% of consumers’ online time in October was spent with content, an increase of 6.1% since the beginning of the year. The jump was driven by consumers’ growing reliance on trusted online media outlets, and in particular, the dramatic news related to the nation’s financial crisis politics.

At the same time, commerce fell to its lowest point since the OPA began tracking time spent online. Consumers spent more time with online trading sites in October, but it was not enough to offset a significant drop in time spent with other online commerce activities. Since the beginning of 2008, time spent with commerce has fallen 20.4%.

“The October Internet Activity Index demonstrates that consuming content is the dominant way people spend time online,” said OPA President Pam Horan. “The economy, the election and other current events have driven even greater interest than usual, as consumers turn to the Internet for vital news and financial information.”

Horan continued, “The new IAI report also reflects the current economic realities, including the decline of offline retail spend. Share of time spent on commerce sites reached the lowest point in the four years since we began assessing this data.”

OPA’s IAI is compiled by Nielsen Online and is available at www.online-publishers.org. The chart below summarizes recent results:

Category
 January 2008
 October 2008
 Change Jan-Oct
 
Content
 42.7%
 45.3%
 6.1%
 
Communications
 28.7%
 28.0%
 -2.4%
 
Commerce
 16.1%
 12.8%
 -20.4%
 
Community
 7.5%
 8.7%
 16.0%
 
Search
 5.0%
 5.2%
 4.0%
 

Community saw a large increase during 2008, due largely to increased use of Facebook, however it continues to account for a relatively small share of consumers’ time spent online.

“ Our goal with the IAI is to provide a reliable, ongoing measure of the time being spent with key online activities,” Horan said. “ Through this data, the IAI offers a unique gauge that helps define engagement and serves as a valuable supplement to other key measures.”

* Because community sites were removed from the content category in January, and a new community category was created, data for the content and community categories cannot be directly compared to pre-January data. However, content maintained its overall lead even after community sites were removed from the category.

About the OPA Internet Activity Index

The OPA’s Internet Activity Index is derived from a categorization of Web properties accounting for more than 90%, on average, of active Web users and approximately 55% of total usage time (excludes .gov and .edu Web sites, as well as pornographic domains). The IAI is compiled by Nielsen Online and is posted online each month. A full description of the IAI and its methodology is available at www.online-publishers.org.

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 149.3 million visitors, or 79% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, August 2008 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

New York, NY – November 21, 2008 – As part of its continuing effort to engage in public policy related to digital media, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) today announced it has added the position of Vice President of Government Affairs and hired Michael Drobac. Drobac spent years working on Capitol Hill and most recently was Director of Government Affairs for IAC. 

The OPA, which represents the world’s leading providers of high quality, premium online content, is committed to being active in policy debates on behalf of its member companies. As digital media has become a vital part of the lives of consumers, policy makers have taken an increasing role in examining the industry. While welcoming the important role of Congress, the FCC and other regulators, the OPA has sought to ensure these groups understand the industry’s economic fundamentals, its efforts at self-regulation and the important services it provides to consumers.

“Michael will play a critical role in making certain the voice of quality online publishers is heard on Capitol Hill and throughout Washington,” said OPA President Pam Horan. “Having both worked in the internet industry and served high profile members of Congress, Michael brings a perfect blend of experience for leading our public affairs efforts.”

Since 2006, Drobac has served as the Director of Government Affairs for IAC/Interactive Corp. He began his public policy work as a legislative aide in the office of Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), and went on to serve Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) and Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN). Drobac is a graduate of Stanford University, the University of Oregon School of Law and received his Masters of Law from the London School of Economics. Most recently, Drobac served as a volunteer on the presidential campaign of Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).

Horan continued, “By following the debates in Washington and working closely with policy makers, we can help ensure the best interests of both consumers and publishers are served. It’s particularly important that legislators and regulators fully understand the essential role of digital media in providing consumers with vital information, unique services and engaging entertainment.”

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 149.3 million visitors, or 79% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, August 2008 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

NEW YORK – Buddy Media, in conjunction with Atmosphere BBDO Senior Art Director Jason Culbertson, officially unveiled the new Ad Battle Facebook application, which allows people to view two different print and television ads submitted by fellow Facebook users and vote on which ad they think “wins” the battle. As an ad wins battles, its ranking increases, with the highest (and lowest) scoring ads highlighted under the app’s “Best and Worst” section.

In addition, when users submit ads that win “battles” their personal Ad Battle ranking (which can range from “Featherweight” to “Heavyweight”) improves. People can also use Ad Battle to compare their ad rankings with others on their social network, securing a perspective on whether their own “ad judgment” is in the mainstream or not.

“Currently, ‘good’ advertising is often determined by an exclusive set of industry insiders in a few expensive competitions,” said Culbertson, who is also creator of the 36,000 member Facebook marketing and advertising community I’m in advertising….hell yeah! “With the Ad Battle Facebook application, we wanted to create a fun way to place this power in the hands of the people, while also promoting a healthy discussion regarding what determines if an ad is good or not.”

“We think Ad Battle is a fun way for people to get a ‘democratic’ opinion on whether an ad is engaging or not,” said Michael Lazerow, CEO of Buddy Media. “Moreover, we feel that the application is a great way for Buddy Media to show the ad community how branded social media applications can be as engaging as print and television advertisements.”

The Ad Battle application also features a Mystery Ad Game, which provides a fun, non-scientific evaluation of someone’s advertising IQ. In the game, people are presented with famous advertising slogans or print ads with the logo removed, and then have to guess which of 4 brands the slogan or ad is for. People can play the game, then invite others in their social network to play as well, and compare their results with those of their friends – a key feature found in many successful social media applications.

About Buddy Media

In today’s social media world, every brand needs a Buddy. Buddy Media develops and promotes social app-vertising campaigns that increase engagement and interaction between people and brands. Some of the world’s largest brands, including FedEx, New Balance, Time Inc. & Microsoft work with Buddy Media to create social brand loyalty. Based in NYC, Buddy Media is a privately held company backed by Softbank, European Founders Fund and GreyCroft partners amongst other investors.

About Atmosphere BBDO

Atmosphere BBDO was founded in 1999 and is a full service digital marketing company whose focus is building brand preference through the digital channel. Since its inception, the mandate to be the most creative full service agency in the digital space has never changed. Atmosphere BBDO is focused on creating work that engages the consumer and has the magical ability to change the way they think, feel and act. Atmosphere BBDO is part of BBDO North America and is a member of the Omnicom Group of companies—the world’s largest marketing services organization. Ticker symbol NYSE:OMC

New York, NY – October 21, 2008 – Nearly eight out of ten Americans who use the Internet visit an Online Publishers Association (OPA) site, according to new comScore data for August. The OPA also announced today it has recently added ten new Members and six new Supporters to the Association.

OPA Member companies, all of which are providers of high quality, premium online content, have a combined, unduplicated reach of 149.3 million monthly unique visitors, or 79% of the total U.S. online population.* They include a great diversity of content, with the leading publishers of general and political news, sports and entertainment information, product reviews, travel information, business and financial news and more.

A complete list of members can be found here.

“Our new Members are among the most respected online publishers, and they represent a wide array of digital content,” said OPA President Pam Horan. “One of the most important characteristics of these – and all OPA members – is the rich, high quality environment they offer advertisers. With valuable content, highly-engaged audiences and unparalleled levels of trust, OPA members are simply better at delivering results.”

Horan continued, “The OPA’s member sites now reach nearly 80% of the American online audience, making it clear they are essential to internet users’ daily lives. The content provided by OPA sites is among the most relied upon anywhere on the Web.”

The new OPA members are:

American Express Publishing (www.amexpub.com) – including sites for Travel + Leisure (travelandleisure.com), Food & Wine (foodandwine.com)
BeliefNet (www.beliefnet.com)
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc (www.cnhi.com) – including sites for newspapers in 21 U.S. states
Harvard Business Publishing (www.harvardbusiness.org) – including HBR.org
HuffingtonPost (www.huffingtonpost.com)
National Public Radio (www.npr.org)
Readers Digest (www.rd.com) – including Allrecipes.com and sites for Reader’s Digest (www.readersdigest.com), Every Day with Rachael Ray (www.rachaelraymag.com), The Family Handyman (www.familyhandyman.com), Taste of Home (www.tasteofhome.com) and others
Reed Business Information (www.reedbusiness.com) – including 80 business information Websites
TopTenReviews (www.toptenreviews.com)
Westwood One (www.westwoodone.com) – creator of traffic, news, and entertainment content for more than 450 sites including portals, radio, television and newspapers
OPA membership is open to quality online publishers that principally create and deliver their own content. Organizations must adhere to the highest online publishing standards, and before becoming a member, demonstrate their commitment to these standards for at least one year. Members must also meet a number of specific criteria, including having a dedicated online content production staff, having staff committed to generating revenue, and using fair and honest consumer marketing tactics.

OPA Supporter membership includes companies that provide a wide range of services to the online publishing industry. In order to become a Supporter, companies must endorse the OPA’s publishing principles.

The New OPA Supporters are:

Audit Bureau of Circulations – ABC Interactive (www.accessabc.com)
Brooks Bell Interactive (www.brooks-bell.com)
Cisco Media Solutions Group (www.cisco.com/go/media)
Collective Media (www.collective-media.com)
ScanScout (www.scanscout.com)
ShortTail Media (www.shorttailmedia.com)
*comScore Media Metrix, August 2008, combined home/work/university data.

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 149.3 million visitors, or 79% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, August 2008 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

New York, NY – August 19, 2008 – Local media sites hold a distinct advantage when it comes to delivering results for advertisers, according to a new report by the Online Publishers Association (OPA). The study finds that consumers trust advertising on local newspaper, magazine and television Websites, and are very likely to take action after viewing ads on these sites.

The results are part of “Local Online Media: From Advertising to Action,” a new OPA report looking at consumers who get local information from online city guides, classifieds, magazines, newspapers, portals, television sites, user review sites, or yellow pages. The study, which was conducted for the OPA by JupiterResearch, surveyed 2,069 local online content consumers selected randomly from NPD’s online consumer panel. The report is available at www.online-publishers.org.

The report finds differences between media sites and other types of local online content sites when it comes to acting on local ads. Consumers on all three types of local media sites – newspapers, television stations and magazines – are more likely to take action after viewing a local ad than visitors on all other local content sites. Newspapers rank first, with 46% of consumers taking action – including making a purchase, going to a store, conducting research – after viewing a local ad, as compared to 37% of consumers acting after viewing a local ad on a portal.

Percent of Consumers Taking Action after Viewing Local Ads
Local Newspaper Site:   46%
Local Television Site:  44% 
Local Magazine Site: 42%
User Review Site: 39%
Portal:   37%

“With strong brands and trusted environments, local media sites deliver concrete results for local advertisers,” said OPA president Pam Horan. “Our analysis of the Jupiter data finds that consumers are more likely to act on the ads they see on local TV, newspaper and magazine sites. Just as we see on a national scale, media sites outpace portals and all other online media at delivering meaningful advertising results.”

And consumers on these sites are desirable advertising targets. Local magazine, newspaper and TV sites attract significant percentages (48%, 40% and 39%, respectively) of consumers who spent more than $500 online in the past twelve months. Thirty-seven percent of portal visitors and 34% of the overall online population spend this amount in a year.

 Trust is another important factor driving advertising success, and consumers express significant faith in advertising on local content sites. Newspaper sites lead the way, with 56% of visitors expressing strong trust of the advertising found on these sites, followed by local TV station sites and portals.  

Moving beyond advertising, the OPA reports finds that satisfaction with local content is high overall, and portals and media sites each have strengths. Portals lead in satisfaction among all local content visitors, followed by local newspaper and TV station sites. However, local media sites have a significant lead over portals among frequent visitors (79% satisfied with local TV sites; 77% satisfied with local newspaper sites). Sixty-five percent (65%) of frequent visitors to portals are satisfied.

 “Local content sites of all types play an important role in serving the local community. But this report shows that local media sites have a very real advantage when it comes to delivering results for advertisers,” Horan said. 

The OPA report also identifies an important common trait of all local online content sites: an ability to attract high concentrations of influencers. While 10% of consumers are considered “Influentials” according to research done by GfK Roper, 29% percent of  local online content site users say they are the first person people come to for recommendations about local restaurants and bars. Meanwhile, 26% of local online users say they are the first person people come to for local shopping recommendations, 23% for local entertainment recommendations, and 23% for local consumer electronics recommendations.

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 131.7 million visitors, or 73% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2007 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

August 6, 2008 – ATLANTA — EyeWonder, Inc., a leading innovator in Interactive Digital Advertising technologies and services, today announced the launch of its AdWonder 9.3 Flash Component, the latest version of its video and rich media advertising authoring tool. AdWonder was originally introduced in November 2006 and revolutionized the creative and production process for agencies building and deploying in-page online rich media and video ad campaigns. This new 9.3 upgrade also includes authoring capabilities for EyeWonder’s next generation of interactive in-stream ad campaigns, enabling agencies and advertisers to centralize their production of the most compelling and effective in-page and in-stream rich media and video ad campaigns through one platform.

“Our AdWonder 9.3 Component marks another huge leap forward for agencies and advertisers looking to utilize industry-leading interactive features, video, and audio into the in-stream ad environment,” said Ricky McClellen, CIO of EyeWonder. “With AdWonder 9.3, advertisers can now not only repurpose their traditional TV spot into a pre-roll ad campaign, but they can now create interactive, engaging in-stream ad experiences that engage and encourage audiences to interact and spend more time with the advertiser’s brand – all with one easy-to-use authoring tool.”

AdWonder 9.3 gives agency creative personnel the power to design, build, preview, test and approve any EyeWonder in-page or in-stream ad unit without ever leaving the Adobe® Flash® Professional CS3 authoring environment – drastically reducing the time needed to deliver traffic-ready video and rich media ads, while also dramatically improving the level of creativity. Flash Professional is currently the preferred authoring tool of the world’s agencies and advertisers, and the Adobe Flash Player runtime reaches more than 98 percent of today’s Internet–connected PCs and more than 500 million mobile devices and handsets worldwide.

“Enhancing customer options with more video and interactivity is a primary focus for Adobe. EyeWonder’s newest AdWonder Component furthers this mission for agencies building interactive ads using Adobe Flash CS3 Professional,” said Jennifer Taylor, director of product management, Flash creation and distribution at Adobe. “By providing the advertising community a platform for creating today’s most interactive in-page and in-stream ad campaigns, EyeWonder shares our goal of making it easy to rapidly develop and easily deliver the richest interactive content to the widest possible audience.”

AdWonder now makes it easy for agencies to repurpose creative and media assets and functionality directly from in-page ads rich media into in-stream ads. EyeWonder interactive features like Send to a Friend, Tabbed Panels, Multiple Videos, Mobile Reminders, Downloads and more can now be integrated directly into in-stream ads, encouraging users to explore them further, resulting in measurably higher interaction rates and time spent than current in-stream options.

With this 9.3 release, creative directors, media planners, agencies and publishers will now benefit from:
• Full interactive in-stream rich media and video ad authoring and support (including templates)
• New customizable user interface to best suit individual creative needs
• Improved work-flow management featuring campaign-based asset management
• Improved scalability and efficiency due to enhanced upload functionality
• New and improved templates for widget creation
• New staging environment for synched RoadBlock ad units, including a unique debug window
• New operating system-specific APIs to reduce system complexity and improve communications
• Consolidated reporting for all in-page rich media and in-stream placements – ability for clients to compare and optimize campaigns across both types of placement

Some of the key features retained from the previous version of AdWonder include:
• Full support for both Mac and PC users
• Full in-page rich media and video ad authoring and support (including over 50 built-in templates)
• Compatible with all versions of ActionScript
• Efficient demo creation which enables users to create and modify demos without affecting the published ads

AdWonder 9.3 supports agencies and designers using Adobe Flash Professional CS3, and delivers enhanced creative capabilities, greater audience reach and improved workflow efficiencies than many competitive platforms. AdWonder is already the choice of eight of the top ten agencies in the U.S. and is leveraged by more than 500 agencies worldwide.

About EyeWonder
EyeWonder, Inc. is the pioneering Interactive Digital Advertising provider that extends the reach of online rich media and interactive video ads to any interactive, digital device displays. Through its renowned technology, products and services, the company empowers advertisers, advertising agencies, and content publishers to centrally create, deliver, manage and optimize all of their interactive digital ad campaigns. EyeWonder’s unique development process and campaign management platform enables the industry’s most comprehensive creative capabilities, resulting in digital advertising campaigns that are proven to drive the best results.
EyeWonder, Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A., continues to rapidly grow its business domestically and internationally in response to increasing worldwide demand for its innovative Interactive Digital Advertising solutions.
For more information on the company’s digital advertising solutions or its global office network, please visit http://www.eyewonder.com.

New York, NY – July 30, 2008 – Across a wide range of advertising metrics, branded content sites outscored Internet industry norms for the Internet 41 out of 43 times according to a new research report released today by the Online Publishers Association (OPA). Additionally, “beyond-the-banner” forms of online advertising such as video, sponsorships and rich media also outpaced industry norms when placed on branded content sites.

The OPA report, “Improving Ad Performance Online: The Impact of Advertising on Branded Content Sites,” leverages Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms ®database, an industry standard for measuring online advertising’s effectiveness and branding impact. The OPA study provides an extensive analysis of ad effectiveness scores for branded content sites, as represented by OPA members, compared with those for overall MarketNorms, portals and ad networks.

“It’s an absolute fact with online advertising: environment matters,” said OPA president Pam Horan. “In nearly every category measured, ad effectiveness scores on branded content sites were numerically higher than on the Web in general, on portals or on ad networks. Whether it’s the trust they engender or the audiences they attract, branded content sites deliver better advertising results.”

Branded content sites are particularly effective at improving two of the most difficult metrics to impact: brand favorability and purchase intent. When it comes to brand favorability, branded content sites provide a 29% improvement over average online advertising performance in MarketNorms. For purchase intent, branded content sites provide a 20% improvement. With both measures, there is an even greater bounce among affluent audiences. Branded content sites are 24% more effective than overall MarketNorms at impacting purchase intent among those with household incomes of $75,000 or greater.

“Nearly all forms of online media have an important role to play throughout the purchase ‘funnel,’” Horan continued. “But branded content sites have a notably greater impact at the points where consumers are establishing brand preference and making purchase decisions. Simply delivering better results is good, but being able to break-through at those critical moments when consumers are making their decisions is a tremendous advantage.”

When it comes to beyond-the-banner advertising such as video or sponsorships, branded content sites also provide advertising advantages. The OPA analysis shows that video advertising on these sites provides an 82% brand awareness boost over MarketNorms’ overall online video advertising averages and a 67% boost for improving brand favorability. Rich media ads on branded content sites provide a 28% brand awareness improvement over MarketNorms.

“Branded content sites are doing a particularly effective job of delivering results with developing advertising formats, including video advertising and rich media,” Horan continued. “Just as we have seen with offline media, the value of context cannot be underestimated – a point that is clearly reaffirmed in this study. A sponsorship on a ‘name’ site delivers the power of that media brand to the advertiser associated with that content.”

The full report is available at www.online-publishers.org, and includes more extensive comparisons. Among the key additional points in the research:

Sponsorships on branded content sites are 42% more effective than the overall MarketNorms average and 36% more effective than on portals.
18-34 year olds are more responsive to ads on branded content sites: they are 33% more likely to form favorable opinions about advertised brands than when viewing ads on portals.
The overall findings are consistent across advertising categories. For example, consumer packaged goods advertising on branded content sites gets a 26% lift in purchase intent over MarketNorms.
MarketNorms data benchmarks online ad campaigns from 3,900+ AdIndex surveys among more than 6 million people, evaluating over 163,000 creatives across more than a dozen industries and hundreds of sites.

Dynamic Logic’s MarketNorms ® is a marketing effectiveness database. The results cited have not been adjusted for exposure frequency, demographics, ad size, websites, advertiser industry and other factors that may contribute to brand lift. These findings are aggregate in nature, reflect past results and are not a guarantee of future results for individual campaigns. The data in this report listed under overall MarketNorms refers to the average performance of all online campaigns measured by Dynamic Logic in the last 3 years, including those on branded content sites, portals and ad networks.

The data in this release has been tested for statistical significance at a 90% confidence level and is sourced accordingly.

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 131.7 million visitors, or 73% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2007 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

Interpret conducted detailed research on behalf of Massive and four of its advertisers: adidas utilizing brand advertising for footwear and apparel, a quick-service restaurant (QSR) brand promoting a tie-in to gaming and a specific menu option, a candy company marketing new creative for its candy bar brand, and an entertainment studio advertising the DVD release for a hit film. The study measures a broad range of brand metrics across game environments and suggests best practices to guide advertisers and their agencies within this rapidly maturing medium.

adidas tested ads it ran through the Massive Network in “Major League Baseball® 2K7,” published by 2K Sports, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. Among those exposed to the adidas ads (the test group), 40 percent recall the company’s tagline of “Impossible Is Nothing” — an increase of 90 percent over those not exposed to the ads (the control group). The number of gamers exposed to the ads who agreed with the statements “adidas is the only brand for me” and “adidas is an inspirational brand” rose 70 percent over those not exposed to the ads. In addition, 73 percent of gamers recalling the ads agreed with the statement that “the ads enhanced the realism of the game.”

“The influence of gaming on our target for adidas can’t be denied,” said Brian Mathena, group media director for Carat. “The scalability and effectiveness that Massive’s dynamic in-game solution provides is evident in the results of our efforts. Massive has consistently been a true partner in consulting on the best gaming solutions for adidas and the rest of our clients.”

Drawing on its unparalleled experience in video game advertising research, Massive has conducted studies for more than 30 clients across North America and Europe assessing the impact of in-game ads across numerous key brand metrics, including purchase interest, brand recommendation and brand attributes. Results such as these released today help the advertising community understand how and why in-game advertising works, and guides the development of best practices for this important component of media plans.

Across all game genres and advertisers studied, the research revealed that an average of 70 percent of gamers agreed with statements that the dynamic in-game ads “contributed to realism,” “fit the games” in which they were served and looked “cool.”

A leading QSR brand executed custom ad creative for select titles with strong results. Among those gamers exposed to the QSR ads in “Need for Speed Carbon,” a racing title published by Electronic Arts Inc., the number saying that they would recommend the QSR brand to others rose by 39 percent compared with the control group, and those assigning the QSR brand the highest possible brand rating rose by 17 percent from the control group to the test group. Fifty-six percent of exposed gamers agreed with the statement that the ads made the gaming environment feel more interactive.

A global candy bar company executed a branding campaign in “NASCAR® 08,” published by Electronic Arts. Seventy-five percent of gamers recalled the candy bar in-game advertising with 56 percent recalling the specific ad creative. Within the test group, 72 percent agreed with the statement that the candy bar is “a great snack to eat while playing video games,” an increase of 29 percent from the control group; the proportion agreeing that the candy bar “gives you energy” and “is cool” rose 24 percent and 21 percent from control group to test group, respectively.

An entertainment studio ran a campaign advertising the DVD release of a hit film in “Rainbow Six: Vegas,” an action title published by Ubisoft Entertainment. Unaided awareness of the DVD increased 16 percent among gamers exposed to the ads as compared with the control group, with 66 percent of those recalling the campaign having a more positive opinion of the DVD following in-game exposure. Purchase intent for the DVD rose 23 percent from control group to test group, with 80 percent of exposed gamers responding in the survey that “they would probably or definitely purchase the DVD.”

“The depth of this research reflects Massive’s commitment to offering advertisers an understanding of how in-game advertising can impact brands across game genres and advertising categories,” said Cory Van Arsdale, CEO of Massive. “As the in-game medium matures and establishes its position on the media plan, advertisers and agencies are eager for insight into creative nuances and best practices for maximizing its impact. We view this type of guidance as an essential part of our role as an industry leader and innovator.”

Methodology
Interpret implemented a test/control methodology for each game in which Massive dynamically served ads, totaling over 1,000 gamers across the United States. Both control and test group respondents played the same game title that was studied for each ad client. The control group consisted of those who had played the game but were not exposed to ads delivered from Massive. The test group had played the game on a connected Xbox 360 system or PC during the time the ad campaigns were live, and had the opportunity to be exposed to the ads delivered by Massive. Both groups were asked the same set of questions about the brands and ads included in the study, and the respondent differences were evaluated to identify significant shifts in each brand metric measured.

About Interpret LLC
Interpret is a next-generation media and market research firm with a focus on evaluating and measuring the intersections of content, advertising, technology and consumer behavior. Interpret’s management team has unique experience pioneering new custom research methodologies and analytics to help companies Plan, Test and Measure™ their new media strategies. In addition to campaign ad effectiveness testing, Interpret’s suite of products and services include GaMeasure and GamerLog, two syndicated services developed to deliver planning and measurement intelligence to the burgeoning field of in and around-game advertising. The firm is headquartered in Santa Monica, California, with offices in New York and London. More information can be found online at: http://www.interpretllc.com.

About Massive Inc.
Massive Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft, is the creator of a leading network for dynamic video game advertising. The Massive Network offers advertisers the ability to reach an aggregated gaming audience in real time across multiple platforms. Over 200 blue-chip advertisers have run campaigns across the Massive Network throughout North America and Europe. Publishers in the Massive Network generate revenue through dynamic in-game advertising, enabling them to fully realize the value of their content while preserving and enhancing the game experience. Massive’s technology allows for all forms of downloadable media and advertising content to be contextually integrated into the game environment, including image, audio, video and game object formats. More information can be found online at http://www.massiveincorporated.com.

About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

New York, NY – April 11, 2008 – In comments submitted today to the Federal Trade Commission, the Online Publishers Association (OPA) offered its support for the Commission’s goals of promoting self regulation of online advertising and improving consumer awareness of behavioral advertising practices. In addition, OPA emphasized that overbroad restrictions on behavioral advertising could jeopardize publishers’ ability to create and deliver high quality and free content on the Web. OPA recommended to the FTC a modified definition of behavioral advertising that focuses on the collection and use of personally-identifiable information, as opposed to data collected from website visitors on an anonymous basis.

The attached letter by OPA President Pam Horan contains the complete comments submitted by OPA. Nina Link, President and CEO of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), filed a separate letter with the FTC in support of the OPA comments.Key OPA points include:

“OPA strongly supports the Commission’s reliance on self-regulation. Self-regulation offers our Members the opportunity to enhance public trust in the Internet as an increasingly important source of news, information, and entertainment. At the same time, the flexibility of self-regulatory principles will enable OPA Members to adapt their practices quickly to new developments in a dynamic digital publishing environment in which technology and related advertising models can change rapidly.”

“Our Members share and respect their customers’ desire for both a meaningful understanding of how their online activities are monitored and meaningful choices regarding the collection of information about such activities. [We] believe the Commission can best achieve these goals by encouraging clear and conspicuous disclosures in website privacy policies…OPA and its Members firmly believe that the combination of increased transparency in online privacy policies and increased awareness about how to use standard browser settings to control and manage how website operators monitor a particular visitor’s online activities are the keys to empowering consumers and protecting their privacy online.”

“Online advertising is the lifeblood of digital publishing. Over 90 percent of the revenue generated by OPA Members is generated by advertising and the ability of OPA Members to continue to sell high-value, targeted advertising will be critical to their future ability to create and distribute high-quality news, information and entertainment content on the Web, free of charge. While OPA Members embrace a variety of business models, OPA believes that the Commission should be particularly mindful that the ability of online publishers to create and distribute valuable content depends on their ability to generate revenue through the sale of online advertising.”

“OPA…urges the Commission to modify its definition of behavioral advertising to narrow the scope of this proceeding to the collection and use of personally identifiable information. The use of anonymous behavioral information to target advertising benefits all parties involved in the process. Such use benefits advertisers by delivering an audience of consumers with an interest in their products and services; it benefits consumers by delivering ads for products and services in which they are genuinely interested; and it benefits publishers by letting them sell high-value ads that support their gathering and delivery of news and information, which, in turn, serves the public interest. And it does all of this without disclosing personally identifiable information either to the publishers or to the advertisers.”

“Behavioral information derived from the use of anonymous tracking technology is necessary to facilitate many services unrelated to advertising, to create desirable (and, in many cases, free) content, and to design and refine products and services that provide consumers with the best possible online experience. None of these beneficial uses of anonymous behavioral data raises privacy concerns.”

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 131.7 million visitors, or 73% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2007 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

NEW YORK, NY – March 11, 2008 – The Online Publishers Association (OPA) today announced that its 3rd annual global forum will feature CEOs and top marketing and media executives from advertising agencies, publishers, and global brands. Among the topics that will be addressed at OPA ’08 London: Forum for the Future include leveraging innovation to increase value, the mobile Web, online video advertising, marketing to the social Web, and more.

Among the confirmed speakers for the event, which will take place at the Landmark Hotel in London from May 14-16, 2008, are:

Chris Ahern – Reuters Media; President
Saul J. Berman – IBM; Global Strategy & Change Services Leader 
Dr. Scott Gallacher – BskyB; Director of Online & Partner Marketing
Alex Hungate – HSBC Holdings; Head of Personal Financial Services and Marketing 
Carol Kruse – Coca-Cola; VP of Global Interactive Marketing 
Andy Lark – Dell Inc., VP Global Communications & Marketing 
Caroline Little – CEO and Publisher, Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive 
Tero Ojanperä – Nokia; Executive VP, Entertainment and Communities 
Simon Pestridge – Nike, Marketing Director 
Mark Read – WPP; Director of Strategy 
Dr. Stefan Roppel – Holtzbrinck eLAB; CEO 
Doug Scott – Ogilvy Entertainment; Senior Partner and Executive Director 
Rishad Tobaccowala – Publicis Groupe; CEO, Denuo and Chief Innovation Officer
For a full list of speakers, visit www.online-publishers.org/globalforum
In two days of speeches, panel discussions and case studies, the event will address pressing topics in digital media, including:

The Business Model and Monetization of Media: Transforming the economics of a media business and leveraging innovation.
The Internationalization of Global Media Brands: How major media brands are extending their reach beyond local borders.
Marketing to the Social Web: How digital customer communities build businesses.
Managing a Global Brand: What marketers are doing to leverage online media to build global brands.
The Mobile Platform: What media companies, suppliers and marketers should do to scale their mobile business.
Getting Beyond Pre-roll: How marketers and publishers are building innovative video formats.
The Future of Media: Inspiration, irritation and illumination.
Additional details and registration information can be found at: www.online-publishers.org/globalforum.

What: OPA ’08 London: Forum for the Future
Who: Advertising and Media Executives From Around the Globe
When: May 14 to May 16, 2008
Where: The Landmark London Hotel, 222 Marylebone Road, London NW1 6JQ, United Kingdom

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 131.7 million visitors, or 73% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2007 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.

By measuring time spent with key online activities, the IAI offers a unique gauge that helps define engagement and serves as a valuable supplement to other key measures,” said OPA president Pam Horan. “The addition of Community reflects the increasing popularity of sites such as MySpace and Facebook that don’t clearly fit into a single existing IAI category.”

Of course, there are strong elements of community on many News, Sports and other content sites,” Horan continued. “However, since the IAI was launched four years ago, a distinct category of sites has evolved around community.  The addition of a Community category allows the IAI to provide an even more accurate, ongoing picture of how much time consumers are spending with key online activities.”

OPA’s IAI, which is compiled by Nielsen Online and is available at www.online-publishers.org, defines Community as Web sites and applications that combine user-generated content with communications in order to foster relationships between individual members and groups of members. Many Community sites are content driven, and they were previously accounted for in the Content category. However Community’s content is largely user-generated, and when merged with communication, creates a specific category of online activity.

Even with Community added, our initial data reflect the same pattern found over the last 15 months,” Horan said. “The bulk of consumers’ online time is spent with Content, well outpacing Communications and Commerce. While Content dominates, Search and Community capture relatively small shares of consumers’ overall online time.”

The OPA today also released IAI results for January 2008, which show that Content accounts for most of consumers’ time online at 43%, while Community ranked fourth at 7.5%.

Category    Share of Time Online January 2008
Content              42.7%
Communications       28.7%
Commerce             16.1%
Community             7.5%
Search                5.0%

It is important to note that, because of the addition of the Community category, this data cannot be directly compared to previous IAI data which has historically been provided.

About the OPA Internet Activity Index

The OPA’s Internet Activity Index is derived from a categorization of Web properties accounting for more than 90%, on average, of active Web users and approximately 55% of total usage time (excludes .gov and .edu Web sites, as well as pornographic domains). The IAI is compiled by Nielsen Online and is posted online each month. A full description of the IAI and its methodology is available at www.online-publishers.org.

About the OPA

Founded in June 2001, the Online Publishers Association is an industry trade organization whose mission is to advance the interests of high-quality online publishers before the advertising community, the press, the government and the public. Members of OPA represent the standards in Internet publishing with respect to editorial quality and integrity, credibility and accountability. OPA member sites have a combined, unduplicated reach of 131.7 million visitors, or 73% percent of the total U.S. Internet audience (Source: comScore Media Metrix, July 2007 combined home/work/university data). For more information, go to www.online-publishers.org.