PARIS – For the first time, 17 international experts from music, brands and advertising have defined 10 ‘Commandments’ designed to optimize partnerships between the three sectors.

Brought together at MIDEM 2009 as part of the Music Marketing Forum, the 17 experts were drawn from music giants Sony, EMI and AEG, brands Hasbro, O2 and Coca-Cola and advertising agencies Havas Media, Euro RSCG KLP and M&C Saatchi. Together, the industry leaders drew up 10 conditions required to ensure success when working together.

Notable among these conditions are the necessity for the values of the brand to be aligned with those of the artist’s, that all partners agree on objectives from the outset and that an on-going assessment of the partnership results should take place.

Music and brands are working increasingly together to generate new revenue streams. To date, brands devote around 5%* of their advertising budgets to music and 41% of brand managers believe that music could be an effective way of building brand awareness.

Following the meeting at MIDEM 2009, “The 10 Commandments of Music and Brand Partnerships” report is now available on the MIDEM(NET) blog (www.midemnetblog.com.). Discussion on the report is now available on-line with several of the 17 experts taking part.

The 44th edition of MIDEM will take place January 24-27, 2010 in the Palais des Festivals, Cannes. For the first time since it was launched in 2000, MidemNet will be accessible, free of charge, to all MIDEM delegates and will run from January 23-27, 2010.

Find the latest news about MIDEM and MidemNet at: http://www.midem.com

* Figures from Variety, ‘Music talent, marketers not in sync’, April 20, 2009

CHICAGO – Akoo International Inc. announced the national launch of the most advanced interactive entertainment and advertising platform in the digital out-of-home marketplace. The “Akoo” network combines premium video entertainment – including music videos from all four major labels: Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI – with a proprietary platform that engages viewers to activate content on HD LCD-TV screens using their mobile phones like remote controls.

Akoo is currently available throughout the food court environments of 50 high-profile malls in top 25 DMAs (see www.akoo.com for information about participating malls). The network will be deployed at 150 of the nation’s highest-traffic malls by December 2009, reaching an audience of 490 million annual viewers with an average engagement exceeding 30 minutes.

The Akoo network has proven to drive measurable engagement, activations, and transactions with a media-elusive, predominantly 18-34 year-old demographic. The platform’s ability to capture actionable behavioral data and deliver targeted advertising across digital screens and user mobile devices – steps away from the retail point of sale where purchase intent is highest – provides marketers with greater measurability of marketing impact and ROI.

“We’re extremely excited to deliver fully immersive audio/video entertainment experiences to millions of consumers,” said Niko Drakoulis, Akoo’s CEO. “For a limited number of advertisers, Akoo also provides non-cluttered, accountable media at a time when quantifying return on marketing spend is imperative.”

Akoo achieves full coverage of each food court environment with multiple pairs of 46-inch, side-by-side HD LCD-TV screens. Each pair of screens is comprised of a Programming Guide screen, featuring available on-demand content, user tutorials, and sponsors’ advertising, and an adjacent Entertainment screen, featuring Akoo’s entertainment programming, playback of user-selected content, and sponsors’ pre-roll ads and overlays with call-to-action messaging.

Additionally, a professional audio solution in each location monitors ambient crowd noise and automatically adjusts the volume level of Akoo programming to maximize audio and visual impact. Akoo is the sole and exclusive interactive entertainment source in each food court.

To interact with the network, consumers discover content codes on the Programming Guide screen or table-top print media and text the content code of their choice to the Akoo network. A text message is immediately returned to the user’s mobile device, confirming the selection, and the content is queued to play on the Entertainment screen in the order it was received. When all on-demand selections are played, the regularly scheduled programming automatically resumes.

Consumers may also use the Akoo Remote, a free mobile application accessible via any mobile phone’s Internet browser. The Akoo Remote allows users to search through the location’s available video library; make on-demand requests with one-click; and identify and tag “What’s Playing Now,” for subsequent purchase on popular digital music services, such as Apple’s iTunes or Amazon MP3.

Users with Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as Apple’s iPhone, can also access Akoo’s free Wi-Fi service at every location to interact with programming. Akoo’s Wi-Fi service offers exclusive access to network features, as well as special content and promotional offers from Akoo advertisers.

About Akoo International Inc.

Akoo International Inc. develops and deploys interactive entertainment networks in out-of-home environments, delivering premium video content and immersive brand experiences across HD LCD-TV screens powered by the Company’s proprietary platform. Founded in 2001, the Company is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. For more information, visit www.akoo.com.

BOSTON & BRISTOL, United Kingdom – The Chartered Institute of Marketing, the world’s leading organization for professional marketers, has selected the smartMARKETER eChannel marketing software tool from smartFOCUS DIGITAL to streamline campaigns and enhance communication and engagement for the thousands of recipients of The Chartered Institute of Marketing email campaigns.

smartFOCUS DIGITAL is the specialist digital marketing division of international multi-channel marketing software company smartFOCUS.

Each year The Chartered Institute of Marketing trains more than 50,000 marketers as well as offering advice to businesses across the globe on how to get the greatest return from marketing initiatives and personnel.

The Institute’s communication team will use the segmentation capabilities within smartMARKETER eChannel to roll out phased and multi-tier campaigns, with the ability to follow through on all actions after each campaign. This includes analyzing and understanding factors that drive members’ interest in The Chartered Institute of Marketing, tracking the opens and clicks, and monitoring responses relating to individual interest and geographic location.

smartMARKETER eChannel is a complete on-demand digital marketing solution that enables personalized and segmented communication across email, SMS, RSS feeds and web microsites. With integrated content management and real time reports of campaign performance, the solution provides a ‘closed loop’ where valuable data and feedback is continuously monitored, to enhance The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s techniques.

Bryan Black, sales director for smartFOCUS DIGITAL said: “Being selected by the world’s leading professional marketing body proves how powerful our email marketing solution is and shows our dedication to providing the best solutions for companies committed to marketing. We’re proud to be working with such a prestigious organization and excited about the insight and capabilities our technology will bring to The Institute’s 47,000 members.”

About The Chartered Institute of Marketing:

The Chartered Institute of Marketing is the leading international professional marketing body with some 47,000 members worldwide. First established in 1911 it has for almost a century defined the marketing standards that operate in the UK and is the global champion of best marketing practice. The Institute exists to develop the marketing profession, maintain professional standards and improve the skills of marketing practitioners, enabling them to deliver exceptional results for their organizations. It does this by providing membership, qualifications and training to marketing professionals around the world. For more information please visit: www.cim.co.uk

About smartFOCUS Group plc

smartFOCUS (LSE:STF) is a leading international marketing software company that empowers marketers with the intelligence to drive high performance multi-channel campaigns and more valuable customer relationships. Its Intelligent Marketing solutions integrate offline and online data, analysis, campaign and performance management to deliver better targeted, more timely and relevant communications that increase campaign conversion rates and improve customer insight.

smartFOCUS has over 700 customers and partners worldwide using its marketing software including AAA, ABN AMRO, ASOS, Center Parcs, EMI, Fig Leaves, Harrods, Hilton International, NSPCC, Société Générale and QVC.

smartFOCUS is headquartered in the UK, with operations in the US, continental Europe and Asia Pacific. www.smartfocus.com

NEW YORK – ad pepper media, the international online advertising network, announced the expansion to the U.S. of the iSense™ Network, the only ad network offering true semantic placement of display media across more than 3,000 content categories. With its award-winning technology and linguistic approach to online advertising, iSense solves the prolific problem of misplaced or out of context online display ads.

iSense Network combines ad pepper’s 10 years of ad network best practice with proprietary cutting edge technology. Underpinning iSense is a patented technology that provides real-time semantic analysis of web pages to identify their true meanings and serve relevant display ads. The result of 11 years of research and development by Professor David Crystal, one of the world’s leading linguists, iSense leverages an extensive semantic ontology in order to derive the subject matter of a page with unprecedented accuracy. Unlike other so-called semantic technologies that use a mathematical approach, iSense benefits from a deeper analysis of each and every word on a page. As a result, publishers profit from targeted ad monetization opportunities on every webpage, while advertisers benefit from more precise ad placement that eliminates wasted impressions whilst increasing contextual relevance and ROI.

“Every word in the English language has nearly three meanings, making sense disambiguation key to adequate and relevant contextual ad placement,” said Sacha Carton, President of iSense and Director of the Board for ad pepper media. “Our semantic approach to the analysis and classification of all the content on a webpage makes contextually relevant page-level targeting of display ads across a broad range of structured and unstructured online media a very effective process.”

Initially launched in the U.K. in January 2008, iSense is already successfully used by more than 200 clients including global brands 3M, EMI, Fujitsu Siemens, HSBC, Microsoft and T-Mobile, and agencies including Mediacom, Universal McCann, Mindshare, OMD and Media Planning.

“The tried and true iSense Network enables advertisers to put to more effective use, the near $5 billion projected to be spent on display ad campaigns in 2009,” said Carton.

iSense is the recipient of the Internet Advertising Bureau UK and E-Consultancy’s Digital Innovator award. Interested publishers and advertisers can visit http://www.isense.net for details on the network.

About ad pepper media

Ad pepper media is a leading independent international online advertising marketers, offering media agencies, advertisers and websites effective online advertising solutions in the areas of branding, performance marketing, affiliate marketing and ad serving.

With 16 branches throughout the U.S. and Europe, ad pepper media manages campaigns for thousands of national and international advertising clients in more than 50 countries worldwide. ad pepper media successfully sets itself apart with an extensive range of efficient marketing solutions, innovative proprietary technology system, and powerful ability to operate internationally so that transnational advertising campaigns can be conducted efficiently. For more information, visit http://www.adpepper.com/.