The conversations taking place about behavioral targeting is occurring between the wrong parties. As DNT stands today, the dialogue is happening between consumers and monetization platforms, which are providing a universal opt-out feature at the browser level. Rather, this conversation should be between consumers and publishers.

Publishers need the ability to monetize their content either through subscriptions or ad-supported content, while users need to know how their information is being used. Therefore, what’s needed is a more balanced approach that acknowledges the benefits of subsidized content and illustrates trade-offs in a non-advertising world. What is not being discussed is how DNT in its current form is a mechanism for shutting down this process that otherwise funds content that provides value to both consumers and publishers.

Much has been made of the similarities between DNT and the Do-Not-Call list introduced by lawmakers in the 1990s to address the rising concern of telemarketers. This comparison is misplaced and points people in the wrong direction. Since phone bills have always been paid by the consumer, there is no value for them to take telemarketing calls. So Do-Not-Call was created to give the ultimate choice to the paying consumer. Sounds fair to me. But let’s be clear that there is no parallel to DNT where consumers are getting free content. Would consumers have agreed to get telemarketing calls if their phone service was free? Maybe. Does it make sense to offer free phone service if there is no value to the provider? That’s the question we need to address with DNT. Otherwise, DNT should be named the “Do Not Pay – let someone else pay for me” feature.

What is needed is not less or more regulation, but a revision to the current DNT proposals that preserves the interests of both consumers and publishers by giving them control over DNT. So what would that revision look like? Here’s an example:

- Users would have the ability to select DNT settings in their browser.
- This preference would be recognized by the publisher site the user navigates to.
- The Publisher site presents the user with a message that acknowledges their DNT setting and asks if the Publisher can override that setting to give them a better site experience, more free content, etc.
- Users choose! (Their DNT preference is applicable for this publisher site only.)

This model would open the lines of communication between consumers and publishers on the application of DNT while preserving the benefits of monetization for publishers and the service (aka free content) provided to consumers. It is also vitally important that DNT not erase cookies as this would still be counterproductive in the disruption of the monetization process for ad-supported content (e-commerce would be severely impacted). What it should ensure is that the state of the cookie be intact while DNT is present.

We would be supportive of a revision of DNT to include the above consumer-publisher dialogue. However, we also want to make clear that the principles being adopted by the DAA and NAI, where consumers get global and local opt-out capabilities and transparency through the about ads icon offers another viable implementation of this same goal. This self-regulatory approach (we have heard industry estimates of over a trillion ads being served with this icon enabled) is already receiving wide adoption and aims to deliver on the goals of transparency and simplicity for the consumer.

DNT promises to alter the way advertising is served and needs to be transparent in its impact on both consumers and publishers. Let’s be clear and upfront on what exactly DNT is designed to do. We can start by bringing the right parties together to have a fruitful and productive conversation about the pros and cons of sponsored or free content.

NEW YORK – ClickZ, Incisive Media’s resource for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research, offered comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) proposal to establish a do-not-track mechanism. FTC’s proposal would give consumers more control over the advertising they see, but it would come at a cost.

ClickZ made that assessment in comments, based on reader input, to the FTC. While a do-not-track mechanism is intended to protect consumers from receiving behaviorally targeted advertising, ClickZ alerted federal regulators to other effects, including unintended consequences, the measure could have.

“ClickZ recognizes that the commission’s do-not-track proposal is the most significant regulatory initiative affecting the online ad industry ever to be introduced during its short life,” said Kate Kaye, ClickZ senior editor.

“For this reason, ClickZ’s editorial staff wanted to ensure our readers – comprised of the top digital marketing professionals in the U.S. – shared their thoughts about the implications of do-not-track on this burgeoning sector of the economy,” said Zachary Rodgers, ClickZ’s managing editor, news.

Other findings:

- A do-not-track mechanism, if adopted en masse, could reduce consumer access to free content, and could erode the quality and relevance of ads they see online.
- Do-not-track could hurt small and niche publishers. Website owners will likely resort to site demographic data and market research to target their ads. This requirement will tend to favor large publishers with research budgets and direct sales forces.
- Do-not-track could hurt innovation. The online ad sector is a fiercely competitive ecosystem where some of the world’s brightest technologists, working for well-funded startups, are building products that will define the future of marketing. The risk, should many consumers opt out, is that this innovation would simply migrate elsewhere.
- Do-not-track should not be an all-or-nothing proposition. Any mechanism should allow users to specify not only topics of interest, but also what data types can be collected, who may leverage that data, and how they are permitted to use it. The downside of this is greater user confusion than a simple on/off switch would create.
- Do-not-track, if implemented, should include ad tracking on mobile devices. The future of interactive content and services is mobile and any ad tracking rules should extend to handheld devices.
- Consumer participation may be minimal. It may be that consumers, given the choice will choose not to opt out of ad tracking for the above reasons, and because historically they have not done so.

ClickZ’s full response can be found at: http://www.clickz.com/digital_assets/2621/ClickZ-Privacy-Report-Feedback.pdf

About ClickZ

Incisive Media’s ClickZ is a unique resource for digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research. Other Incisive Media resources include SES, a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine marketing, 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 SES Conferences and Expo. For more information, visit www.incisivemedia.com.

By Scott Meyer, CEO, Better Advertising

Fitting The Pieces of Self-Regulation Together

WASHINGTON – At Better Advertising, we believe that industry self-regulation is the key to more transparent ads that produce better results. How our industry fits the pieces of Self-Regulation together will be a major topic of conversation at the FTC’s Exploring Privacy Roundtables. The first is Monday, December 7th. Better Advertising will be there, actively tweeting and blogging. Keep an eye out for me, Colin O’Malley and Sim Simeonov. And, Better Advertising will be filing a request to participate at the next one on January 28th in Berkley.

While Better Advertising lives this stuff every day, it can be fairly opaque to many. Here’s the way Better Advertising sees the situation.

The Cross-Industry Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising which rolled out in July of this year was a huge step. The leading trade associations in the online advertising industry came together to document the rules of conduct they expect their members to follow. If you haven’t read it yet, you should. As the document states:

“The Self-Regulatory Program consists of seven Principles. These Principles, described below, correspond with the “Self-Regulatory Principles for Online Behavioral Advertising” proposed by the Federal Trade Commission in February 2009, and also address public education and industry accountability issues raised by the Commission.”

The seven self-regulatory principles are: Education, Transparency, Consumer Control, Data Security, Material Changes to Existing Online Behavioral, Advertising Policies and Practices, Sensitive Data and Accountability.

The first to roll out was the IAB’s new Privacy Matters campaign to address the education principle. More than 500 million impressions are being donated by major media outlets to get the point across. WPP, a Better Advertising design partner, did a great job here on the creative. Twenty leading publishers and ad networks donated ad inventory. Stay tuned, there will a lot more information to educate consumers as to what is going on. Better Advertising will be playing a major part of that effort.

The next step in self-regulation is “the icon.” The icon will alert consumers that an ad is using or collecting behavioral data to target them. It also gives consumers more information about behavioral advertising and provides a logical way to exercise the choice of whether or not to be targeted. The Future of Privacy Forum (where Better Advertising is on the Advisory Board) working with important academics Mary Culnan and Manoj Hastak plus Better Advertising’s friends at WPP’s GroupM and Kantar have pulled together a very impressive set of choices. They just announced it as their New Privacy and Personalization Symbols Finalists. This is a project which Better Advertising enthusiastically supports. It’s been incorporated into what Better Advertising will be delivering to clients.

So, that brings us to the last piece of the self-regulation puzzle. How will companies be able to prove that they actually following all of these principles? That’s where the Accountability Principle comes in, and that’s what Better Advertising does. This will end up being the most complicated, and most important, part of successful self-regulation. It requires processing billions of events per day and integrating with hundreds of companies across the online advertising ecosystem. For that, you need a custom-built technology solution that is laser focused on Behavioral Advertising and complying with the Principles.

Better Advertising is actively engaged with all the key players in this effort as we roll out our platform. And there is a lot of good work that’s going into this space. The NAI’s new opt-out extension for Firefox is one example. As is the Yahoo CLEAR notice protocol. The Better Advertising platform supports, and is complementary to, these and alternative technologies that will be coming to market soon.

Behavioral advertising is here to stay. It makes for a better consumer web experience. It delivers better results for advertisers. It will take a lot of continued hard work to deliver the kind of transparency that consumers, regulators and legislators are demanding. And Better Advertising is committed to working with everyone to make this happen to ensure our industry stays self-regulated and keeps on growing.

“What concerns us the most in these revisions is that the Internet, the cheapest, most widely accessible communications medium ever invented, would have less freedom than other media,” said Mr. Rothenberg, “These revisions are punitive to the online world and unfairly distinguish between the same speech, based on the medium in which it is delivered. The practices have long been afforded strong First Amendment protections in traditional media outlets, but the Commission is saying that the same speech deserves fewer Constitutional protections online. I urge the Commission to retract the current set of Guides and to commence a fair and open process in order to develop a roadmap by which responsible online actors can engage with consumers and continue to provide the invaluable content and services that have so transformed people’s lives.”

The Guides include revisions that specifically address online media and will require that bloggers who receive free products to review must disclose that they received those products for free or be subject to civil enforcement penalties.

There is a longstanding practice in traditional media of providing products and services to journalists including freelancers, for the purpose of reviews. Mr. Rothenberg writes in his column:

“They—and we—are not arguing that bloggers and social media be treated differently than incumbent media. After all, most newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television networks, in recognition that Americans are embracing new forms of social communications, have established their own blogs, boards, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and the like. Rather, we’re saying the new conversational media should be accorded the same rights and freedoms as other communications channels.”

Pages 47 and 48 of the Guides emphasize the FTC’s disparity in the treatment of online media versus traditional media: 
  
acknowledges that bloggers may be subject to different disclosure requirements than reviewers in traditional media. In general, under usual circumstances, the Commission does not consider reviews published in traditional media (i.e., where a newspaper, magazine, or television or radio station with independent editorial responsibility assigns an employee to review various products or services as part of his or her official duties, and then publishes those reviews) to be sponsored advertising messages. […]
 
     In contrast, if a blogger’s statement on his personal blog or elsewhere (e.g., the site of an online retailer of electronic products) qualifies as an “endorsement” – i.e., as a sponsored message – due to the blogger’s relationship with the advertiser or the value of the merchandise he has received and has been asked to review by that advertiser, knowing these facts might affect the weight consumers give to his review. 

To learn more about the IAB’s Public Policy work, please go to http://www.iab.net/insights_research/public_policy.

Full text of the letter is contained below.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 375 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.

         
     
   October 15, 2009 
     
   Jon Leibowitz, Chairman 
   Federal Trade Commission 
   600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW 
   Washington, DC 20580 
     
   Dear Mr. Chairman: 
     
   So there I was last Saturday, about to send out on my Twitter feed — which automatically updates my Facebook page and links to my personal blog — a photograph of this wonderful baked halibut dish I’d just made as a surprise for my wife. I was in the middle of typing a rave review of the recipe, which I’d pulled from my favorite cookbook, Delicioso! The Regional Cooking of Spain by Penelope Casas. But before I could press the “post” button, I stopped and canceled the whole thing.
 
     
   I remembered that the book was a freebie, sent to me by an editor at the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house 13 years ago. And I didn’t want you guys to haul me into court and fine me for violating the rules you’ve just promulgated to muzzle social media.
 
     
   I know what you’re thinking – I’m just confused. But so are the 22 million bloggers currently collecting audiences in the United States and the close to 140 million Americans registering news and opinions through social media channels like Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, and Twitter. The source of the confusion: The new set of “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” issued on October 5 by the Federal Trade Commission that you chair.
 
     
   As you’re undoubtedly aware, the revised “Guides,” an update of principles the Commission originally established in 1980, have generated a firestorm of controversy within the ad-supported interactive media industry. Of particular concern are footnotes, asides, and elaborations in the Guides – as well as reported commentary by Commission staff – which indicate that opinions published by individuals have less protection than speech promulgated by large corporations; that “traditional” distribution channels deserve more protection than innovative online channels; and, finally, that the Internet, the cheapest, freest, most accessible communications medium ever invented, should have less freedom than other media.
 
     
   It’s the Commission’s own words that have sewn this controversy and confusion. On pages 47 and 48 of the 81-page Guides, your staff
 
     
   acknowledges that bloggers may be subject to different disclosure requirements than reviewers in traditional media. In general, under usual circumstances, the Commission does not consider reviews published in traditional media (i.e., where a newspaper, magazine, or television or radio station with independent editorial responsibility assigns an employee to review various products or services as part of his or her official duties, and then publishes those reviews) to be sponsored advertising messages. […]
 
      In contrast, if a blogger’s statement on his personal blog or elsewhere (e.g., the site of an online retailer of electronic products) qualifies as an “endorsement” – i.e., as a sponsored message – due to the blogger’s relationship with the advertiser or the value of the merchandise he has received and has been asked to review by that advertiser, knowing these facts might affect the weight consumers give to his review.
 
     
   With all due respect, Mr. Chairman: Huh? Does the FTC really intend to probe America’s opinion-mongering apparatus this closely? Do you have a team of Freuds and Jungs able to examine “the weight” consumers give such opinion – and the way they weigh that weight?
 
     
   Naturally, this expedition from Oceania – that’s the place Big Brother ruled – should be worrisome to all Americans, and to all viewers, readers, listeners, users, and providers of any communications medium. But for the 400 members of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, most of which are small and medium-sized enterprises struggling to build their businesses in the face of the worst decline in marketing spending since the 1930’s, the implication that online social media represent a separate class of communications channels with less Constitutional protection than corporate-owned newspapers, radio stations, or cable television networks is of particularly grave concern.
 
     
   They – and we —are not arguing that bloggers and social media be treated differently than incumbent media. After all, most newspapers, magazines, radio stations and television networks, in recognition that Americans are embracing new forms of social communications, have established their own blogs, boards, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, and the like. Rather, we’re saying the new conversational media should be accorded the same rights and freedoms as other communications channels.
 
     
   All of us would agree that false and deceptive advertising should be stopped, and penalized when it slips through and is caught. We agree that paid testimonials and endorsements should be labeled. But in taking business ethics and attempting to give it the force of law, the Commission is stretching the definition of remuneration to ludicrous lengths. More frightening – certainly to the 22,000 womens-issue bloggers” on BlogHer, the 218 sports-fan facilitators on SB Nation, and the 302 people Tweeting to me daily – is that the FTC’s new Guides open the door to extremely selective pursuit and prosecution of those least able to defend themselves against government’s hammer: the solo entrepreneurs and opinionated individuals who are most vital to the functioning of our democracy and economy.
 
      
  That fear, I fear, is supported by the Commission’s own words. For example, in an interview with the blog edrants.com, FTC Assistant Director of Advertising Practices Richard Cleland took decades of common practice in offline media — specifically the acceptance by reviewers of free books from publishers — and said that bloggers engaging in the same activities could be subject to prosecution. “The primary situation is where there’s a link to the sponsoring seller and the blogger,” said Mr. Cleland. The repeated supply of free books could constitute “compensation,” thus triggering an FTC review and, possibly, sanctions. 
    
  “You can return it,” Mr. Cleland said, when asked how a social mediator could avoid this fate. “You review it and return it. I’m not sure that type of situation would be compensation.” Otherwise, “if a blogger received enough books, he could open up a used bookstore.” 
    
  The ignorance of established offline media practices is more than mildly surprising. Take a walk through New York’s mecca of used books, The Strand, or the Portland emporium Powell’s, and you’ll find bin upon bin of “reviewers’ copies,” direct contravention of Mr. Cleland’s declaration that “most of the newspapers have very strict rules about that and on what happens to those products.” (My own shelf of review copies from my days as a journalist attest to how wrong he is.) 
    
  But of greater concern is that the Commission is translating this ignorance into rules that would specifically shackle online media while exempting our offline cousins and competitors from equivalent constraint. Publish? You might perish: “Consumers who join word of mouth marketing programs that periodically provide them products to review publicly (as opposed to simply giving feedback to the advertiser) will also likely be viewed as giving sponsored messages.” Have a lot of Facebook friends? Better watch it, you dot-commie: “If that blogger frequently receives products from manufacturers because he or she is known to have wide readership within a particular demographic group that is the manufacturers’ target market, the blogger’s statements are likely to be deemed to be ‘endorsements.’” 
    
  Indeed, to copious industry protests that provision of free samples, tickets, and services to independent reviewers has been a staple of media since media began and shouldn’t be regulated more strictly online than off, the Commission simply disagreed and said it will “consider each use of these new media on a case-by-case basis for purposes of law enforcement.” So if Niero Gonzales fails to flash “freebie” across each review of a first-person shooter posted on his gamer site Destructoid.com, will he be dragged down to Pennsylvania Avenue for a civil investigation? If I blog on randallrothenberg.com about the dozens of free management books I receive each year from publishers, will I, John Wiley & Sons, or Harper Business be subject to a penalty? Again with all due respect, Mr. Chairman, the Commission’s Guidelines really provides no guidance at al 
    
  You must know that, because in the days following the release of the revised Guides, the FTC has been furiously backtracking about their implications, in an apparent attempt to soothe the blogosphere. “We are not planning on investigating individual bloggers,” Mary Engle, the Commission’s Associate Director for Advertising Practices, told reporters this week. “We will be focusing any enforcements on advertisers, not on individual endorsers.” 
    
  But the Commission is being disingenuous. “The recent creation of consumer-generated media means that in many instances, endorsements are now disseminated by the endorser, rather than by the sponsoring advertiser,” the Guides state. “In these contexts, the Commission believes that the endorser is the party primarily responsible for disclosing material connections with the advertiser.” 
    
  In other words, the Guides do allow you to pursue bloggers. They do hold individuals more liable than larger corporations. They do explicitly say online social media have less protection than offline corporate media. They do obstruct online companies’ opportunities to drive cultural conversation more than offline companies’. They do threaten with prosecution book publishers, movie producers, and other companies that supply products to individual social media conversationalists. 
    
  This confusion easily could have been avoided. The IAB and other industry organizations clearly identified the risks to free expression and provided the FTC significant, formal First Amendment guidance when you first mooted the new guidelines earlier this year. We offered to bring in bloggers, social media executives and others from among our membership and work with you to develop practical guidelines and self-regulatory mechanisms that would protect consumers from real harm, while assuring that independent opinion in digital media isn’t stifled. 
    
  But Commission staff did not follow up with us on our offer, held no public hearings on the proposed Guides, and ultimately dismissed our concerns. Instead, they took the perverse – and Constitutionally dubious – step of saying that individuals writing in social media bear greater liability than do those writing for offline, one-way media. 
    
  Mr. Chairman, these are the types of vital regulatory issues that, if decided without due care and reasoned judgment, will impair the continued growth of news and content in the online space. I urge the Commission to retract the current set of Guides and to commence a fair and open process in order to develop a roadmap by which responsible online actors can engage with consumers and continue to provide their invaluable content and services. 
    
  Regards,
 
    
  Randall Rothenberg

President and Chief Executive Officer

It is for the first time since 1980 that the FTC modifies regulations with regard to testimonials, endorsements, shopping advices, reviews; it is also for the first time that blogs are to be monitored as well.

Below are excerpts from the new regulations, “FTC Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”:

Definitions

[...] “an endorsement means any advertising message (including verbal statements, demonstrations, or depictions of the name, signature, likeness or other identifying personal characteristics of an individual or the name or seal of an organization) which message consumers are likely to believe reflects the opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience of a party other than the sponsoring advertiser. The party whose opinions, beliefs, findings, or experience the message appears to reflect will be called the endorser and may be an individual, group or institution.”

Consumer Endorsements

“(a) An advertisement employing an endorsement reflecting the experience of an individual or a group of consumers on a central or key attribute of the product or service will be interpreted as representing that the endorser’s experience is representative of what consumers will generally achieve with the advertised product in actual, albeit variable, conditions of use. Therefore, unless the advertiser possesses and relies upon adequate substantiation for this representation, the advertisement should either clearly and conspicuously disclose what the generally expected performance would be in the depicted circumstances or clearly and conspicuously disclose the limited applicability of the endorser’s experience to what consumers may generally expect to achieve. The Commission’s position regarding the acceptance of disclaimers or disclosures is described in the preamble to these Guides published in the Federal Register on January 18, 1980.

(b) Advertisements presenting endorsements by what are represented, directly or by implication, to be “actual consumers” should utilize actual consumers, in both the audio and video or clearly and conspicuously disclose that the persons in such advertisements are not actual consumers of the advertised product.”

Disclosure of material connections

“When there exists a connection between the endorser and the seller of the advertised product which might materially affect the weight or credibility of the endorsement (i.e., the connection is not reasonably expected by the audience) such connection must be fully disclosed. An example of a connection that is ordinarily expected by viewers and need not be disclosed is the payment or promise of payment to an endorser who is an expert or well known personality, as long as the advertiser does not represent that the endorsement was given without compensation. However, when the endorser is neither represented in the advertisement as an expert nor is known to a significant portion of the viewing public, then the advertiser should clearly and conspicuously disclose either the payment or promise of compensation prior to and in exchange for the endorsement or the fact that the endorser knew or had reasons to know or to believe that if the endorsement favors the advertised product some benefit, such as an appearance on TV, would be extended to the endorser.”

The whole guide, as published by the FTC, is available at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/endorse.htm .

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

Open AdStream streamlines the advertising management process while the addition of contract management automates workflow for publishers every step of the way, from sales to billing. With the added efficiency, Web publishers can now maximize resources and consolidate advertising management, ultimately increasing revenue and decreasing costs.

Contract management provides publishers with financial workflow including automated proposals, approvals, booking and invoicing order processes. It completely integrates and synchronizes with CRM, inventory management and accounting systems, and reduces inefficiencies by enabling publishers to fully manage their ad campaigns in one, easy-to-use interface. Publishers also benefit from comprehensive reporting such as extensive revenue-based reports, reducing inaccuracies and expediting business processes.

“Our contract management software enables publishers to manage sales, inventory, trafficking, billing and revenues based on ads served,” said Cyril Moynot, Managing Director of FIVIA. “The addition of FIVIA’s contract management functionality to Open AdStream delivers greater efficiency and eases the complications of billing and revenue management.”

“To increase efficiency and accuracy, publishers require a full suite solution to replace the multiple technology tools needed to manage each component of their advertising campaigns,” said Nicolle Pangis, Vice President, Product Management, Global Media and Technology for 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “After an extensive review of the market, we have chosen to partner with FIVIA to further enhance Open AdStream’s capabilities, providing clients with an industry leading comprehensive ad management solution.”

Open AdStream is 24/7 Real Media’s proprietary, award-winning ad serving and campaign management platform, for the targeting and delivery of ads to their Web sites. Open AdStream combines the powerful business intelligence of Web analytics and behavioral targeting with a world-class management platform, delivering all digital formats across all digital platforms.

FIVIA is an established premier provider of automated inventory, order and billing management software for the media and advertising industry. The company offers a full range of outsourced ad operations solutions, providing world-class brands with technology services to efficiently manage their businesses and improve their bottom line.

For more information on 24/7 Real Media and Open AdStream, 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.

The joint industry task force supports the FTC’s goal of a comprehensive and effective self-regulatory program that protects both consumers and businesses engaged in interactive advertising. The group will continue its engagement with policymakers, a broad cross section of businesses, consumers, and other important stakeholders as it evaluates important public policy issues that have been raised regarding online behavioral advertising. The associations look forward to reviewing the current FTC principles released today, having already launched proactive efforts in areas of self-regulation set forth in the FTC’s initial self-regulatory principles issued in December 2007, including education and transparency, consumer notification and choice, data security, and self-regulatory enforcement.

The members of these associations, along with other participants of the group, together represent thousands of advertisers, agencies, marketers, publishers, media companies, ad networks, and other service providers, including the major participants in the online advertising marketplace. The associations have come together to address concerns about the use of online consumer data for behavioral advertising purposes while preserving the innovative and robust advertising that supports the vast array of free online content available to consumers, and what has become an important and growing industry for the U.S. economy. The group collectively recognizes the importance and responsibility of effective self-regulation in the evolving area of online and behavioral marketing and applauds the FTC’s continued commitment to industry self regulation.

LOS ANGELES – Infuse Creative CEO Gregory Markel spoke at the annual MLRC/Southwestern Law School Media and Entertainment Law Conference on Thursday, January 15.

The panel, titled “What Happens When Protected Speech Meets Embedded Promotions? Product Integration, Sponsorship and Ad Linking,” dealt with the current and potential legal issues surrounding television, film, videos games, online gaming, and online video product placement, search engine marketing or PPC, copyright and trademark issues.

Other panel members included: Pratheepan Gulasekaram, an Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law; Daniel O’Connell Offner from Nixon Peabody, LLP; and Jennifer Dominitz, Vice President of Legal Affairs at NBC Universal Television.

Markel’s experience in the field of search engine marketing, social media, and digital communication strategies and advisement was a powerful and dynamic addition to the legal experts, providing a digital and social media marketing vanguard view on the effects of advertising law, FTC concerns, and trademark and copyright law on SEM/paid search, SEO, social media marketing, and online video.

Recalling the evolution of Pay Per Click advertising lawsuits and FTC rulings that resulted in Google and Yahoo having to display their PPC ads along side the word SPONSORED, Markel asked, “How will it affect the industry if you have to place a disclaimer such as, ‘this blog comment is paid advertising’ as a preface to every blog or bookmark/tagging post? How will these copyright laws affect the sort of community, influence and stealth marketing approach that is currently so popular? These are all important questions to ask,” said Markel.

Gregory Markel has been involved in search engine and online marketing for over 13 years and is an expert on SEM, SEO, video, 2.0 social media marketing and more.

About Infuse Creative: www.infusecreative.com

Infuse Creative, founded by Gregory Markel, has provided search engine optimization and marketing services and technology to a diverse range of clients, including; Mazda, Gibson Musical Instruments, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros., Pacificare, The BBC, Ed Hardy, Led Zeppelin, CBS, FOX, The National Geographic Channel, Reality Executives International, Sony, Universal Vivendi and many more.

The joint industry task force plans to engage with policymakers, a broad cross section of business, consumers, and other important stakeholders as it addresses the important public policy issues that have been raised regarding online behavioral advertising. The group is currently discussing the areas for self-regulation set forth in the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed self-regulatory principles issued in December 2007, including education and transparency, consumer notification and choice, data security, and self-regulatory enforcement. The associations look forward to working with the FTC as it continues to review its privacy principles.

The members of these associations, along with other participants of the group, together represent thousands of advertisers, agencies, marketers, publishers, media companies, ad networks, and other service providers, including the major participants in the online advertising marketplace. The initiative will seek to address concerns about the use of online consumer data for behavioral advertising purposes while preserving the innovative and robust advertising that supports the vast array of free online content.

“Advertising agencies are leaders in the innovation that is fueling the Internet economy,” said Nancy Hill, President and CEO of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. “The result has been tremendous benefits for all consumers. We are anxious to work with our colleagues in the Internet, advertising, and marketing communities to develop effective self-regulatory practices that apply across all our memberships.”

“Behavioral marketing provides enormous benefits to consumers, but it is our responsibility as marketers to ensure the Web-surfing public’s privacy interests remain protected. Strong and comprehensive self-regulation strikes a balance that both protects the public interest and allows marketers to provide relevant advertising, which is particularly critical during this period of economic downturn,” said Bob Liodice, President and CEO of the ANA.

“The BBB has always advocated responsible business practices backed by effective self-regulation. This is especially needed in the evolving area of online and behavioral marketing. We believe that this effort can play a critical role in developing meaningful standards supported by credible enforcement in this increasingly important area,” said Steve Cole, President and CEO of the BBB.

“It is essential that we have consistent standards that reinforce consumer relevance and business responsibility,” said John Greco, President and CEO of the Direct Marketing Association. “We believe this is one of the most important steps we can take to make that a reality.”

“Effective self-regulation of interactive advertising will help ensure that our industry can continue to evolve and innovate, offering consumers what they want when they want it. The value of online advertising to consumers and businesses cannot be understated, particularly in these challenging economic times. We want to be certain that we demonstrate the value exchange to the public that comes from online advertising. Having the support of our colleagues across the business community on these core issues is critical to the IAB and its members,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB.

NEW YORK & TOKYO – 24/7 Real Media, Inc. (“24/7”), the leading digital marketing company, and cyber communications, inc. (“cci”) (4788.T), Japan’s leading media representative company, announced the merger of their subsidiaries DENTSU e-LINK, INC. and K.K. 24-7 Search to form Dentsu Search & Link. Japan’s largest advertising agency Dentsu Inc. (“Dentsu”), currently a shareholder in both subsidiaries, shall remain a shareholder of the newly merged company. Dentsu Search & Link will deliver a full spectrum of search engine marketing (“SEM”) services to the Japanese market. Financial terms were not disclosed.

cci and Dentsu will contribute their extensive Japanese marketing industry knowledge and connections to the venture, and consign to the venture SEM services provided to their clients. 24/7 will license its industry-leading Decide DNA® technology and provide its search engine marketing expertise to Dentsu Search & Link. Takeshi Matsuoka, currently Director and President of KK 24-7 Search, will serve as President and CEO of Dentsu Search & Link.

The merger of DENTSU e-LINK INC. and K.K. 24-7 Search is designed to create a best of breed search engine marketing services’ company in Japan. Dentsu Search & Link will leverage cci’s considerable industry relationships and broad media representative experience in combination with 24/7 Real Media’s industry-leading proprietary search management technology, Decide DNA.

“cci has acquired experience in the SEM field through our subsidiary DENTSU E-LINK. The newly merged company shall play a key role in the SEM field in the Dentsu Group. Dentsu Search & Link shall become a robust and optimum company combined with Dentsu Group’s sales force and experience in the Japanese market and 24/7 Real Media’s most advanced technology,” said Hideyuki Nagasawa, President and CEO of cci. “I am confident that Dentsu Search & Link shall lead the continuously growing new market with high competitiveness.”

“24/7 Real Media looks forward to building a strong relationship with Japan’s leading media representative company cci. cci has embraced digital marketing through its subsidiary DENTSU e-LINK and will continue to lead the Japanese SEM marketplace through its new partnership with 24/7 Real Media. Dentsu Group clients have benefited from cci’s and Dentsu’s progressive view of utilizing technology to provide clients with a competitive advantage,” said David J. Moore, Chairman and Founder of 24/7. “We are confident that the enhanced partnership between cci, Dentsu and 24/7 Real Media will provide even more benefits to cci’s and Dentsu’s clients and help expand 24/7’s technology presence in Japan.”

According to eMarketer*, the Japanese paid search market is on pace to reach approximately 226.5 Billion Yen by 2011. Japan has the second highest number of Internet users after China, and the highest number of broadband Internet users in the Pacific Rim, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Media Outlook 2007.

As the majority owner of Dentsu Search & Link, cci will report consolidated financial results including Dentsu Search & Link. Additional details will be provided during cci’s fourth quarter earnings call in 2009.

*Source: eMarketer; Dentsu, as cited in press release, April 16, 2007

About cyber communications, inc.

cci was established in 1996 in the early period of online advertising market in Japan and has led the market growth as a subsidiary of Dentsu Inc. cci has established the business model whereby, as a media representative, it makes connections between thousands of online media and advertising agencies in Japan. cci describes itself as a total interactive, one-stop marketing service company that provides various services regarding internet advertising such as media planning, ad serving technology, ad creative service and market analysis. For more information, please visit http://www.cci.co.jp/english/.

About 24/7 Real Media, Inc.

24/7 Real Media, Inc. a WPP company, the leading global digital marketing company, empowers 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, together with its 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.

SAN FRANCISCO – 1020 Placecast, the first online advertising solution to target highly sought-after audiences using location-based information across the Web, mobile, Wi-Fi networks and email, announced interactive advertising trends to watch in 2009. Trends to watch include better metrics to understand effectiveness, increased concerns about user privacy and mainstream video adoption by online advertisers.

Looking back, 2008 marked a turning point in online advertising. Despite the slowing of growth in overall advertising spending, online has finally achieved its place at the table in mainstream media plans and continues to prove its value relative to traditional media. It was also a year for increased public scrutiny of industry practices as the medium achieves scale and prominence with advertisers.

“The year ahead will be difficult in many respects, but also very exciting,” said Placecast CEO Alistair Goodman. “We expect marketers who need to do more with less will put pressure on agencies, media providers, publishers and measurement firms to deliver more value. At the same time, tough market conditions always produce new ways of solving old problems. We see big opportunities for advertisers to find new ways to drive better performance for their campaigns.”

Six key trends identified in this release are:

1. The value of user data is questionable.

2009 will mark the year advertisers begin to look for alternatives to collecting and mining user data to improve the performance of campaigns. For several years, online marketers have attempted to incorporate increasingly large amounts of user data into the marketing equation with the goal of improving targeting and performance. Unfortunately, advertiser reviews of this approach are nearly universal: “anticipointed.” We now find ourselves in wave 2.0 of this effort in which firms are undertaking predictive modeling, attempting to analyze even more data in order to predict behaviors. However, these efforts will continue to disappoint and 2009 will mark the year advertisers begin to look for and incorporate new, non-user data sources for improving the performance of campaigns.

2. The Web will be connected to the physical world.

Until recently, the Web was built to ignore physical location. Several recent developments make clear that, beginning in 2009, location will drive the next wave of innovation on the Web. These announcements include: Geode for Firefox, a plug-in that allows the popular browser to determine and share the user’s location; Google’s releases of Android, Chrome and the Gears Location API, all of which incorporate location data; Fire Eagle from Yahoo! for location data management; more than 500 iPhone applications now using GPS location data as a critical component; and the news that Microsoft Windows 7 will include location data at the operating-system level for any application. All of these innovations and others still to come will bring location information into the mainstream Web-browsing experience, providing users with a way to connect their online experience to the real world.

For advertisers, this trend presages a host of new services launching in 2009 using location in various ways. Initial, simple applications from marketers will include couponing and advertising to users in proximity to potential offerings of interest (such as stores, cafés, restaurants, etc.). More advanced approaches will apply this new trove of location data to improve relevance, understand consumer intent and profile audiences. In the long term, we can expect location data to be incorporated into search algorithms as another way of increasing relevance, and also into performance marketing, where better relevance will drive significant improvements in performance.

3. Heightened privacy concerns plant the seed for regulation.

2008 will certainly go down as a year of turmoil for data mining models like NebuAd and Adzilla, and also as a year that brought small victories for privacy advocates. A new administration in Washington will bring new FTC regulators, and a climate that favors more standards and regulation. Despite the proactive efforts of industry organizations like the IAB and the NAI, 2009 will kick off a wave of new discussions about the collection and application of user data, with the balance of power shifting away from the advertising industry and towards the user.

President-Elect Barack Obama’s selection of Tom Wheeler, former head of major wireless organization CTIA, as a technology adviser also indicates we can expect to see a particular emphasis on mobile technology for the new administration.

4. View-through metrics gain traction in the downturn.

Down economies focus more attention and diligence on understanding the drivers of performance for online campaigns. 2009 will see more mainstream adoption of view-through as a complement to traditional metrics like click-through. View-through (also referred to as post-impression measurement) is a method for gauging the impact of an ad that a user sees but does not click on. It works by recording the exposure of a user to a specific display ad, then measures when that user returns to the advertiser’s site in a later session.

View-through gives marketers an ability to attribute value to the many impressions they deliver which do not immediately trigger an action. With average click-through rates on display ads dropping below 0.1% on average, marketers are recognizing that view-through provides a more complete understanding of how campaigns really drive traffic, and how impressions lift brand metrics such as awareness, favorability and intent.

5. The accessibility of display ad inventory will increase dramatically.

The combination of a downturn in the economy and continued automation of media planning and buying tools means that buyers will have easy access to display inventory in 2009. Even as broad networks consolidate or compress, exchanges are providing easy access for buyers to find reach and efficiency. The major players, including Google, Yahoo!, MSN and AOL, are capturing the largest share of available remnant inventory across their ad network offerings, and exchanges will continue to refine their operational and business models.

With the impressions themselves becoming ever more liquid and accessible through networks and exchanges, inventory value will be driven by services and technology. Next generation targeting approaches, which go beyond content and behavioral methods, will capture the attention of the buying community. Improved efficiency and valuable insights from reporting will give buyers the ability to focus media purchases even more efficiently over time.

6. Online video consumption will continue to grow.

In 2009, we will see significant increases in the online distribution and consumption of professionally-produced video content. This top tier video content will garner a majority of the video advertising spend. CPMs may contract slightly with broader distribution as audiences expect to find the content where they spend their time online. But with consumers in control and watching more video online, overall CPMs will remain quite healthy for video advertising in top content.

Several factors are fueling this trend: first, major advertisers are now thinking about online video at the creative stage and producing purpose-built material for the Web when they develop creative for TV. Secondly, production costs are also coming down, and we are beginning to see critical mass around a standard set of technologies and tools. Lastly, as more dollars migrate away from TV advertising because of the high cost, online video will become the beneficiary as it creates a similar immersive customer experience with TV and Hollywood appeal. Sites like Hulu provide TV-oriented brand advertisers with a captive audience – an example of why video will become a mainstream part of brand marketer advertising budgets in 2009.

About 1020 Placecast, Inc.

1020, Inc. is the developer and owner of Placecast™ Media, the first online advertising solution to target highly sought-after audiences using location-based information across the Web, mobile, and Wi-Fi. 1020’s groundbreaking Placecast service recently earned the company the “OnMedia Top 100” Award, given to game-changing companies in the marketing, branding, advertising, and PR industries. Current advertisers include Microsoft Windows Mobile, FedEx Kinko’s, Avis and Budget Rental Cars and Hyatt Hotels. 1020 is funded by Voyager Capital and Onset Ventures. For more information about Placecast, visit www.placecast.net.

On top of OgilvyOne ITOP’s existing platform, the joint venture will utilize the award winning Open AdStream® ad management technology, enhanced specifically for the Chinese market. OgilvyOne ITOP’s existing ad network covers key categories like IT & Telecommunications, Fashion & Entertainment, and Business & Finance and provides mid to large scale advertisers high quality targeted ad placements and audiences.

Utilizing the latest technology, ITOP 24/7 will pioneer the shift from traditional staff based advertising service to the use of internet advertising platforms, creating a more cost effective and robust advertising channel. OgilvyOne ITOP currently reaches up to 100m daily page views across its network of sites. OgilvyOne ITOP, whose current clients in China include IBM, China Unicom, Microsoft, and Daphne, is a solution for both small and large scale companies looking to maximize ROI. ITOP 24/7 will offer unique insight into the growing Chinese online market.

“24/7 Real Media is a pioneer in its category and a proven leader with more than ten years experience in running ad networks globally. They’re an excellent choice for us to partner with; providing our clients with the best breed of ad management technology,” commented Chris Reitermann, President of OgilvyOne China, “With the onset of the financial crisis, many more clients require effectiveness and measurement from their marketing campaigns, providing increased opportunity for a company like ITOP 24/7 that focuses on online marketing offers more targeted results and better ROI.”

Reitermann adds, “ITOP 24/7 is a venture that will enable us to bring marketing technology with scalability and effectiveness to our own business and our clients’. This type of business is just forming in China, but we are confident that it will become more platform-driven in the future. We also see a trend with advertisers asking for more vertical and niche sites as a part of the media mix. ITOP 24/7 enables advertisers to effectively reach audiences across a broad range of smaller sites.”

“Our relationship with OgilvyOne extends 24/7 Real Media’s reach into China and ITOP 24/7 will give Chinese advertisers an ad network that provides enhanced ROI, transparency and measurability,” said David J. Moore, Chairman and Founder of 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “We are looking forward to building a new ad network paradigm in China with ITOP 24/7.”

ITOP 24/7 targeting services will significantly increase the performance and ROI of online campaigns, enabling advertisers to connect with potential consumers through contextual matching. The combination of advertising service and targeting platforms, along with the extensive network power of Ogilvy, provides unparalleled exposure to advertisers in China.

About 24/7 Real Media, Inc.

24/7 Real Media, Inc. a WPP company (NASDAQ: WPPGY), 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.

About ITOP and OgilvyOne Worldwide

ITOP, a precision marketing department of OgilvyOne Worldwide, established in January 2008, began providing contextual advertising services in August 2008. ITOP’s contextual advertising platform supports multi ad formats, publishing, and contains an iWord and iTopic targeting engine as well as bidding systems; becoming 1 of only 4 contextual matching engine providers in Chinese. ITOP receives around 100 million daily PVs from selected reliable media partners in the ITOP platform and gains more than 200 thousand clicks per day via this inventory.

OgilvyOne Worldwide is the strongest, most experienced and most highly awarded one-to-one marketing network in the world, with over 110 offices in 56 countries. It provides clients with a full range of direct, consulting and interactive services to deliver profitable customer relationships. The roster of clients is equally balanced between global clients including American Express, Cisco, Coca-Cola Company, DHL, GlaxoSmithKline, IBM, Nestlé, SAP and Unilever, and leading clients in our local markets. OgilvyOne Worldwide is a unit of The Ogilvy Group, which is part of WPP Group plc (NASDAQ: WPPGY), one of the world’s largest communications services groups.

NEW YORK – 24/7 Real Media Inc., the leading global digital marketing company, today launched the latest version of Open AdStream®, its award-winning ad serving and campaign management platform for the targeting and delivery of ads to Web sites. Open AdStream 7.0 includes a completely re-engineered user interface and variety of new applications, delivering a powerful and comprehensive solution for publishers to easily maximize the value of their ad inventory.

Open AdStream 7.0 combines the powerful business intelligence of Web analytics with robust targeting options and a sophisticated decision engine, delivering the most lucrative ad in any digital format to any digital medium. The intuitive new user interface makes it easy for publishers to navigate Open AdStream’s wealth of feature sets and capabilities for optimizing campaigns to meet their unique needs. Campaign scheduling, administration and reporting are streamlined, and a customizable real-time dashboard provides up-to-the-minute data analysis.

With consumer behavior rapidly shifting and new digital marketing techniques emerging, publishers competing for ad revenue must ensure their campaign management solution clearly outlines every available option to maximize their profit and deliver detailed results. Thousands of popular Web sites such as United Media, eSignal and OK! Magazine use Open AdStream to manage their advertising inventory.

“In today’s hyper-competitive advertising environment, improvements in ad management can mean millions more in revenue for high-traffic publishers,” said Nicolle Pangis, Vice President, Product Management, Global Media and Technology for 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “Open AdStream 7.0 makes successful ad management accessible to every publisher, by presenting its extensive feature set in an intuitive interface that clearly provides the insight publishers need to maximize revenue from their ad inventory.”

One component of Open AdStream 7.0 that offers publishers a key advantage is its unique single tag architecture for custom targeting. By segmenting site visitors based on user attributes, behaviors and CRM data, publishers can target ads specifically at the audiences that matter the most to their business with just a single click.

Open AdStream is fully integrated with its state-of-the-art Rich Media Foundry automation system. Publishers can easily create, customize and serve rich media and video ads from all major third party rich media vendors.

Many of the new applications on Open AdStream 7.0 are designed to expand the ad management options for publishers with diverse infrastructures and business needs. For publishers with vertical networks or multiple Web sites, Open AdStream 7.0 can be tailored to match their particular business model and organizational structure. To determine whether cost per acquisition (CPA) campaigns would be more profitable, the new Performance Tracking functionality provides a full analysis of conversion activities occurring after their visitors either view or click on an advertising message.

A new global API also makes it simple to integrate custom or third-party software applications and access data through Open AdStream 7.0, enhancing efficiency, automation and functionality.

For more information on 24/7 Real Media and Open AdStream 7.0, 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.

NEW YORK – 24/7 Real Media, Inc., the leading global digital marketing company, introduced its Lifecycle Media Management model, a unique approach to help online advertisers maximize the value of 24/7 Real Media’s leading media network and extensive targeting capabilities.

Marketers have long used the customer lifecycle, or purchase funnel, in order to understand and segment customers and position advertising accordingly. 24/7 Real Media incorporates this approach to provide strategic guidance on which online ad targeting methods are most effective to reach and engage customers as they move through the four Lifecycle phases: awareness, preference, purchase and loyalty.

Lifecycle Media Management works by first understanding where an advertiser’s customers are in the purchase cycle, and then by deploying a strategic combination of targeting techniques to effectively reach them with a particular campaign. A sample approach for an advertiser aiming to drive brand awareness could include demographic and geographic targeting, in conjunction with Mindset Media buys. A sample approach for an advertiser whose goal is retaining and upselling customers could center on behavioral targeting or retargeting.

Each advertiser’s message is given prominent reach across the 24/7 Real Media network, one of the ten largest networks with over 123 million monthly unique visitors in the US (comScore Media Metrix, August 2008) across more than 1,500 publishers. The 24/7 Real Media ad network has grown 37% in 2008, and now reaches 65% of all U.S. Internet users, ensuring advertisers have access to a large segment of their target customers.

“Lifecycle Media Management offers advertisers unparalleled precision to accomplish specific program goals like increasing brand awareness, driving sales and retaining or up-selling customers,” said Ari Bluman, President of North American Sales and Operations for 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “With so many innovative targeting options available to advertisers, we can help formulate a clear strategy for distributing each unique advertising message, and help them ensure that message reaches the right customers across our massive media network.”

For more information on 24/7 Real Media’s network, 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.

NEW YORK – 24/7 Real Media Inc., the leading global digital marketing company, today introduced a new Performance Tracking functionality for its Open AdStream® ad management platform. This new offering provides Web publishers with detailed and actionable insight into their audience behavior, to help identify optimal strategies for generating revenue.

With Performance Tracking, publishers get a full analysis of conversion activities occurring after their visitors either view or click on an advertising message on their site, and arrive on an advertiser’s site to browse or purchase. Open AdStream allows publishers to track conversions through multiple steps and assign specific revenue to each step. This allows clients to realize greater revenue by accurately attributing their audience’s actions.

With such a clear picture of their audience’s activities, publishers using Open AdStream can successfully evaluate the benefits of implementing a cost-per-acquisition (CPA) pricing model, to either support or replace cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-thousand (CPM) campaigns. Impressions and clicks can be tracked and reported through a variety of categories, including creative, campaign, advertiser or Web site.

“Partnering with 24/7 Real Media offers publishers access to the industry’s most effective and comprehensive targeting, tracking and reporting technology platform,” said Nicolle Pangis, Vice President, Product Management, Global Media and Technology for 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “Performance Tracking is the latest example of our consistent enhancements to Open AdStream, allowing publishers to better understand their core audience and maximize their advertising revenue.”

Publishers are also able to utilize the Performance Tracking functionality to track visitors arriving on their own site from external inbound campaigns, such as advertising on other sites. Subsequent activity conducted by visitors on the publisher’s site, such as downloads, searches and form submissions, can also be tracked and reported on.

Open AdStream is 24/7 Real Media’s proprietary, award-winning ad serving and campaign management platform, for the targeting and delivery of ads to their Web sites. Open AdStream combines the powerful business intelligence of Web analytics and behavioral targeting with a world-class management platform, delivering all digital formats across all digital platforms.

For more information on 24/7 Real Media and Open AdStream, 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 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.

LONDON – September 3, 2008 – 24/7 Real UK Ltd., the leading global digital marketing company, today announced that it has appointed Brian Fitzpatrick as Managing Director of Media UK. In this capacity, he will manage the company’s UK media business including publisher representation and digital advertising sales. He will also lead the recruitment of top talent for the expanding UK media team.

Over the course of his distinguished career, Mr. Fitzpatrick has created business strategies, managed online marketing campaigns and formulated successful business development initiatives in the digital space. Most recently he served as VP of Business Development for Glubble.com, where he was responsible for negotiating top partnerships and distribution deals for the company.

“There is a huge opportunity to grow 24/7 Real Media’s footprint in the UK, and I look forward to demonstrating our robust service offering for local advertisers and publishers,” said Mr. Fitzpatrick.

Prior to Glubble.com, Mr. Fitzpatrick spent nearly five years at Lycos Europe as Business Development Director. In this position, he increased Lycos Europe’s monthly reach by thirty million unique visitors and negotiated key European deals with leading publishers such as About.com and IMDb.com, adding twelve billion ads per year to the Lycos network.

Mr. Fitzpatrick’s appointment follows 24/7 Real Media’s recent hiring of Michael Rohowski, Managing Director of Media for Europe, as the company continues to enlarge its global presence and enhance its service offering for European advertisers and publishers.

Jonathan Hsu, CEO of 24/7 Real Media, Inc said: “Brian’s track record confirms his aptitude as a digital media manager, making him a perfect fit to capitalise on the burgeoning UK market and grow our team there. Under Brian and Michael’s leadership, we expect to grow our media business significantly in the UK and throughout Europe over the next few years.”

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

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.co.uk.
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.

Open AdStream provides effective internal controls that enable the efficient management of affiliate sites, offering real-time updates on campaign status and greater control and transparency for both vertical network owners and publishers, for effective ad delivery. Network managers at companies such as Hola Networks, Godengo and United Online Media Group are now taking advantage of Open AdStream’s capabilities for this purpose.

“We use Open AdStream to consolidate our properties and our 50 million members into a single audience,” said Jeremy Helfand, Executive Vice President and Chief Sales Officer, United Online Media Group. “Its intuitive technology allows us to run individual site advertising programs while maintaining an effective system for cross-property buys. With Open AdStream, we can access scheduling, targeting, optimization, and reporting capabilities uniquely suited to our properties.”

Affiliate sites can also use Open AdStream to determine which advertisements are delivered to their Web pages, with robust information fields and controls to help categorize and measure they payout. They have the ability to accept and decline ads with ease, see any given report regardless of location, and gain access to specific subsets of information. Ultimately this efficiency enables the owner to focus resources and energy on running a successful network and gaining revenue.

Vertical networks can also utilize the recently introduced MultiSite feature, which provides access controls to streamline management for networks with decentralized trafficking.

“As the most comprehensive ad management system available today, using Open AdStream for vertical network management provides an enormous benefit to vertical network owners and Web site publishers looking for enhanced control and flexibility over their sites,” said Nicolle Pangis, Vice President, Product Management, Global Media and Technology for 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “Open AdStream gives network operators an all-in-one tool for managing revenue and combining feature sets to operate their business more effectively.”

Open AdStream is 24/7 Real Media’s proprietary, award-winning ad serving and campaign management platform, for the targeting and delivery of ads to their Web sites. Open AdStream combines the powerful business intelligence of Web analytics and behavioral targeting with a world-class management platform, delivering all digital formats across all digital platforms.

For more information on 24/7 Real Media and Open AdStream for vertical networks, 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.

Mr. Hsu, 36, previously served as 24/7 Real Media’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for its global operations, including Technology Development, Technology Operations, Corporate Development, Finance, Marketing, Product Management, Human Resources and various administrative functions. As CEO, he will focus on day-to-day operational responsibilities, enhancing 24/7’s award-winning services for advertisers and publishers, and overseeing the company’s international expansion.

As Chairman of 24/7 Real Media, Mr. Moore will focus on strengthening the company’s industry position, strategic relationships, recruitment and business development. Mr. Moore will also continue to work closely with WPP Digital to support the development and implementation of WPP’s digital initiatives.

“Dave and Jon have exemplified a formidable leadership team since late 2001,” said Mark Read, CEO, WPP Digital. “These changes give both executives new responsibilities that will be both challenging and rewarding, and further enhance the future of the company and WPP Digital.”

“I have spent more than a decade at the helm of 24/7 Real Media and have experienced the best and worst of the responsibility that comes with the CEO position. It is not an easy job, however,” said Mr. Moore. “Jonathan Hsu is an exceptional leader and brilliant strategist. He has consistently demonstrated an ability to identify new opportunities to grow the business. He will make an outstanding chief executive and I look forward to continuing our work together in these new roles. I love this business and look forward to continuing to build 24/7, WPP and our exciting industry.”

Mr. Hsu joined the company in March 2000, and as COO was instrumental in the company’s acquisition by WPP and numerous strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Yahoo! and Dentsu. Previously, Mr. Hsu served as CFO, where he oversaw a 500 percent jump in revenue growth over four years. As Senior Vice President – Corporate Development and Strategic Planning, he was responsible for driving the company’s geographic and product line expansion, overseeing the acquisitions of Insight First in January 2002, Real Media Korea in December 2003, and Decide Interactive in August 2004.

“It has been an incredible experience working with a true visionary and leader like David, and I am honored to succeed him as CEO of 24/7 Real Media,” said Mr. Hsu. “With online ad spending set to grow double digits for years to come, there are outstanding opportunities for 24/7 to expand our relationships with advertisers and publishers, while maintaining the innovative technology development and exceptional customer service that set us apart.”

Prior to joining 24/7 Real Media, Mr. Hsu worked for JP Morgan Chase Securities, where he specialized in M&A activities for new economy companies, telecommunication firms, and financial sponsors. He also served as a venture capitalist at American Lead Ventures and founded a magazine distributed internationally by Time Warner.

Mr. Hsu holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Strategic Management from the Wharton School of Business and a B.A. in Economics from Harvard University.

For more information on 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.

Press Contact:
Mike Manning
Cohn & Wolfe for 24/7 Real Media
415-365-8526
mike_manning@cohnwolfe.com

Realogy is now able to serve targeted ads and online displays to valuable home buying and selling audiences, and enable each participating site to view measurable analytics around the success of campaigns. The advanced targeting capabilities of 24/7 Real Media will enable advertising agencies and advertisers to reach specific targets among Realogy’s over 5 million monthly unique users for the first time.

“We chose 24/7 to deliver this new advertising capability for our Web sites because of its proven experience and targeting capabilities,” said Cathy Hoag, Realogy vice president of marketing. “This partnership combines our leading online real estate destination sites, with 24/7’s reach and digital marketing expertise, to provide advertisers and agencies with a powerful marketing vehicle.”

Realogy will utilize the full extent of 24/7’s advertising operations, including ad serving, data analysis and ad representation, to form relationships with top-tier brands seeking engagement with its extensive audience of home buyers and sellers. Customization based on content, geography, demographics, psychographics and consumer interaction will enable advertisers to maximize reach to focused audiences. In addition, co-branded and integrated relationships, content sponsorships, video and other custom solutions will also provide advertisers with a variety of advertising opportunities and flexibility for simple implementation of any digital format.

“Our new relationship with Realogy strengthens our media network and vertical market offering, and gives advertisers exclusive access to exceptional residential real estate brands with extraordinary reach,” said Ari Bluman, Senior Vice President of North American Sales and Operations for 24/7 Real Media. “We look forward to delivering significant cost efficiencies and measurability for advertisers through these real estate properties, and will demonstrate the benefit of 24/7’s unique targeting and technology capabilities.”

For more information on 24/7’s media network, visit www.247realmedia.com.

About Realogy Corporation
Realogy Corporation, a global provider of real estate and relocation services, has a diversified business model that also includes real estate franchising, brokerage, relocation and title services. Realogy’s world-renowned brands and business units include Better Homes and Gardens® Real Estate, CENTURY 21®, Coldwell Banker®, Coldwell Banker Commercial®, The Corcoran Group®, ERA®, Sotheby’s International Realty®, NRT LLC, Cartus and Title Resource Group. Headquartered in Parsippany, N.J., Realogy (www.realogy.com) has approximately 13,000 employees.

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.

The document, a .doc file, is available from the NY Times site. See below a screenshot of the search results featuring the document:

The document seems to have been written by a certain ‘gregsi’ and the company associated with it is… Microsoft, according to the .doc file properties.

These are the suggested remedies “that address harm to competition that will result should the merger be allowed to close”.

1. Divest DART for Publisher (DFP) businesses to an independent and viable purchaser
2. Open access for competing ad networks
3. Open Access to AdSense/AdWords for competing tool vendors
4. Elimination of restrictive API practices and “fair” access to AdWords
5. Prohibit exclusive dealings, the “tying” of AdSense and DFP/DFA, and the tying of any Google products as a condition to obtaining its dominant AdWords package for advertisers
6. Erect firewalls and other safeguards so that the Google commercial organization cannot see or use competitively sensitive flowing through DoubleClick’s ad-serving tools.

These are, as expected, in line with remedies required by other organizations (such as the EPIC letter to the FTC), only much clearer in explaining the facts.

We all know what came of the merger and, as you can see from a previous post of mine, Google is now stronger than ever in terms of access to quality placements.

Still, what’s this document doing on the NY Times server? Could I just point out the irony in it, as NY Times is a premium Google AdSense publisher?

Now advertisers can make Mindset Buys on 20 different elements of personality, including creativity, assertiveness, self-esteem, and spontaneity. Each Mindset Buy on 24/7 Real Media can reach millions of U.S. consumers with the same personality trait, on a completely anonymous basis. The 24/7 network reaches 150 million unique viewers each month, across more than 1,500 sites globally.

“One primary reason top advertisers and publishers partner with 24/7 Real Media is our commitment to deploying the industry’s most innovative and effective targeting solutions,” said David J. Moore, CEO of 24/7 Real Media, Inc. “Combining 24/7’s reach with Mindset Media’s targeting gives brand advertisers a distinct advantage in reaching their intended audience regardless of browsing or purchase activity.”

Psychographic targeting through Mindset Media represents the latest addition to 24/7’s advanced portfolio of targeting solutions, which also includes lifecycle management, search retargeting, geo-demographic, content, behavioral, retargeting and custom. Many of these can be combined to form an endless number of specific targeting options that can be delivered to any digital medium.

“Every brand in the modern market has a psychographic target, and the more competitive the category, the more that target matters on the bottom line,” said Jim Meyer, CEO and co-founder of Mindset Media. “We are very proud to partner with 24/7 Real Media. Together, we make the internet work harder for brands.”

To start a Mindset Media psychographic targeting campaign for your brand, or get more information, 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.

About Mindset Media
Mindset Media is the internet ad network for brands. Using its proprietary psychographic standard, Mindset Media enables brand advertisers to target millions of people with the personality traits that fit their brands in online media buys. The company works in partnership with Nielsen Online to develop consumer profiles that help brand marketers specify their psychographic targets. For more information, visit www.mindset-media.com.

24/7 Real Media and Mindset Media are members of the NAI and adhere 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 or Mindset Media cookies, go to: www.networkadvertising.org.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

About the OPA

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

There has been much written lately regarding the online marketing of ringtones and other mobile content. Various settlements and cooperative agreements have been reached between government agencies and companies. What can marketers, publishers and networks do, and equally importantly, not do if they market mobile content to consumers?

Let me first provide some pertinent background information: at AzoogleAds, in mid-2005, we commenced a broad effort to establish clear best practices on integrity assurance issues, initially around the email marketing of ringtones, and later, effectively banning adware in early 2006. In late summer of 2006, on our own volition, we became the first company in the sector to adopt a Mobile Acceptable Use Policy and to ban the use of the term “Free” in cases where the offer was not, in fact, free. When the Florida Attorney General (FLAG) commenced a broad-based investigation into mobile content marketing in 2007 – an ongoing investigation, focusing on nearly every mobile content marketer in the business – the FLAG relied heavily on our existing policies, which had been in place for well over a year, when we jointly drafted our Assurance of Voluntary Compliance. The idea was to create a Code of Conduct for the industry overall – a Code of Conduct with the teeth of the FLAG to back it up. Why is this all important? One, it illustrates that mobile content marketing and marketing-related compliance issues are not “new” despite the recent rash of announcements. Two, it illustrates the comprehensive knowledge we have uniquely built up for over 3 years relating to mobile content marketing.

To be clear, this article applies to mobile content marketing, and not to incentive marketing. Certain industry observers have incorrectly tied these two together because they may sometimes be used in tandem. However, Mobile content marketing refers specifically to selling some type of mobile device content – e.g., a ringtone, a text service, etc. Incentive marketing is generally a process whereby a consumer is offered something of value – say, an iPod – in exchange for completing a number of offers which are displayed on a series of web pages referred to as an incentive order path or a “Co-Reg” path.

Now, numerous other companies and ad networks are carefully examining their own marketing practices in this sector, as well they should. However, there remains significant confusion around what companies can and cannot do when marketing mobile content. Despite the wave of regulatory action, there are still plenty of players that fail – through ignorance, laziness or willful neglect – to embrace legitimate marketing practices. As a result, consumers remain at risk and suspicion will continue to hang over the sector (ironically, the neglectful players are quite well-known and easy to find, and sometimes stoop to trying to poke holes in the truly “above board” players to mask their own malfeasance).

Hence, we’ve compiled a list of marketing guidelines for publishers and ad networks that can benefit you in many ways. Heeding these guidelines will keep costs associated with chargebacks and fraud down, help to protect your business legally (and avoid regulatory risk), and allow you to maintain a profitable, and more importantly, sustainable relationship with advertisers and consumers.

“Top 10 list” for Online Publishers and Ad Networks

10. DON’T mislead consumers with deceptive language
Restrict the use of FREE and FREE-like language in ad-copy. Displaying FREE and its derivatives (“Bonus”, “Complimentary”, “Gift”, etc) are allowed so long as these keywords are not being deceptively applied. What does this mean? Publishers may not imply that ringtone offers carry no monetary obligations on the part of the consumer when in fact they do. The intent and spirit of this position remains in sync with that of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) – marketers may not use language that a reasonable consumer would interpret to mean “no charge whatsoever”. Moreover, if a marketer uses the term FREE or FREE-like language, when the program DOES contain a cost, that language must be modified adjacent to the FREE claim with the relevant material terms of the offer (price and billing period) – i.e., if you use FREE in a search title, the search description must provide the disclaimer, “with 9.99 per month subscription”.

9. DON’T promote content that is not offered by the Service Provider (Advertiser)
Not all artists, shows, albums and songs are licensed by Advertisers. Not all Advertisers carry the same content and publishers shouldn’t assume so. Check the Advertiser’s sites for new content, subscribe to their RSS feeds, and take advantage of content catalogues when they are made available to you.

8. DON’T use artist & album images without consent from the Advertiser
Even though Advertisers may offer hundreds of artists and albums as part of their value-added services, it is they who license the rights to use artist likeness, album covers and other intellectual property. Although publishers and ad networks are given the ability to market this content through some programs, the licenses themselves do not extend automatically. All publishers and networks should obtain special written permission from Advertisers to use copyrighted content. This is not an arbitrary requirement, it is the law.

7. DON’T spam users on social networks
Restrict the use of social and community sites for the distribution of your marketing. This includes blogs, forums, social networks and any other virtual environment not meant for commercial use. Yes, it’s a good idea to do legitimate media buys with these types of sites in order to market, but it is not a good idea to use profiles, comments and internal messaging for the distribution of ads. Why? Because the social networks literally say so in their Terms of Use, and will use all legal means to enforce their policies. Remember, all unsolicited electronic messages violate applicable anti-spam and resource abuse laws.

6. DON’T use high risk or prohibited distribution methods
Incentivized, “limited time” and other bait & switch tactics are not sustainable in the marketing of off-deck mobile content like ringtones. Forced clicks, referrer obfuscation, and domain targeting are also examples of nefarious practices. If an ad network, vendor or traffic broker has a reputation for running spyware-generated traffic, think twice before partnering with them.

6a. DO check out http://www.benedelman.org and http://www.affiliatefairplay.com for more information on Adware, Spyware and related commission fraud.

5. DO take care in the choice and placement of your keywords
Normally, bidding on a variety of keywords is fine so long as it meets the requirements of an ad network’s T&Cs and applicable search engine-specific guidelines. Trademark restrictions and some other concerns may apply, but there is no general prohibition against bidding on the term “FREE” (though Advertisers may have additional per-program requirements) – as long as it is modified as described above. It is the display that truly matters. Help yourself run compliant campaigns through the use of negative keyword lists, keyword permutation generators, and restrictive match settings. More likely then not, Advertisers will have offer-specific keyword blacklists that you should be mindful of when bidding.

4. DO practice White-Hat SEO techniques when running non-paid search campaigns
Because of their commercial nature, “organic” (non-paid) search results are subject to the same scrutiny as paid results. The messages you convey to consumers through site content (body, headers, titles, etc) influence the perception of the offer. Just as their paid counterparts, organic results can in no way deceive the consumer through false claims. Search engines frown upon keyword stuffing, cloaking, and content spam. Search engine crawlers like “clean” code.

4a. DON’T make mistakes that will bring down your quality score or ban you from an engine.

3. DO familiarize yourself with relevant regulatory guidelines
Despite some opinions to the contrary, ours’ is a heavily regulated industry. Government agencies such as the FTC, advocacy groups such as the Mobile Marketing Association (“MMA”), and State Attorney Generals oversee behavior in the online advertising space just as they do in the world of traditional media. Not surprisingly, the FTC’s “Guide Concerning the Use of the Term ‘Free’” and other special language have been around since 1971. Some links to become familiar with:

3a. FTC on ‘FREE’: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/free.htm
3b. FTC Rules of the Road: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/ruleroad.shtm
3c. MMA Best Practices: http://www.mmaglobal.com/bestpractices.pdf

2. DO read an ad network’s terms and conditions
Why do Terms and Conditions matter? Not only are these T&Cs a legally binding contract signed by you when you join an ad network, they reflect US Law and applicable Best Practices for a particular ad network. The FTC Act’s prohibition on “unfair or deceptive acts or practices” encompasses internet advertising, marketing and sales as much as it does to TV and Radio. In addition, many Commission rules and guides are not limited to any particular medium used to disseminate claims or advertising, and therefore, apply to all commercial online activities.

1. DO ask questions and communicate with your ad network staff and account managers
Communication and collaboration is critical. Work closely with partners and professionals at ad networks to understand offer-specific requirements and familiarize yourself with the regulatory aspects of the industry. When in doubt, put yourself in the consumer’s shoes and look at your marketing campaigns from the user’s perspective. And finally, realize that state and federal agencies have enforced and will continue to enforce relevant consumer protection laws. Offline or online, they will act to ensure that products and services are marketed truthfully.