NEW YORK — PointRoll, a Gannett Company and the leading provider of digital marketing technology, reports record growth in online shopping this year as consumers dive into Black Friday deals early. PointRoll reported a 14 percent increase in retailers’ digital circular offers powered by ShopLocal technology from 2010 to 2011 and an overall 15 percent increase in page views across the top ten retailers. As a result, consumers drove double-digit percentage increases over 2010 in website traffic (49 percent) and page views (65 percent) for the Sunday before Thanksgiving (November 20, 2011). Early offers and Black Friday promotions encouraged early action by consumers.

As technology continues to change consumer shopping behavior, retailers responded in full force this season. PointRoll’s multiple marketing and advertising distribution platforms saw increases, year over year, in traffic and offers for pre-Black Friday shopping. Mobile device usage was up five percent and consumers accessing offers via iPads grew by 85 percent over 2010 figures with most of this increased use and access taking place the Sunday preceding Black Friday. On that day mobile and iPad access increased by 234 and 223 percent respectively compared to 2010 levels.

“Online holiday shopping continues to happen earlier and consumers are now preparing on Sunday rather than waiting until after Thanksgiving dinner to identify the best offers,” said Rob Gatto, CEO of PointRoll. “Additionally, consumers are expanding where and how they shop online and in-store while retailers are looking to capitalize with more localized and dynamic, audience targeted offers and advertisements delivered across multiple platforms.”

Even procrastinators did not delay as long as usual – possibly motivated by an increase in midnight Black Friday sales. Historically, PointRoll reports that 10pm EST is the highest traffic hour for Thursday, as consumers look for that final offer before beginning their shopping. This year, 9pm EST was the peak hour, with traffic still remaining strong at 10pm.

About PointRoll
PointRoll, a Gannett Company (NYSE: GCI), is the leading provider of digital marketing services and technology. PointRoll enables advertisers, agencies and Web publishers to create, deliver and measure interactive and action-inspiring online video, rich media display, digital circulars, mobile, and social campaigns. Delivering both the art and science of the digital engagement, PointRoll provides the creative tools, analytics, distributed content, and expertise marketers need to effectively engage consumers and make a memorable and measurable impression. PointRoll’s ShopLocal technology enables brands to distribute local marketing promotions to any digital format including online circulars, display advertising, Facebook, digital out of home, mobile, and more – with added intelligence. Powering 46 of the top 50 retailers’ circulars, PointRoll’s ShopLocal product suite utilizes advanced localization and learning to deliver more relevant and optimized product and promotion content to any digital platform. For more information, visit http://www.pointroll.com or follow us @pointroll.

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – The first quarter of 2011 started off strong in the U.S. for digital marketing, with search engine marketing growing by 17% Year on Year (YoY) due primarily to solid increases in the retail and finance categories. Facebook advertising is also getting more competitive, with Cost Per Clicks (CPCs) increasing by 40% Quarter on Quarter (QoQ). Display advertising also showed positive signs with a 300% increase in exchange ad inventory and a 30% Cost Per Thousand (CPM) decline, indicating greater gains in reach and efficiency within the ad exchanges.

This is according to Efficient Frontier, a leading performance marketing company managing more than $1 billion in marketing spend annually on behalf of advertisers worldwide. This data and specific industry trends were released in the company’s Q1 2011 Digital Marketing Performance Report.

“The strong showing for digital marketing in the first quarter of 2011 was in line with our prediction of a 15% to 20% increase in spend in 2011,” said David Karnstedt, President and CEO, Efficient Frontier. “We’re also seeing great demand for Facebook’s ad products as the social networking giant’s ad offerings continue to evolve. This is all solid evidence of an economic recovery, and that marketers are seeing tremendous results when they intelligently allocate their marketing spend and optimize across channels.”

Report Highlights

Digital marketing continues to show strength in the first quarter of 2011. While search marketing decelerated as expected off of a big Q4 2010, YoY growth remains robust at 17%. Advertiser demand for Facebook’s ad products increased significantly with spend rising sharply on 40% QoQ CPC growth. The display ad exchanges also rapidly expanded with Efficient Frontier’s advertisers accessing more than 300% more inventory than a year ago at 30% lower Cost Per Thousand (CPMs). This means that display advertisers are gaining both reach and efficiency as new technologies like Real Time Bidding (RTB) become more prevalent.

Broad-Based Search Growth Across Nearly All Sectors

The retail sector was the big winner this past quarter, as retail impressions grew by 30% YoY, showing higher consumer interest in retail products. The Finance sector also fared well, growing at 18% YoY. The travel sector was the only sector that saw a decline in spend as CPCs remained flat.

Retail: Spend was up 22% YoY on increased consumer demand
Travel: Spend is down 13% YoY as CPCs are flat
Finance: Spend was up 18% YoY on CTR gains
Auto: Spend was up 10% YoY on CPC gains as well as increased in consumer demand
Bing-Yahoo! ROI Increase

Google continues to have the majority of overall market share in SEM spend and clicks post the Bing-Yahoo! integration. However, Bing’s ROI is currently higher than Google’s ROI. Bing’s ROI has increased 10% YoY while Google’s ROI has decreased by 12% YoY. While the revenue per click (RPC) on Bing is 12% lower than Google, the CPCs on Bing are also lower than the CPCs on Google, which is driving Bing’s higher ROI.

Facebook Becomes More Competitive

Efficient Frontier saw tremendous momentum in Facebook advertising throughout the last several quarters. Advertisers are eager to take advantage of the full capabilities in the Facebook Marketplace to engage with their fans and promote their brands. Because of this, spend on Facebook is growing. Our analysis shows CPCs have grown by 44% QoQ, indicating that Facebook is becoming more competitive as advertisers realize its tremendous value.

International SEM Analysis

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, spend grew 9% YoY, reflecting increased confidence in consumer consumption power. ROI in the U.K. increased by 6% YoY. Google dominates the SEM market with a 91% market share. Unlike the U.S., where the travel industry has declined, the overall demand for travel has increased in the U.K., with spend in the travel sector growing by 8% YoY due to impressions and click growth. ROI in travel has increased 14% YoY, indicating strong consumer buying intentions.

France, Germany, Australia

SEM market share is dominated by Google in France, Germany, and Australia with approximately 93% of the market. Yahoo! comes in second place in Germany and Australia while in France, Bing has a larger market share than Yahoo!.

Japan

Unlike the U.S. and Europe, Japan’s SEM market is more evenly divided between Google and Yahoo!, with Google taking a slight edge at 53% market share. Amidst the horrific crisis in Japan, SEM spend has grown by 13% YoY. The growth is due to a CPC increase of 7% YoY as well as click volume increase of 5% YoY.

Outlook for 2011

SEM Growth Continues

Efficient Frontier continues to be optimistic about SEM growth. Our prediction is that search will continue to grow 15% this year in the U.S. due to the strength in the finance and retail sectors. Our prediction for the U.K. is that search will continue to grow at 10%.

Bing-Yahoo! Market Share Increase

As Bing expands its network, it is likely that the traffic quality will drop. Having a 12% higher ROI puts Bing in a good position to expand its network while giving it a significant margin of error. The higher return on Bing-Yahoo! should cause rational advertisers to shift their advertising dollars from Google to Bing.

Cross-Channel Marketing

Advertisers should allocate their advertising spend across the various digital marketing channels including search, display, and Facebook. Each channel serves a significant yet different role in overall management of advertising campaigns. The ability to manage advertising in a transparent cross-channel manner will give advertisers a leg up in getting consumer attention in a market that is becoming increasingly competitive. Efficient Frontier’s prediction is that channels like display and Facebook will double over the next year.

Research Methodology

This analysis was completed based on data from Efficient Frontier search engine marketing customers and the resulting Efficient Frontier Customer Index. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index represents a subset of the company’s clients with spend data for six consecutive quarters or more, whose resulting SEM metrics are then normalized to average industry category contributions established by multiple third-party data providers. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index consists of a fixed sample of large-scale search engine advertisers across multiple sectors, including finance, travel, retail and automotive. The Efficient Frontier Customer Index sheds light on trends in search engine spending and performance on YoY and QoQ basis.

The complete U.S. Digital Performance Marketing Report: Q1 2011 is available for download from the Efficient Frontier website at: http://news.efrontier.com/Global-Q12011-Report.html

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About Efficient Frontier

Efficient Frontier is a leader in online performance marketing managing search marketing, display and social media campaigns for advertisers and agencies around the world. Efficient Frontier currently manages more than $1 billion in annual marketing spend on behalf of their clients globally. Founded in 2002, Efficient Frontier pioneered the application of modern portfolio theory for search engine marketing and today combines its core predictive modeling algorithms and bidding technology with comprehensive strategic and tactical value-added services. The largest and most sophisticated advertisers and agencies partner with Efficient Frontier to achieve and sustain optimal campaign performance and growth in highly complex and competitive marketplaces. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with offices in New York, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and India, and technology licensing partnerships in Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. Efficient Frontier is a privately held company with funding from Redpoint Ventures and Cambrian Ventures. For more information, please visit http://www.efrontier.com and subscribe to the Efficient Frontier blog at blog.efrontier.com.

NEW YORK & RESTON, Va. – Epic Media Group (www.theepicmediagroup.com), the preeminent privately-held global digital marketing solutions company and the operator of Traffic Marketplace, announced that it has finalized a strategic technology partnership with LucidMedia (www.lucidmedia.com), a leading digital advertising management platform, that will allow Epic Media Group to deploy interactive advertising campaigns leveraging the LucidMedia demand-side digital advertising management platform. This announcement comes on the heels of months of collaboration between the two companies.

The new partnership will allow Epic to add LucidMedia’s Real Time Bidding (RTB) technology and advanced semantic contextual targeting to its suite of services and capabilities. Leveraging LucidMedia’s proven platform, Epic will immediately bolster its ability to help agencies and advertisers more intelligently and cost effectively reach consumers across multiple pools of inventory via Real Time Bidding. Epic will also utilize RTB and semantic contextual targeting capabilities both within its own network of premium inventory, as well as across every major exchange and Supply-Side Optimizer such as AdMeld, PubMatic and Rubicon, in a fully integrated approach to campaign delivery. Combining LucidMedia’s capabilities with Epic’s existing ad platform, sophisticated campaign analytics, and integrity assurance capabilities will allow Epic to continue to solidify its position as the market leader in offering the most advanced integrated digital marketing services available today.

“Epic’s deep expertise in managing a full spectrum of advertising services, combined with LucidMedia’s transparent and comprehensive demand-side RTB management platform as well as its advanced semantic-based contextual targeting engine, is a powerful combination,” said Don Mathis, President and Co-CEO of Epic Media Group. “This technology partnership will further unlock massive scale, allowing Epic to enhance our suite of services and improve the performance and efficiency of our interactive solutions on behalf of our clients.”

“After extensive testing on both sides, Epic has recognized that the depth and breadth of LucidMedia’s platform capabilities can significantly advance their ability to get maximum value for their clients. Epic has confirmed that our platform will not only complement but also enhance its existing platform,” said Ajay Sravanapudi, President and CEO of LucidMedia Networks, Inc. “We have spent a decade building and fine-tuning our demand-side platform for scalable ad operations and we have been working closely with Epic to integrate our capabilities in a way that will give their clients the flexibility and access they need to succeed online.”

About Epic Media Group

Epic Media Group (www.theepicmediagroup.com) is the preeminent privately-held global digital marketing solutions company, with deep expertise in managing a full spectrum of advertising services, from brand-building and engagement to performance-based customer acquisition solutions. The company relentlessly focuses on delivering the most comprehensive and cost-effective strategic digital marketing campaigns for advertisers of all sizes, across all industries and around the world. Epic Media Group intelligently and cost effectively accesses consumers across multiple traffic distribution channels through integrated campaigns which include display, search, social media, rich media, mobile, video and more.

About LucidMedia

LucidMedia (www.lucidmedia.com) is the most comprehensive and transparent digital advertising management platform for targeting and optimizing display campaigns. The LucidMedia demand-side platform (DSP) with ClickSense® page-level contextual analysis and intelligent real-time bidding (RTB) is available as both self-service and managed service to interactive agencies and brand advertisers. LucidMedia’s platform employs an easy-to-use interface to deliver proprietary optimization, consolidated buying across the Internet’s largest repositories, unique insight into real-time inventory availability, preemptive brand safety, universal frequency capping, and reach into 95% of the online population. Founded in 1999, LucidMedia processes more than one billion impressions daily for hundreds of major brand advertisers.

NEW YORK – To bolster the digital marketing industry’s interests in Washington, D.C., the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced that it had created an Office of General Counsel and promoted Mike Zaneis to Senior Vice President and General Counsel from Vice President of Public Policy. Zaneis steps into this role having already achieved significant progress in creating a public policy presence for the industry in the nation’s capital and in overseeing successful efforts to bring industry self-regulation to fruition.

In addition, the IAB appointed two others to new senior positions. Patrick Dolan, formerly Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer, has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer in recognition of his strategic and operations leadership. David Doty, who has been Senior Vice President for Marketing & Thought Leadership, will take on the newly created role of Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, reflecting the organization’s growing focus on outreach and education.

“Public policy has taken center-stage as one of the most critical issues facing the digital marketing industry, and no one is better equipped to represent the IAB and our members than Mike,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO, IAB. “At the same time, Patrick and David have helped fashion the pivotal role IAB now plays in the industry. Their leadership will help guide us through 2011 and beyond. These appointments are another step we’re taking to strengthen our management team as we meet the challenges and opportunities of the continuously evolving digital marketing landscape.”

In his new position, Zaneis will continue to lead the IAB’s public policy office and guide the strategy of the self-regulatory privacy program. Additionally, he will oversee outside counsel and coordinate all IAB legal resources in industry relations, public policy and other critical initiatives. Prior to joining the IAB, Zaneis worked with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, where he served as Executive Director of Technology and E-Commerce. As the chief technology and telecommunications lobbyist, he oversaw issues affecting the business community pertaining to e-commerce, online and consumer privacy, data security, telecommunications and intellectual property.

Patrick Dolan, who joined the IAB in 2007, assumes broader organizational responsibilities at the IAB with the title of Chief Operating Officer. During his tenure, Dolan has strengthened the operational and financial position of the IAB and improved collaboration within the international network of IABs. Appointed by New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as a commissioner of the city’s Latin Media and Entertainment Commission, Dolan led the establishment of New York City’s Latin Media and Entertainment Week. Dolan has recently taken on a more active role in the IAB’s Committees and Councils work as well as in its evolving Professional Development program. He marshaled IAB member companies to produce the “Data Usage and Control Primer: Best Practices & Definitions,” the first-ever guide to explain in plain terms what data can be collected online and how that data should be collected. Prior to joining the IAB, Dolan held senior positions at DoubleClick, the Locomotion Channel (a joint venture between Hearst Entertainment and Corus Entertainment), the Early Learning Coalition of South Florida and the Soros Foundations Network.

In the newly created role of Chief Marketing Officer, David Doty will spearhead the communication of interactive marketing’s value to marketers, advertising agencies and other key constituents. In Doty’s time at the IAB, he has repositioned and elevated the IAB brand, taking it beyond the image of traditional trade associations. He has propelled the organization into new areas of expertise. Doty established the IAB Agency Advisory Board comprised of leading creative agency executives, and he launched “Privacy Matters,” the industry’s first PSA campaign focused on educating the broader public about how to manage privacy online. He has also led the transformation of the IAB’s events business unit into the acclaimed conference leader in the digital space. Doty joined the IAB in 2007 after serving as Director of Corporate Branding and Creative Services at Booz Allen Hamilton, where he was responsible for overseeing the firm’s successful global strategic branding initiative. Previously, Doty was President of Flatiron Communications, a company he founded to serve the media industry in strategy and execution. As a writer, consultant and strategic content developer, he worked with Wired Magazine, Hearst Magazines, Departures Magazine, Turner Entertainment Networks, Microsoft and the French government.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

New York, N.Y. — Creative and analytics engine, Flashtalking, announced the official launch of its Web Capture technology in the US. The product takes real-time images of a site’s home page and uses them as part of an advertisement’s creative execution, providing a high-impact, large-scale interactive experience for consumers.

Web Capture premiered with the MTV’s campaign to promote September’s Video Music Awards. Among the online portals working with this next-level rich media creative technology for the VMA campaign are TMZ.com, OKMagazine.com, Celebuzz.com and Buzznet.com, among others. Flashtalking’s product is also the technology behind Undertone Networks’ new PageGrabber™, the latest offering in the company’s ad-serving collection.

“This is the next step in making US online advertising a more creative, engaging experience for consumers,” said Joe Sabol, the Executive VP of Flashtalking in North America. “Our European counterparts are miles ahead of us in terms of groundbreaking executions that take viewers on a journey. There’s no reason why the US can’t also be rewriting the rules for how consumers interact with advertising online.”

Marc Klatzko, Managing Director of Creative and Marketing for Maude, the agency behind the content for MTV’s Video Music Awards, commented: “We were originally drawn to Flashtalking’s smart and intuitive approach to reporting and analytics. We stuck with them because their technology services make them excellent creative partners—they are able to flawlessly execute even our most genre-breaking concepts and really make the work shine.”

Flashtalking has been using similar executions throughout Europe for some time with high-impact results. With the introduction of web capture technology in US, Flashtalking is leading the charge with US publishers to marry these types of executions with the enormous amounts of data feuling the US markets. Examples can be found at: http://www.flashtalking.net/view/demo/7624/1/?563719  and http://www.flashtalking.com/showcase/Times_Takeover/

About Flashtalking
Flashtalking (www.flashtalking.com) is an award winning rich media creative engine founded by Paul Cunningham in 2000. It currently boasts offices in the U.K., Germany and the U.S. Through a powerful combination of a proprietary creative platform, elegant workflow, advanced analytics (cross site duplication, path to conversion, search integration, etc.), hands-on full service and decades of rich media experience, Flashtalking delivers exactly what forward-thinking teams need to develop highly effective Global digital campaigns very efficiently. Already a technology partner of major brands such as Nike, Ford, HP and Columbia Tri-Star, the creative online ad agency established offices in Chicago and New York earlier this year. Since then, the company has added Ameriprise, Kellogg’s, FX, and Heinz to its client list, among others.

NEW YORK – M&A firm AdMedia Partners announced that it acted as exclusive financial advisor to LEVEL Studios, a leading digital marketing and technology services agency, in its acquisition by Rosetta, the largest independent interactive agency in the country.

LEVEL Studios, which is on track to book $45 million in revenues this year, propels Rosetta’s 2010 revenues to $215 million and places Rosetta among the top five digital advertising agencies in the United States.

LEVEL Studios is a digital marketing, product development and user experience agency that has developed a cutting edge expertise in creating personally relevant total user experiences through the interplay of branded content, technology platforms and connected devices (e.g. computers, mobile devices, TVs). LEVEL’s client list includes Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, Apple, Toyota, Micron and RIM. The Company has 215 employees located over three California offices.

LEVEL is the second interactive agency that AdMedia has represented in an acquisition by Rosetta, which is backed by the private equity group Lindsay Goldberg. In July 2008, Rosetta acquired AdMedia client Brulant, which at the time had revenues of over $50 million.

About AdMedia Partners

AdMedia Partners is a leading M&A advisor that provides middle market mergers and acquisition advisory services to digital and traditional media, marketing and information businesses. Founded in 1990 and located in New York City, the firm has completed over 175 transactions worth over $7 billion since 1999. For more information about AdMedia Partners, please visit www.admediapartners.com.

About Rosetta

Rosetta is the largest and fastest growing independent interactive agency in the US and is ranked by AdAge among the top ten digital agencies in the country. Engineered for the connected world, Rosetta was founded in 1998 to pilot brands through an ever-changing marketing landscape and drive measurable business impact. Rosetta enables brands to transform their marketing through the discovery of unique insights about their best consumers’ wants and needs and then connecting with them in the most innovative and personally relevant way across all touch points and over time.

Rosetta’s unique combination of a patented approach to segmentation, called Personality® Segmentation; industry leading depth in technology across platforms and devices; world class creative, design and user experience capability; scale and integrated structure; and deep vertical industry expertise in the Healthcare; Retail & Consumer Products; Financial Services; Communications, Media & Technology; Travel & Leisure and B2B markets have attracted many of the nation’s leading brands. The agency’s clients include Allergan, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Bristol Myers Squibb, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis in healthcare; Coach, Express, Jos. A. Bank, OfficeMax, Rogers Communications and Valvoline in the retail sector; Citizens, M&T and Nationwide in financial services; Marriott in travel and leisure and Microsoft and T-Mobile in communications, media and technology.

Rosetta is headquartered in Princeton, NJ, with additional offices in New York, Cleveland, Denver, Boston, Chicago and Toronto.

For more information, visit http://rosetta.com

About LEVEL Studios

LEVEL delivers integrated marketing and product development for global brands. Through the interplay of branded content, technology platforms and connected devices, LEVEL designs a total user experience that amplifies the relationship between brand and consumer. At LEVEL, our methodology is proven; our behavior is adaptive.

For more information, visit http://level-studios.com

MENLO PARK, Calif. – Crescendo Networks, the recognized performance leader for accelerating and optimizing application delivery for web properties, announced that Adchemy selected its AppBeat DC application delivery controller to scale their ad optimization platform.

Adchemy is a digital marketing technology company with roots in algorithm-based performance marketing. Using their search engine marketing software, interactive marketers can deliver highly relevant advertising experiences to online audiences across search, display, social and mobile channels at an unprecedented scale. Adchemy offers an enterprise-scale technology platform combined with best-practice methodologies and a range of digital consulting services. Adchemy’s more than 300 customers include: Hotels.com, Nationwide Insurance, Protection One, TransUnion Interactive, and University of Phoenix.

“Crescendo Networks is the only solution we tested that can handle our expected threshold of traffic — and then some. This replacement of our current solution allows us to provide the SSL support needed to process over a billion hits per day. We have high expectations and we’re confident that AppBeat DC will exceed them. Crescendo is a key component in my plan to build our next generation IT infrastructure,” said Otieno Ododa, Sr. Manager, Technical Operations for Adchemy. “In addition, AppBeat DC easily integrates into our environment and is easy to manage. That makes my life a bit easier.”

AppBeat DC delivers optimal application performance while increasing server efficiency. Deployed on a purpose-built platform using dedicated hardware engines with parallel processors, AppBeat DC offloads processing-intensive tasks from servers and combines multiple acceleration features in one highly scalable appliance. Its unique distributed architecture outperforms other solutions that experience performance degradation and resource contention when multiple features are enabled.

“To support and optimize the traffic levels Adchemy reaches each day, you really need an appliance that doesn’t require a babysitter,” said Adoram Gaash, CEO for Crescendo Networks. “Adchemy selected AppBeat DC for the ability to accelerate traffic during growth and provide the reliability they need to support their sophisticated science and data models, and deliver customer expectations. Adchemy is our sweet spot of customers – where revenue ties directly to performance and predictability.”

About Crescendo Networks

Crescendo Networks offers the industry’s only “future-proof” application delivery solution to support business growth in today’s volatile online world. Our unified application delivery solution offers innovative HyperScale technology, cloud intelligence, and massively scalable processing for performance that knows no boundaries. The company’s products are used by many of the world’s most sophisticated and fastest-growing Web properties to ensure usability, facilitate rapid business growth, lower IT costs and capture additional revenue. For more information, visit www.crescendonetworks.com.

Crescendo Networks, the Crescendo Networks Logo and AppBeat are trademarks or registered trademarks of Crescendo Networks in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

NEW YORK – 24/7 Real Media, Inc., the leading global digital marketing company, announced the promotion of two of the company’s top executives to new leadership roles. These seasoned executives will continue to enhance 24/7’s award-winning services for advertisers and publishers and drive the company’s strategic international expansion forward.

Jon Greenwood is promoted to Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In that capacity, Mr. Greenwood is responsible for the Company’s global corporate and legal strategy, including corporate development, global partnerships, privacy policy, litigation, and compliance matters. Most recently, Mr. Greenwood played a pivotal role representing the Company’s interests in the industry-wide debate balancing principles of data usage and consumer privacy. Following WPP’s acquisition of 24/7 Real Media in July 2007, he served as an executive point person for the integration of the organizations. In addition to his legal and corporate development roles, Mr. Greenwood will continue to undertake all responsibilities related to his prior position as Corporate Vice President, Global Operations including, Recruiting, CRM and Business Intelligence Systems, Intranet, IT Security, Training, and MIS.

Nicolle Pangis has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Global Product Management. In her new role, Nicolle is responsible for the overall health and growth of 24/7 Real Media’s global media and technology businesses. Ms. Pangis works directly with the global team and partners to develop the overall product lines and strategic direction of the two divisions. Immediately prior to her current role, Ms. Pangis was the Vice President of Product Management, Global Media and Technology. Before that, she held the position of Director of Global Deployment and Business Integration, responsible for all global projects and coordination of joint venture expansions, mainly in Asia. Ms. Pangis coordinated the opening of DTSI, a joint venture between 24/7 Real Media and Dentsu, one of the largest advertising agencies in Asia.

“We are delighted to announce the promotions of these top executives, whose proven leadership has kept 24/7 Real Media at the forefront of digital marketing innovation and services,” said 24/7 Real Media’s CEO Jonathan Hsu. “Jon and Nicolle both bring exceptional experience to their respective positions, and their strategic guidance will be essential as we continue expanding internationally and growing our customer base of top-tier advertisers and publishers.”

To learn more about 24/7 Real Media, visit www.247realmedia.com.

About 24/7 Real Media, Inc.

24/7 Real Media, Inc., a WPP company, is the leading global digital marketing company, empowering advertisers and publishers to engage their target audiences with greater precision, transparency and ROI. Using its award winning ad serving, targeting, tracking and analytics platform, powerful search marketing technology and global network of specialized Web sites, the company has turned the art of reaching audiences across virtually any digital medium into a measurable science. The company is headquartered in New York, with 18 offices in 12 countries throughout North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, please visit www.247realmedia.com.

24/7 Real Media: The Science of Digital Marketing.

24/7 Real Media is a member of the NAI and adheres to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC. These principles are designed to help ensure Internet user privacy. For more information about online data collection associated with ad serving, including online preference marketing and an opportunity to opt-out of 24/7 Real Media cookies, go to: www.networkadvertising.org.

CANNES, France – Schematic, a WPP company, unveiled the future of experiential, digital marketing with the debut of two, large-scale branded “Touchwall” experiences created in partnership with Nokia and Dell. Demoing Monday through Friday from 3:10 – 3:35 PM Central European Time on Schematic’s massive 12 foot long by five-foot high interactive Touchwall, the experiences showcase how brands can utilize the Touchwall technology platform to connect with consumers in busy public environments. The Touchwall will also be serving as the information hub of the event, allowing festival delegates to instantly access the complete show program, view 3D maps of the surrounding area, find details on local establishments and share information with other delegates.

See more at http://touchwall.cloudapp.net

Following its introduction at last year’s Cannes festival – where it served as an information resource – the high-definition, multi-user Touchwall has been updated using Windows 7 and returns to Cannes as a faster, more efficient technology platform. Designed both as an information resource and to demonstrate the brand possibilities of the digital-out-of-home category, the Touchwall will be centrally located on Level 1 of the Palais des Festivals, between the entrances to Debussy Theater and Grand Auditorium.

The experience begins when an attendee places his or her event badge against the Touchwall. Equipped with an RFID reader, the Touchwall recognizes delegates through RFID tags embedded in the conference badges. Once the badge is authenticated, the Touchwall provides a personalized workspace on the display, from which users can then navigate the event. Multiple people can work side by side, creating a productive and fun environment for sharing information and ideas.

“In an era of extreme audience fragmentation, the digital-out-of-home category stands out as one of the few platforms that can reach a truly mass audience in a meaningful way,” said Trevor Kaufman, CEO of Schematic. “At Cannes Lions, we’re using the Touchwall to illustrate how brands can utilize this channel to provide significant value to consumers in an interactive manner that also keeps the brand top of mind. By partnering with Microsoft to develop this new generation Touchwall on the Windows 7 platform, we’ve been able to add a significant boost to its overall capabilities.”

Providing a fully immersive experience, the proprietary Touchwall technology was developed by Schematic from the ground up. Artfully combining spatial navigation design, multiple database coordination and a pristine and intuitive user interface, the Touchwall leverages Schematic’s deep expertise in software development and user interface design. To further enhance the Dell and Nokia Touchwall experiences, Schematic turned to music production company Man Made Music, headed by industry pioneer Joel Beckerman to create distinctive sonic branding for each demo. Ranked third in Fast Company’s 2010 list of most innovative music firms, Man Made has also executed sonic branding assignments for CNBC, Virgin Mobile and Reuters.

“With the Cannes Touchwall, Schematic continues its tradition of creating beautiful, elegant and compelling experiences that leverage the latest Microsoft technologies,” said Kevin Gallo, general manager of Client Platform Management at Microsoft Corp. “By using technologies like Windows Media Center, Microsoft Surface, Microsoft Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation, Schematic has shown through years of partnership how to take powerful new Microsoft technologies and create great experiences.”

“The response to Schematic’s Touchwall at last year’s festival was extremely positive and we are pleased to be including it again this year,” said Philip Thomas, CEO of the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. “The technology is simply amazing and we believe it represents a strong example of the next level of digital engagement developing within our industry.”

About Schematic

Schematic, a WPP company, creates powerful interactive experiences for the world’s largest brands. Servicing Fortune 1000 companies including Target, Nokia, Comcast, NBC, Dell, and Microsoft, the firm develops user-focused digital marketing and innovation solutions that help clients build brands and delight customers across channels. Recognized by both Advertising Age and AdWeek as one of the industry’s most innovative firms, Schematic is headquartered in New York. For more information, please visit http://www.schematic.com.

New York, NY – AdSafe Media, the rating standard of online media, today announced a partnership with iCrossing (http://news.icrossing.com), a global digital marketing agency, to provide preventative brand protection for clients across all online display advertising campaigns.

AdSafe’s Brand Safety Firewall ensures that only ad placements compliant with brand guidelines and insertion orders are served. AdSafe technology will enable iCrossing to execute brand safe display advertising campaigns for their premium brand advertisers, while maximizing the reach and efficiency of campaign spend.

― Many of our clients have invested heavily in innovative display tactics – including search and site retargeting and social targeting – as part of their overall performance display marketing programs,” said Dax Hamman, vice president of display media at iCrossing.

―Still, any display tactic that includes media bought from media exchanges carries with it an increased risk of aligning the brand against unfavorable content. With AdSafe, we see a way to combine innovation with preventative protection for display advertising.

― iCrossing has a proven track record of developing relationships between consumers and brands across digital channels. “This partnership allows iCrossing to continue to drive these connections while maintaining the level of brand safety and protection that is demanded by brand marketers,”commented Kent Wakeford, Co-Founder and EVP of AdSafe.

About AdSafe Media
AdSafe Media is the rating standard of online media. AdSafe uses proprietary algorithmic modeling and human verification to rate the brand safety of content on commercially supported web pages via the AdSafe Content Rating System. AdSafe’s Brand Safety Firewall enables Brands, Agencies and Ad-networks to prevent advertising from appearing on publisher web pages that do not conform to brand guidelines. AdSafe’s Content Monitoring Platform enables Ad-Networks and Publishers to identify and segment problematic site content, increasing monetization of display inventory. AdSafe is headquartered in New York, NY with operations in Santa Barbara, CA and London, England. For more information visit www.AdSafeMedia.com or follow @AdSafe on Twitter.

About iCrossing
iCrossing is a global digital marketing agency that combines talent and technology to help world-class brands find and connect with their customers. The company blends best-in-class digital marketing services — including paid search, search engine optimization, Web development, social media, mobile, research and analytics — to create integrated digital marketing programs that engage consumers and drive ROI. iCrossing’s client base includes such recognized brands as Epson America, Toyota, Travelocity and 40 Fortune 500 companies, including The Coca-Cola Company and Office Depot. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company has 550 employees in 12 offices in the U.S. and Europe. For more information, please visit www.icrossing.com.

NEW YORK – Advancing the self-regulatory efforts of the digital advertising and marketing industry, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) released the CLEAR  Ad Notice Technical Specifications, a set of common technical standards enabling enhanced notice in online ads. These technical specifications will allow advertisers and ad networks to begin offering a clickable icon in or near online ads that directs users to additional information about online behavioral advertising and choices about such ads.

The icon-based approach to enhanced consumer notice was outlined in the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising, which were released in July 2009 by a coalition of associations—American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), Association of National Advertisers (ANA), Direct Marketing Association (DMA), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Council for Better Business Bureaus (BBB).

“Transparency and notice are critical to creating a safe and enjoyable consumer experience,” said Mike Zaneis, Vice President, Public Policy of the IAB. “These specifications will allow third-party ad servers to seamlessly integrate the icon so that consumers have access to more information when they are being served an ad based on their interests and behaviors.”

The CLEAR Ad Notice Technical Specifications detail how third-party media companies, such as advertising networks, can provide enhanced notice to consumers through an industry-standard set of metadata tags that are delivered along with behaviorally targeted advertisements.

Those metadata tags include information on which organization(s) served the ad, where to find their advertising policies and how to opt-out of such targeting in the future.

“The metadata infrastructure proposed in this specification provides a sound technical foundation for informative notice about behavioral advertising, while giving publishers, advertisers and ad networks the flexibility to adopt innovative approaches to consumer disclosure,” said Charles Curran, Executive Director of the NAI. “We look forward to working with the IAB and other leading industry associations to support implementation of enhanced notice to consumers.”

The CLEAR Ad Notice Technical Specifications were developed to:

Meet the third-party requirements set forth in July 2009 as part of the Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising released in July 2009 by the cross-industry Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising Working Group
Provide enough flexibility for future expansion as the online advertising industry matures
Be open such that publishers, browser developers, tool developers or any other party can easily take advantage of the information presented to the user and find new ways to communicate this information.
The CLEAR Ad Notice Technical Specifications can be found at: www.iab.net/clear.

It is important to note that these technical specifications are intended for third-party media companies. There are separate requirements set forth in the Self-Regulatory Principles concerning first-party notice on publishers’ own websites, such as an independent link in the footer of a web page (e.g. “About Our Ads”). Publishers should refer to the Principles document for specific first-party guidance.

To view that document, please go to www.iab.net/behavioral-advertisingprinciples.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 460 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

About the NAI:

The NAI (Network Advertising Initiative) is a coalition of more than 40 leading online marketing companies committed to building consumer awareness and reinforcing responsible business and data management practices and standards, and which includes all ten of the largest online advertising networks in the United States. Its initiatives are piloted by a cooperative of the most significant online advertising companies including Akamai, AOL Advertising, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, AlmondNet, AudienceScience, BlueKai, Media6degrees, SpecificMEDIA and 24/7 Real Media. As increasingly sophisticated online advertising technologies evolve, the NAI works to enhance consumer confidence through effective self-regulatory practices and user choice. To learn more, visit www.networkadvertising.org.

NEW YORK – Proof Digital Media, a digital marketing and communications firm, announced that it has hired Internet strategist B.L. Ochman. Ochman, who has been helping major corporations integrate social media into their marketing since 1995, is a long-time leader in the social media space. She will report to Proof Digital CEO Jay Leveton and be tasked with helping the agency become a leading digital firm. Ochman is crowdsourcing her new title on her blog where she also explains her decision to join Proof Digital. That blog post is available here.

“Clients are scrambling to incorporate social media into their marketing, and yet there is a dearth of consultants and agencies that actually walk the walk and have case studies to prove it. B.L., who brings both to the table, along with a huge amount of creativity and energy, will help Proof Digital expand its social media presence quickly,” said Leveton.

Her company, whatsnextonline.com has coached corporations on social media strategy, and developed dynamic social media integration programs for Fortune 500 clients including IBM, McGraw-Hill, American Greetings, Ford Motors, Simon & Schuster, and Meijer.

“I’ve been running my own business for decades,” Ochman said “However, it’s clear that the climate and timing are right to join a major organization with the resources and talent to become the leading agency in the digital space. I look forward to being part of Proof Digital’s growth, and to counseling the biggest companies in the world to help them navigate the sea change occurring in marketing and communications.”

Ochman will continue writing her cutting edge blog about Internet marketing, What’s Next Blog, (http://www.whatsnextblog.com). The blog is an Ad Age Power 150 blog, http://adage.com/power150/. She recently was cited as one of 25 of The Most Powerful and Influential Women in Social Media 2009 by the Immediate Influence Blog.

Ochman contributes to AdAge Digital Next Blog, Digiday Social, Businessweek Online, Social Media Today, and many others. She is the co-founder of the pet lovers’ site Pawfun.com http://www.pawfun.com which she will continue to run.

About Proof Digital Media

Proof Digital Media is a digital marketing and communications firm. Proof Digital Media partners with clients to develop effective digital strategies as part of integrated marketing communications. The firm offers clients digital reputation management, online experience design, social media, community development and mobile marketing. Proof Digital Media is a part of Burson-Marsteller.

About Burson-Marsteller

Burson-Marsteller (www.burson-marsteller.com and www.burson-marsteller.eu), established in 1953, is a leading global public relations and communications firm. It provides clients with strategic thinking and programme execution across a full range of public relations, public affairs, advertising and web-related services. The firm’s seamless worldwide network consists of 72 offices and 58 affiliate offices, together operating in 83 countries across six continents. Burson-Marsteller is a part of Young & Rubicam Brands, a subsidiary of WPP, one of the world’s leading communications services networks.

“It’s very exciting for me to join AdJuggler, especially at a time when digital marketing is going through such significant innovation,” said John Shomaker.  “AdJuggler has a very solid foundation with display advertising, which we’ll continue to enhance with analytic and data assets to enable the world’s leading marketers and publishers to better target and monetize their customer relationships.”

At MarketBridge, Mr. Shomaker, 45, led the company’s global strategy practice, including its expansion into Europe and Asia Pacific, oversaw the launch and growth of the firm’s marketing analytics business unit, and participated on its executive committee and Board of Directors.  During his tenure, he also worked directly with senior marketers to create marketing strategies and measurable in-market programs that successfully drove product and market expansion, customer retention, and a more optimal mix of marketing investment across segments, media, and distribution channels.  His clients included senior executives from companies including IBM, Cisco, Hewlett Packard, SAP, Avaya, Marriott, Sungard, and BT.

Previous to MarketBridge, Mr. Shomaker co-managed Dome Capital, a venture capital fund focused on software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses, and Arthur Andersen & Co., where he began his career in management consulting.  He earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Washington University in St. Louis, and later a masters from the school’s Olin School of Business.

About AdJuggler
AdJuggler (www.adjuggler.com) develops and manages a leading SaaS-based digital ad serving and management software platform.  AdJuggler’s solutions comprises unique technology services for advertisers, publishers, and networks, as well as APIs, custom development services, content hosting, and ad operations support to tailor the service to your business needs.  AdJuggler was founded in 1999 and boasts nearly 300 customers across all major global geographies.  The company is headquartered in Alexandria, VA and can be reached at 703-914-9700 or sales@adjuggler.com.

BERLIN – Incisive Media and BBP announced its latest results for the Search Engine Strategies Berlin 2009 Conference & Expo. With less than four weeks to go (SES Berlin takes place on 24th-25th November 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre) organisers have seen an increase in the number of delegates attending this year’s show compared to last year’s Hamburg event. See www.searchenginestrategies.de

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group, including Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and the ClickZ Network, said:

“Germany released figures in August which showed that its economy grew by 0.3% in a quarter. This is extremely encouraging especially when you consider that many other rich economies were still shrinking. Germany has emerged from the recession and spend in digital marketing and advertising will increase as businesses in the region look to regain market share online. We have seen attendance figures for SES Berlin up by over 15% compared to last year’s German event as businesses are looking to invest more of their budgets in digital marketing.”

SES is the leading Global event for education in online marketing and advertising, including Search Engine Marketing (SEO and PPC). Organised and hosted by Thomas Bindl, one of Europe’s leading authorities on search, the SES Conference & Expo will teach delegates everything they need to know to help them maximize search engine marketing and optimization for their business and provide a forum for delegates to communicate with the search engines themselves.

SES Berlin will be held at the Crowne Plaza Berlin City Centre on 24-25 November 2009. Register early and save money. For more information about Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo 2009 please visit www.SearchEngineStrategies.com/berlin

About BBP

BBP is a European multimedia company with a strong focus on online marketing, e-commerce and customer contact. These topics are presented in trade magazines, newsletters and websites as well as events and awards. Both the events and the magazines are leaders in their respective fields. The events attract over 15.000 visitors every year and the publications inform well over 100.000 professionals every month.

About SES

Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include the ClickZ network for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research and Search Engine Watch which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness.

Incisive Media is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, Post, Risk, and Search Engine Strategies. For more information, visit http://www.incisivemedia.com.

For additional news, updates and discussions on Search Engine Strategies events, visit the SES blog at: http://blog.searchenginestrategies.com/

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. & DALLAS – A comprehensive new report reveals that corporate exhibitors and exhibition management professionals are committed to integrating digital media into their exhibitions and similar event marketing programs. Adapting to the changing information consumption habits of customers and the increasing role of technology in the decision-making process, leveraging digital media is enabling the multi-billion dollar exhibition industry to reach and engage audiences more effectively than ever before.

The report, entitled Digital + Exhibit Marketing Insights 2009, was produced through a unique collaboration between industry research powerhouse, the Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) and George P. Johnson (GPJ), a worldwide event and experience marketing agency, and funded in part by a grant from the Exhibition Industry Foundation. It is based on the responses of 287 senior marketers and exhibition management executives, who took an online survey on their use of digital marketing between April and May 2009.

“The findings underscore the complementary nature of the exhibition and digital marketing channels, which are both rooted in communities of interest, dialog, relationships, interactivity and highly personalized experiences,” said Doug Ducate, President and CEO of CEIR. “What’s more, each channel eliminates the inherent weakness of the other: digital expands the reach of the live experience while events facilitate the face-to-face contact critical to forging real relationships.”

Key findings include:

* 40% of respondents consider digital marketing to be a vital component in the execution of live events; 17% consider it a lead tactic
* E-mail marketing is the digital marketing tactic most used by exhibition production (95%) and corporate brand marketers (87%)
* 40% of corporate brand marketers and 31% of exhibition management executives report using virtual media; 71% of respondents use virtual media to accommodate geographically widespread workforces and customers
* On average, the webinar (81%) is the most commonly used virtual event type among respondents
* Respondents dedicate 10% of their exhibition production budget to digital marketing sponsorship tactics

“The report’s findings reinforce the need for the marketing industry to embrace best practices around digital in order to optimize exhibit marketing portfolios and program ROI,” said Robert G. Valleee, Jr., CEO of George P. Johnson. “Going into 2010, this report is an absolute must-read for those formulating their exhibit marketing budgets and are looking for the data necessary to make sound judgments about where and how to spend on digital media as part of the usual mix.”

A live webcast with an expert panel discussed the report’s findings on Thursday, June 4 at 11:00 a.m. EDT.  A pdf of the global report is available for download at www.ceir.org and www.gpj.com starting on 8 June.

About CEIR

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research (CEIR) serves to advance the growth, awareness and value of exhibitions and other face-to-face marketing events by producing and delivering research-based knowledge tools that enable stakeholder organizations to enhance their ability to meet current and emerging customer needs, improve their business performance and strengthen their competitive position. For additional information, visit www.ceir.org.

About George P. Johnson (www.gpj.com)

Established in 1914, GPJ is one of the foremost experience marketing agencies in the world. Named one of Advertising Age’s “Top 25 Marketing Agencies”, it provides a full suite of relationship-building event, exhibit and live experience solutions through which it helps Fortune 1000 and other premier companies bring their brands, services and products to prospects, customers, employees, partners, media, analysts, shareholders and other audiences around the globe.

Seeking market share gains in France

This year Smart AdServer has reinforced its position as a benchmark ad server on the French market, with the signing of 26 new contracts, including Elsevier Masson, SeLogerNeuf, Reader’s Digest selection…

Very strong international growth

With the signing of 30 new contracts for this year and 484% growth in international turnover compared with 2007, Smart AdServer is really speeding up its development in the major European countries and North America.

Smart AdServer is continuing to develop its customer portfolio in Germany and the Netherlands.

Also, this year also saw the beginning of business in Spain, with the signing of almost 10 new contracts in one year, as well as in Great Britain and emerging economies such as Hungary, Poland and Slovenia.

Finally, Smart AdServer has consolidated its positions in Canada (Radio Canada, Trader.ca…).

In 2008, 139% of the French ad server’s business was carried out abroad, compared with 3.5% in 2007. These excellent results confirm Smart AdServer’s considerable potential for development abroad.

2009 OUTLOOK

Smart AdServer plans to strengthen its organisation to best exploit market opportunities and maintain optimum service quality. Investment will be made in the areas of customer monitoring, commercial development in the different geographical areas targeted, as well as in technical innovations to the advertising campaign management and distribution tool.

About Smart AdServer (www.smartadserver.com)

Smart AdServer SAS develops and markets one of the main adserving technologies for the management of online campaigns for media agencies and publishers. Created in 2001, the company Smart AdServer has soon become a key player in France, posting the fastest growth in Europe in terms of customers compared with its competitors, thanks to the innovative and unique functionalities offered by its product, and its ease of use. Smart AdServer has 150 customers for 1200 sites spanning four continents.

Among its clients are large media agencies such as Zed digital, Starcom, Mindshare, Mediacom, Mediaedge:cia, Universal McCann, Brilliant Media … as well as a large number of sites and companies, including PIXmania, Toms’s Hardware (Bestof media US), Reed Business, Axel Springer Hungary & Poland, Radio Canada, MSD Global, Wolters Kluwer, La Vanguardia, Canal+, Curse Gaming, Amiado…

NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2007 — Collective Media, a leading online advertising network, today announced that it successfully leveraged DoubleClick’s DART(R) Adapt automated optimization solution to deliver campaign optimization beyond standard direct marketing metrics. Collective engaged DoubleClick Inc., the premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, seeking to optimize a DoubleClick Rich Media campaign for a leading consumer products client.

DoubleClick’s DART Adapt solution uses a sophisticated algorithm to match ads to the users most likely to respond. By leveraging DART Adapt, Collective Media was able to automatically optimize the Rich Media ad interaction rate of the campaign, resulting in an 87% lift in consumer interactions over a single quarter.

“We’ve worked with Collective on a number of advertising initiatives for our clients, and in each case, DART Adapt has provided significant lift in a variety of key metrics, including interaction-rate,” says Sara Hall, OMD San Francisco. “It’s great to see how optimization tools can make sense for brand advertising, not only direct marketing.”

“Collective and DoubleClick worked together to customize DART Adapt to capitalize on the unique audience and inventory characteristics of the Collective Network,” said Joe Apprendi, chief executive officer of Collective Media. “In addition to the work we did for this particular client, the lift we’ve seen using DART Adapt has been measurable and actionable, giving our customers greater insight on campaign performance beyond click and conversion rates, including the audience engagement metrics that matters most to our brand advertisers.”

Since implementing DoubleClick’s automatic optimization tool, Collective Media has delivered significant lift in all key return on investment (ROI) metrics: click-rate, conversion-rate (post-impression and post-click) and interaction-rate for its advertisers. “In the most recent quarter, DART Adapt drove an average click-through lift of more than 30% with many advertisers experiencing a lift greater than 100%.”

“When we launched DART Adapt a year ago we wanted to enable publishers to improve campaign performance while generating more revenue from their ad inventory,” said Brad Bender, vice president of optimization solutions for DoubleClick. “This particular implementation demonstrates DART Adapt’s flexibility in optimizing against a variety of user actions, enabling clients to partner with advertisers to help drive ROI based on specific campaign objectives.”

About Collective Media
Collective Media is a leading online advertising network specializing in audience targeting and optimization solutions to increase relevancy and yield for both publishers and advertisers, reaching 120 million unique users monthly. Collective is comprised exclusively of high quality, brand-name publishers offering the largest network of online news sites in addition to a wide selection of entertainment, sports and health sites. Collective’s innovative approach enables both brand and direct marketers to achieve superior results through sophisticated audience targeting technology, including context, behavior, geographic and re-targeting. Founded in 2005, Collective Media is headquartered in New York City with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago and Detroit. Learn more at http://www.collective-media.com.

About DoubleClick Inc.
DoubleClick is a provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Headquartered in New York, and with 17 offices and development hubs and 14 data centers worldwide, the company employs more than 1300 people and delivers billions of digital communications every day. Learn more at http://www.doubleclick.com.

The new feature doesn’t seem to have propagated in all DFP accounts yet, and the knowledge base doesn’t seem to include any new entries about streaming Silverlight. I’ll let you enjoy the feature announcement in full, below.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (August 05, 2008) –Today, DoubleClick, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, announced the new capability to serve video ads into Microsoft Silverlight 2 video environments. The move is part of DoubleClick’s ongoing effort to help clients maximize the yield on their advertising inventory as they deliver content into emergent online, video and mobile channels.

With this new feature of DoubleClick In-Stream, DoubleClick clients such as NBC Universal Digital Media are able to monetize video content played within the Silverlight 2 player. NBCOlympics.com, a division of NBC Universal, will be one of the first sites to open Silverlight 2 content up to advertisers with DoubleClick In-Stream. The solution carves out new video inventory across 2,500 hours of video content running as part of NBC’s Olympics coverage.

“Microsoft has always had a strong commitment to working closely with partners and the industry to enable them to leverage our tools and platform to deliver great user experiences. With Silverlight, we’ve extended that commitment to the advertising space,” said Scott Guthrie, Corporate Vice President, .NET Developer Division. “We’re pleased to see the investment DoubleClick has made to enable customers such as NBCOlympics.com to take advantage of Silverlight to offer compelling packages to their advertisers.”

DoubleClick In-Stream is a video ad serving solution used by online publishers to deliver exciting new advertising experiences into Flash, Real Media, Windows Media and now Silverlight 2 video players. As part of the DoubleClick Revenue Center, the product is completely integrated into DoubleClick’s core ad serving platform, DART for Publishers. The combined DoubleClick solution enables trafficking, targeting forecasting and reporting for video advertising. By working with DoubleClick to serve ads into Silverlight 2, NBCOlympics.com is able to leverage their existing ad operations workflow and staff to package video ads with other opportunities, such as online display and mobile ads. One platform for online display, video and mobile has made it possible for NBC to create compelling cross-channel packages for advertisers who want to reach the Olympics-viewing audience.

“With hundreds of advertisers, multiple platforms and large site traffic spikes, we needed to work with a partner that could provide an integrated, scalable, robust solution,” said Steven Gold, Vice President, Sales Planning and Operations, NBC Universal Digital Media. “Thanks to DoubleClick In-Stream’s new support for Silverlight 2, we are able to monetize our groundbreaking online video coverage on the same platform we already use for display and mobile advertising. This lets our sales and operations teams work together really efficiently.”

“DoubleClick’s vision is to help publishers grow their revenues by creating great user experiences and providing compelling value to advertisers,” said Google Group Product Manager Ari Paparo. “By expanding the capabilities of DoubleClick In-Stream to work with Silverlight 2, we can make it possible for clients to create unique entertainment and advertising experiences without increasing their workload or creating new complex processes.”

For more information on DoubleClick In-Stream, please visit http://www.doubleclick.com/instream

To learn more about the entire DoubleClick Revenue Center, please visit http://www.doubleclick.com/revenuecenter

About DoubleClick
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. DoubleClick is a division of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG). Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.

DoubleClick’s new proposal exchange platform is built upon application agnostic standards, which will ultimately allow for broader integration with other advertising technology solutions. The company has worked closely with the IAB in their efforts to establish a consistent standard for electronic order exchange across the online advertising industry. Establishing a common proposal exchange standard will also allow for better automation of discrepancy reconciliation – another key challenge for buyers and sellers of digital media.

In a 2007 survey of its ad agency clients, DoubleClick confirmed that the majority of the media RFP and contract process is still handled manually—via the exchange of emails, spreadsheets and faxes. Respondents also named lack of internal coordination at publishers and inaccurate proposal responses as top concerns. More than 70% of agencies responding said that a publisher’s use of an automated proposal tool would positively influence their decision to send that publisher an RFP. By digitizing and standardizing the RFP process, publishers are also expected to benefit from increased operational efficiency and accuracy, while advertisers will enjoy faster response times and more accurate proposals.

With DoubleClick’s new electronic order exchange feature, agencies can select DSM-enabled publishers directly from the MediaVisor planning tool. Selected publishers receive an electronic request for proposal directly within the DSM interface and can check inventory, build a proposal, and respond electronically. Once approved, the proposed media package can be trafficked by the publisher directly into DART for Publishers. Previously, publishers had to manually enter their proposals within MediaVisor for each advertiser in addition to their own system, often a time consuming and error-prone process. Currently, more than 20 publishers are testing the new order exchange platform including BabyCenter.com and Mansueto Ventures.

Also announced today was the release of a Salesforce.com adapter that allows DART Sales Manager to exchange data with this leading customer relationship management solution to deliver increased transparency throughout the ad sales cycle. The new adapter synchronizes opportunities and proposal information as well as sales data between the two systems, creating a more seamless end-to-end media sales solution.

“DoubleClick’s vision is to help digital advertising scale by developing platforms that bring advertisers and publishers together,” said Group Product Manager Jonathan Bellack. “Our new proposal exchange platform reduces operational friction by eliminating error-prone manual data entry. In addition, our tight integration with Salesforce.com continues to develop DART Sales Manager’s mission to enable an integrated quote to cash solution for publisher sales teams.”

About DART Sales Manager (DSM)
DART Sales Manager (DSM) is an end-to-end workflow and financial management solution for publishers.With over a dozen timesaving features for sales teams and six financial reports, DSM is a best-of-breed tool for media sellers with sales teams of all sizes. DSM is part of DoubleClick’s Revenue Center, a comprehensive suite of solutions for media sellers designed to maximize revenue and minimize operational friction throughout the digital ad sales process.

DART Sales Manager reduces the burden of manual data entry and improves the accuracy and transparency of the entire sales and service process. The result is increased visibility, including enhanced real-time inventory access for sales and additional pipeline and revenue forecasting capabilities for sales management.

For more information about DART Sales Manager please visit http://www.doubleclick.com/dartsalesmanager
To learn more about the entire DoubleClick Revenue Center please visit: http://www.doubleclick.com/revenuecenter

About DoubleClick
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. DoubleClick is a division of Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Learn more at www.doubleclick.com

Written in an accessible yet almost academic language, ‘eMarketing eXcellence‘ offers both theoretical and practical examples on how today’s businesses should integrate their Digital Marketing efforts. The authors have successfully combined known marketing planning theories with digital models, giving the reader a very deep understanding of the Digital Marketing and Digital Business environment. I am extremely impressed by the very fluent discours and the way established marketing concepts are explained in the context of the digital media realities and practices.

The book has a profoundly practical character and is based on the CIM E-Marketing Award. It includes numerous case studies and has an UK and European emphasis, an aspect very welcome in an environment greatly dominated by the US-centric eBusiness practices.

The eMarketing mix along with the integration of the SOSTAC planning system (created by PR Smith) are definitely the highlights of ‘eMarketing eXcellence’.

This is a must-read, a definitive reference book for all involved in marketing strategy and implementation.

Title: eMarketing eXcellence – The Heart of eBusiness, second edition
Authors: PR Smith, Dave Chaffey
Paperback: 360 pages
Publisher: Butterworth-Heinemann; 2 edition (8 Jul 2005)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0750663596
ISBN-13: 978-0750663595

New York, March 17, 2007 – DoubleClick Inc, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, today announced the support of widget advertising within the core DART for Advertisers (DFA) ad serving platform through the creation of the new Widget Ad rich media format. Widget Ads enable media and creative agencies to integrate a viral component into any campaign to allow consumers to “snag” or “grab” the ad onto their personal homepage or social network page. Widget Ads allow brands to move beyond strictly paid media and help them to build an ongoing interactive and engaging relationship with consumers.

Widget advertising is a growing trend, especially within social networks. According to eMarketer, 22 percent of marketers surveyed used widgets as a social media marketing application last year. They predict that this year, the number of marketers who plan to use widgets will double to 47 percent (Source: December 2007, “Social Network Marketing: Ad Spending and Usage).

“Widgets are part of a fundamental change within the online marketing arena,” said Ari Paparo, vice president of advertiser products for DoubleClick. “Widget Ads provide audiences with the ability for self-expression and identification with well-loved brands while providing marketers the benefits of virality and engagement along with the measurability of traditional online channels.”
Interactive agencies and marketers often look to Widget Ads for easy integration of viral distribution options into any online campaign. Widget Ads are developed using the same creative process and applications as DoubleClick Rich Media ads. In addition, Widget Ads are created with a customizable Sharing Component to support virality.

“Since DoubleClick’s Widget Ads follow the same creative workflow as rich media ads, incorporating widgets into a campaign is straight-forward for our creative developers,” said Laura Primack, creative producer of Avatar Labs. “From a creative standpoint, we can build the most exciting and engaging viral content, seamlessly include the Sharing Component, then configure it to support our preferred social networks.”

The sharing component is powered by Gigya, a leading provider of tools and technologies for distributing widgets. Gigya’s Wildfire technology installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day to more than 50 of the leading social networks, blogs and bookmarking platforms.

“Incorporating viral functionality helps give advertisers the ability to tap into the incredible power of potential brand evangelists,” said Ben Pashman, vice president of business development with Gigya. “The combination of DoubleClick’s leading rich media advertising technologies, world-class analytics, and our proven Wildfire widget sharing tools are now enabling great creative to enter a user’s social circle, where it may become an even more powerful, user-endorsed ad unit.”

Widget Ads may be distributed in a multitude of ways including branded websites, word-of-mouth outreach and even through another rich media ad. In addition, integration with the industry-standard DART platform allows for valuable Widget Ad metrics including impressions, interactions, video metrics, viral “grabs” for different social networks, and reach and frequency, all easily managed with DART for Advertisers (DFA). These metrics help provide insight into viral distribution patterns and the effect of widgets on conversion, as well as the option for refreshable content and message control.

About Gigya
Gigya delivers innovative discovery and monetization solutions to the social media ecosystem, connecting brand advertisers, content publishers and an enormous audience of active social media users. Gigya serves the world’s largest brands with a full-service widget advertising model covering design, development, hosting, distribution, viral promotion and tracking. Gigya’s Wildfire technology installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day and tracks over three billion impressions per month. Learn more at www.gigya.com.

About DoubleClick Inc.
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.

New York, March 17, 2008 – DoubleClick Inc, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, today announced the support of widget advertising within the core DART for Advertisers (DFA) ad serving platform through the creation of the new Widget Ad rich media format. Widget Ads enable media and creative agencies to integrate a viral component into any campaign to allow consumers to “snag” or “grab” the ad onto their personal homepage or social network page. Widget Ads allow brands to move beyond strictly paid media and help them to build an ongoing interactive and engaging relationship with consumers.

Widget advertising is a growing trend, especially within social networks. According to Prospero, 22 percent of marketers surveyed used widgets as a social media marketing application last year. They predict that this year, the number of marketers who plan to use widgets will double to 47 percent (Source: eMarketer, December 2007, “Social Network Marketing: Ad Spending and Usage”).

“Widgets are part of a fundamental change within the online marketing arena,” said Ari Paparo, vice president of advertiser products for DoubleClick. “Widget Ads provide audiences with the ability for self-expression and identification with well-loved brands while providing marketers the benefits of virality and engagement along with the measurability of traditional online channels.”

Interactive agencies and marketers often look to Widget Ads for easy integration of viral distribution options into any online campaign. Widget Ads are developed using the same creative process and applications as DoubleClick Rich Media ads. In addition, Widget Ads are created with a customizable Sharing Component to support virality.

“Since DoubleClick’s Widget Ads follow the same creative workflow as rich media ads, incorporating widgets into a campaign is straight-forward for our creative developers,” said Laura Primack, associate creative director of Avatar Labs. “From a creative standpoint, we can build the most exciting and engaging viral content, seamlessly include the Sharing Component, then configure it to support our preferred social networks.”

The sharing component is powered by Gigya, a leading provider of tools and technologies for distributing widgets. Gigya’s Wildfire technology installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day to more than 50 of the leading social networks, blogs and bookmarking platforms.

“Incorporating viral functionality helps give advertisers the ability to tap into the incredible power of potential brand evangelists,” said Ben Pashman, vice president of business development with Gigya. “The combination of DoubleClick’s leading rich media advertising technologies, world-class analytics, and our proven Wildfire widget sharing tools are now enabling great creative to enter a user’s social circle, where it may become an even more powerful, user-endorsed ad unit.”

Widget Ads may be distributed in a multitude of ways including branded websites, word-of-mouth outreach and even through another rich media ad. In addition, integration with the industry-standard DART platform allows for valuable Widget Ad metrics including impressions, interactions, video metrics, viral “grabs” for different social networks, and reach and frequency, all easily managed with DART for Advertisers (DFA). These metrics help provide insight into viral distribution patterns and the effect of widgets on conversion, as well as the option for refreshable content and message control.

About Gigya
Gigya delivers innovative discovery and monetization solutions to the social media ecosystem, connecting brand advertisers, content publishers and an enormous audience of active social media users. Gigya serves the world’s largest brands with a full-service widget advertising model covering design, development, hosting, distribution, viral promotion and tracking. Gigya’s Wildfire technology installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day and tracks over three billion impressions per month. Learn more at www.gigya.com.

About DoubleClick Inc.
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.

Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are thrilled that our acquisition of DoubleClick has closed. With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform, which will enable us to rapidly bring to market advances in technology and infrastructure that will dramatically improve the effectiveness, measurability and performance of digital media for publishers, advertisers and agencies, while improving the relevance of advertising for users.”

About Google Inc.
Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising program provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit www.google.com.

About DoubleClick, Inc.
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.

NEW YORK – March 5, 2008 – As new Web sites continue to emerge at a rapid pace, publishers are faced with fragmentation of audience and traffic. To meet this need, DoubleClick, a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services, today announced that it has created a new team focused on providing technology and services dedicated to addressing media fragmentation. This team will focus on creating solutions for publishers to enable them to scale their business by growing the inventory they have available to sell through working with partner sites. The initial solution, planned to launch in the second half of 2008, will provide a new partner management platform for publishers.

According to ComScore, in addition to visiting brand-name Web sites, consumers are spending more time on long-tail sites such as blogs, niche publishers and social networks. As a result, advertisers are focusing more attention on these long-tail sites in order to reach niche audiences. To that end, traditional publishers face increased competition for marketing dollars and need to find new ways to remain competitive, expand inventory and meet revenue goals.

Publishers have begun to leverage their brands to form high-quality vertical networks of like-minded sites to supplement their premium content and create expanded inventory options and increased reach. These new vertical networks enable publishers to gain immediate access to new inventory that can be sold through their direct sales forces or other channels.

To help publishers grow revenues by making it easier to aggregate and sell inventory, the new partner management solution will enable DoubleClick clients to build their own vertical networks integrated with DART® for Publishers or DART Enterprise. As part of DoubleClick’s Revenue Center, the company’s comprehensive suite of solutions for media sellers, the solution will seamlessly combine tools for network management and financial reporting with a full-featured portal for partner sites, providing a powerful network management solution for premium publishers and networks.

The solution will help clients aggregate partner inventory into their existing pool. They will have the ability to determine how they want to sell each impression, either through direct sales on a premium basis, or through indirect sales channels, such as ad networks or exchanges like the DoubleClick Advertising Exchange.

“Because the new partner solution will be fully integrated with the DoubleClick Revenue Center, publishers will be able to easily aggregate inventory into their existing processes and sales teams,” said Jonathan Bellack, vice president, publishers core products at DoubleClick. “For our customers, this will be a natural extension to their existing system that takes advantage of all their current ad serving capabilities.”

About The DoubleClick Revenue Center
The DoubleClick Revenue Center is a comprehensive suite of solutions for media sellers designed to maximize revenue and minimize operational friction throughout the digital ad sales process. Over the past three years, DoubleClick has worked to help customers achieve the Revenue Center vision with a succession of new capabilities. Today’s DoubleClick Revenue Center starts with DoubleClick’s DART ad serving platform, and can be expanded to include automated optimization technology, support for rich media and emerging platforms like video and mobile, sales and financial workflow tools, and an advertising exchange. Leading publishers are adopting these solutions to maximize yield on their inventory and increase the efficiency and visibility of their sales process.

For more information about The DoubleClick Revenue Center, please visit www.doubleclick.com/revenuecenter.

About DoubleClick Inc.
DoubleClick is a premier provider of digital marketing technology and services. The world’s top marketers, publishers and agencies utilize DoubleClick’s expertise in ad serving, rich media, video, mobile, search and affiliate marketing to help them make the most of the digital medium. From its position at the nerve center of digital marketing, DoubleClick provides superior insights and insider knowledge to its customers. Headquartered in New York, and with 17 offices and development hubs and 14 data centers worldwide, the company employs more than 1,300 people and delivers billions of digital communications every day. Learn more at www.doubleclick.com.