Orkut Ranks as the Most Visited Social Networking Site in India, Followed by Facebook

RESTON, VA – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, released a report on the top social networking sites in India, finding that visitation to the site category increased 51 percent from the previous year to more than 19 million visitors in December 2008. The study also found that global social networking brands continued to gain prominence in India during the year, with Orkut, Facebook, hi5, LinkedIn and MySpace each witnessing significant increases in visitation.

“Social networking continued to grow strongly in India this past year, with several of the top global brands carving out a more prominent position,” said Will Hodgman, comScore executive vice president. “While there is certainly room for several players in the social networking space in India, the sites that have the right blend of having both a strong brand and cultural relevance will be best positioned for future growth.”
Read the full story

- Advantage Sales and Marketing Announces Transition in Leadership
Advantage Sales and Marketing, LLC (ASM) announced a change in its executive leadership with the retirement of President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Meyer later this year. Meyer will spend the next several months transitioning his responsibilities to Chief Strategy Officer, Chris Olivier, named President of Sales, effective Feb. 2.
“Mark has built a first-class client and customer-focused organization at ASM,” said Sonny King, ASM’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “His dedication and service to ASM has been invaluable. He retires from ASM with a reputation for excellence in our industry and I thank him for his outstanding contributions over the years.”
Read the full story

Despite Recession, Search Advertising Held Value, ROI Was Steady and Retail Sector Saw 9% Spend Increase Annually

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Efficient Frontier, the worldwide leader in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) technology and services, released the U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q4 2008. The report, the largest independent research in the search marketing industry, was based on an analysis of 92 billion impressions and 600 million clicks across a portion of Efficient Frontier customers, which includes some of the world’s largest brands. The results of the research indicate that Google has maintained its hold on the search advertising market with 76 percent market share, and Yahoo continued to increase its presence, gaining 3 percent market share year-over-year. Despite the economic downturn and reports of the erosion of other marketing channels in 2008, the index of Efficient Frontier customers included in the Q4 report saw a minimal 8 percent decrease year-over-year, while the retail sector saw a 9 percent uptick in spending year-over-year, an indication of the strength of the search marketing channel.
Read the full story

Best Campaigns Combine Strong Creative with Effective Media Placement for Optimal Impact

NEW YORK – Dynamic Logic, a Millward Brown company, announces the most effective online U.S. brand advertising campaigns for the second year. The top campaigns overall were compared to U.S. campaigns that were measured by Dynamic Logic last year. Campaigns are listed in alphabetical order by brand:

Brand Advertised: Kenmore Pro
Parent Company: Sears
Research Commissioned by: NBC Universal/Bravo.com

Brand Advertised: Olay Regenerist
Parent Company: Procter & Gamble
Media Agency: MediaVest
Research Commissioned by: Wild Tangent
Read the full story

The Search Engine Strategies event returns to Chicago in a month (December 8-12) and features a really impressive lineup of speakers and sessions. We’ve interviewed Cindy Krum, Director of New Media Strategies for Blue Moon Works, who was very kind to talk us through the latest developments in the mobile search and advertising industry.

Otilia Otlacan: SES Chicago and Mobile Search – what topics will you be covering, can you give us the highlights?

Cindy Krum: I am honored to be speaking on the Mobile Search Battle Update panel with Bryson Meunier, Rachel Pasqua and Phyllis Reuther. I have spoken with Bryson and Rachel before, but I this is my first time speaking on a panel with Phyllis. The session will be just before lunch on the first day of the show, and it has a lot of insightful mobile search experts.

I will be giving a lot of statistics about where and what people are searching for from their mobile phones. I’ll specifically spend time talking about on-deck search options, off-deck search engines and downloadable mobile search applications. I will also talk about how true web-browsing phones like the iPhone and the gPhone are changing mobile search behavior, and what that means to us as mobile marketers preparing for the future.
Read the full story

NEW YORK – The ClickZ Network (www.ClickZ.com), the world’s largest resource for digital marketing news, advice, commentary, and reference, announced the winners of the 2008 ClickZ Interactive Marketing Excellence Awards.

Recognizing the technologies and companies that made a positive difference in the online marketing industry in 2008, the ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards honor the tools and services that represent excellence and innovation in digital marketing and advertising.

“In a fast-moving industry, these awards shine a light on those helping to evolve the industry through their brilliant examples of what can be accomplished,” said Anna Maria Virzi, executive editor of The ClickZ Network, a division of Incisive Media. “ClickZ readers are instrumental in these awards, bringing to our attention products and services that enable digital marketers to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. We thank them along with our panel of judges — trusted and respected digital marketing professionals — for diligently selecting this year’s winners. The competition is more intense every year.”

The ClickZ 2008 Marketing Excellence Awards winners are as follows:
Read the full story

Google Gets $1.14 of Every New Dollar Spent on Search, Accounting for 76% of US Search Spending

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – Efficient Frontier, the worldwide leader in providing Search Engine Marketing technology and services to leading advertisers and agencies, today released the U.S. Search Engine Performance Report: Q3 2008. The report, the largest independent research in the search marketing industry, was based on an analysis of 60 billion impressions and 428 million clicks across an index of Efficient Frontier advertisers. The results of the research indicate that while overall growth has been slowing throughout 2008, return on investment remains strong in this highly productive direct marketing channel.

The report showed that Google continues to gain ground. For every new dollar spent on search advertising in Q3 2008 versus Q3 2007, Google received $1.14, while Yahoo and Microsoft each lost $0.07. Google continues to dominate the overall share of spending at 76%, although the company’s search advertising growth decreased by 1.9 percentage points from Q2 to Q3 2008. Yahoo search gained 1.8 points in the same quarter to bring it to 19.2% of total spent while Microsoft Live Search held relatively steady at 4.8% share.

Of Google’s 76% share, 4.6% was from Google content, an increase of 82.8% for non-financial services advertisers. Google content was the only search engine channel for which all advertisers increased spending in Q3 2008.
Read the full story

Avenue A | Razorfish announced today that the agency has shortened its name to Razorfish and launched its new website — www.razorfish.com.

‘For four years we have operated as a single agency with integrated capabilities in the global marketplace, and we don’t need two names anymore,’ Razorfish CEO Clark Kokich said. ‘Although both Avenue A and Razorfish are excellent choices as standalone brands, the Razorfish name enjoys stronger brand equity around the world.’

The Avenue A | Razorfish name was the result of a 2004 merger between Avenue A, one of the first companies to plan and buy digital media, and Razorfish, one of the first companies to counsel clients on digital marketing strategy, creative, and web design.
Read the full story