BELLEVUE, Wash. – SinglePoint, the leading provider of mobile interactivity and SMS advertising services, announced that mobile and media industry veteran Gowri Shankar has been appointed president and CEO to lead the company as it greatly expands its focus on mobile advertising.

An early innovator in the mobile marketing industry, SinglePoint has built a successful business in interactive media, powering industry-leading SMS campaigns, including Deal or No Deal, MTV Movie Awards, the Oscars, Project Runway, the 2008 Olympics and the tremendously effective Obama for President text campaign. SinglePoint works with the world’s most prestigious media companies, including CBS, NBC Universal, Viacom and ABC/Disney. Over the past three years, SinglePoint has enabled over 80 percent of interactive TV transactions initiated by text messaging.

In 2009, SinglePoint expanded its portfolio to include SMS advertising services, creating a marketplace for publishers and advertisers to create content and purchase SMS inventory to serve advertisements. The SingleBrand Ad Marketplace is a Web-based transactional platform for delivering contextual mobile advertising, ranging from pure brand messages to interactive options, such as click-to-WAP, click-to-call and click-to-coupon, all dynamically inserted into the SMS message and targeted to the desired consumer demographic.

“Under Gowri’s leadership, SinglePoint has become a true industry leader with a premium network of publishers for SMS advertising inventory,” said Alec Andronikov, CEO, MoVoxx, Inc. “As a result, we have seen terrific engagement results for our brands and interactive agency clients’ campaigns and look forward to working closely with SinglePoint as a valued mobile inventory partner.”

Shankar joined SinglePoint in 2001, spearheading the company’s evolution from a mobile messaging infrastructure provider to the leading enabler of SMS marketing and advertising for the media and consumer packaged goods industries. With Shankar at the helm, SinglePoint’s marketing and advertising business expanded rapidly. At the close of 2009, SinglePoint sold its infrastructure business to Ericsson to focus solely on further developing its full suite of products and services to rapidly launch, refine and manage mobile advertising campaigns.

Prior to his new role, Shankar served as senior vice president, sales and business development, at SinglePoint and was a founding member of the Sprint PCS team. He led the creation of the first nationwide telesales and e-commerce distribution in the wireless industry, creating the foundation for Sprint’s industry-leading enterprise sales strategy. In addition to his work with Sprint, Shankar was general manager for eAssist, a CRM software company, where he developed eAssist’s international strategy and was responsible for the organization’s expansion into nine European countries.

“As we are witnessing with the overwhelming success of the Haiti SMS donations campaign, it is clear that there is no more effective medium than SMS to reach hundreds of millions of people and prompt them to take action,” observed Shankar. “The mobile marketing industry is at an inflection point where SMS evolves to be the preferred advertising platform driven by its unique ability to instantly reach an audience with high rates of effectiveness. It’s an exciting time for our industry, and I’m thrilled to lead SinglePoint as we define and expand the category of SMS advertising.”

About SinglePoint™

SinglePoint enables brands, agencies and publishers to connect with upwards of 300 million wireless subscribers. SinglePoint’s full suite of products and services enables publishers to monetize their mobile messaging traffic and advertisers to access premium inventory to rapidly launch mobile advertising campaigns. SinglePoint works in partnership with entertainment, media companies, brand managers, advertising agencies and mobile networks. Current publisher partners include NBC Universal (Bravo, Oxygen, SyFy, CNBC, MSNBC, Telemundo, USA Network), ABC/Disney, Viacom and CBS Corp. For more information, visit www.singlepoint.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – BARS+TONE, an innovative leader in video production and online media distribution, announced the appointment of Heather Johnson as its new senior producer. Prior to joining BARS+TONE, Johnson spent seven years at GAP Brand where she produced internal media for multiple departments. She brings to BARS+TONE the necessary management and creative skills needed to service the company’s growing national and international pool of Fortune 100 companies.

At GAP Brand, Johnson worked closely with Gap Marketing, PR and Learning and Development departments to produce a wide range of creative projects, such as advertising behind-the-scenes shorts for Entertainment Tonight, as well as comprehensive sales associate training videos. She also helped successfully launch several Gap Brand products and sub-brands, including (PRODUCT) RED and GapMaternity.

“We are pleased Heather has joined BARS+TONE as our new senior producer. She brings with her a solid track record of high-level project management and client interaction,” said Stefan Welter, president and executive producer at BARS+TONE. “Heather’s appointment represents the foundation for pushing the company further into high-end agency and direct-client work, as we are transitioning into a major US video and media house.”

“BARS+TONE has an exceptional team of talented video and graphic artists who create some amazing marketing pieces for their clients,” said Johnson. “I’m thrilled at the opportunity to help the team move into broader areas of video storytelling within the realm of interactive media.”

About BARS+TONE

BARS+TONE is a marketing communications firm specializing in marketing and public relations video productions and online media. Offering an innovative approach to new technologies and a true understanding of the power of the Internet, BARS+TONE’s client portfolio has grown to include some of the most respected Fortune 500 companies. Through its subsidiary QuickRelease, BARS+TONE is poised to capitalize on the advent of high-speed connectivity and new interactive technologies to help its clients more powerfully leverage video across the web as an integral marketing component. For more information, visit www.bars-tone.com.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5915730&lang=en

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of the final version of its Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines at its Annual Leadership Meeting, Ecosystem 2.0: Brands Battle Back, in Orlando, Florida. These guidelines provide clear, consistent definitions of key metrics and create a single standard for measuring Web audience sizes. The guidelines are the result of a major industry-wide initiative led by the IAB and included the participation of publishers, agencies and auditing organizations.

These new guidelines:

* Define key industry metrics such as unique users, unique cookies, unique browsers, visits and time spent.
* Establish a framework for all measurement providers to have their methodologies audited, providing greater certainty for the industry.
* Foster greater accuracy and reliability of all forms of online audience measurement, whether based on server data, online panels or user registration.

Marketers, agencies and online publishers rely on audience metrics reported by vendors that use a variety of methodologies. Transparency into these methodologies and clear definitions of commonly used terms are critical to the ongoing growth of interactive media as marketers increase their investment in interactive media.

“Establishing a broad industry consensus in favor of these guidelines is critical to ensuring that they gain traction in the marketplace,” said Joe Laszlo, Director of Research at the IAB. “As providers of measurement data adopt the guidelines, marketers can be increasingly confident they are planning their campaigns based on sound, reliable data.”

“Effective interactive advertising campaigns rely on accurate audience measurement,” said Kate Downey, director of audience analytics and insights, The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. “These guidelines provide accountability in audience measurement for marketers, agencies and other industry stakeholders.”

“By issuing these guidelines, the IAB has given measurement organizations across the industry a set of rigorous and consistent guidelines to help ensure standardized measurements of unique cookies, unique devices, or unique users,” said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the Media Rating Council (MRC). “This is an important and commendable step towards full accountability.”

To review the complete guidelines, please go to www.iab.net/audiencemeasurement.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 400 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of Click Measurement Guidelines, a document that will establish parameters for the accurate buying and selling of cost-per-click advertising, an important and growing category of interactive advertising. Marketers will now have a standard for consistently and reliably measuring their performance-based marketing efforts. The guidelines also provide a strong framework for filtering fraudulent clicks, giving buyers and sellers confidence that only legitimate clicks are being counted.

The Click Measurement Guidelines will:

* Provide a detailed definition of a “click” and outline standard methodologies by which clicks should be measured and counted, including the identification of invalid and/or fraudulent clicks.
* Define standard terms that will help streamline the buying and selling of click-based media.
* Increase transparency and consistency in click measurements for media companies, ad-serving organizations, advertisers, and third-party click auditors.

“These guidelines demonstrate our continued commitment to being the most accountable advertising medium and providing marketers with the highest possible level of transparency,” said Sherrill Mane, Senior Vice President, Industry Services of the IAB. “It is critical that the advertising industry agree upon the precise definition and measurement of a click and establish procedures for weeding out fraudulent clicks. The IAB is proud to have organized our members around this effort.”

The guidelines are the latest addition to the IAB’s ongoing work to harmonize interactive measurement. They complement IAB guidelines for general ad impressions, digital video commercials and audience reach measurement.

“I applaud the IAB for taking a leadership role in bringing the Click Measurement Guidelines to fruition,” said George Ivie, Executive Director and CEO, of the Media Rating Council (MRC). “The interactive industry has consistently met the marketplace need for increased reliability in measurement, and this is yet another example of how the IAB has mobilized its members on behalf of both agencies and marketers.”

“Helping the interactive industry define a click and the standard for measuring one has been an extraordinary effort on the part of the IAB and its members,” said Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust & Safety, Google, and a leading member of the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group. “It is an important step that continues to reinforce interactive media’s role as the most accountable and measurable form of advertising.”

“IAB’s guidelines will provide users, advertisers and partners with further confidence that the industry, including Yahoo!, is taking click fraud issues seriously,” said Reggie Davis, VP of Network Quality at Yahoo! “Yahoo! worked on the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group to develop these guidelines for identifying and filtering potential invalid or fraudulent clicks as part of its commitment to a transparent process for the measurement of valid clicks.”

Members of the industry—advertising agencies, advertisers, online publishers and technology vendors—are encouraged to read the proposed guidelines and submit comments on the IAB site at: www.iab.net/clickmeasurementguidelines. After the comment period closes on Friday March 27, 2009, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and released.

About the IAB’s Click Measurement Working Group:

The Click Measurement Working Group includes representatives from 38 IAB member companies, including sellers, measurers, and auditors of online media. Initiated in late 2005, the working group, together with the Media Rating Council, has spent the last three years developing these important guidelines and achieving consensus around them.

About the IAB:

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) is comprised of more than 400 leading media and technology companies who are responsible for selling 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the growth of the interactive advertising marketplace, of interactive’s share of total marketing spend, and of its members’ share of total marketing spend. The IAB educates marketers, agencies, media companies and the wider business community about the value of interactive advertising. Working with its member companies, the IAB evaluates and recommends standards and practices and fields critical research on interactive advertising. Founded in 1996, the IAB is headquartered in New York City with a Public Policy office in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.iab.net.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Source: MRI Fall 2008

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif. – With newspaper companies nationwide launching innovative ways to increase revenue and create new value, Gumiyo, the nation’s leading mobile marketing and technology provider, announced a venture with the Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com) offering the latest online and mobile technology marketing solutions. The mobile marketing initiative connects consumers with The Times classified print and online automotive (www.latimes.com/cars) and real estate (www.latimes.com/homes) advertising.

The new service lets in-market car shoppers and home buyers use simple text messages and the Mobile Web to access detailed advertiser listings, photos, and videos and view them on almost any modern mobile handset. As an added benefit, the platform also enables car shoppers to access complete, on-demand CARFAX® Vehicle History Reports™.

“This mobile marketing initiative gives consumers a fast and easy way to shop,” said Eric Larson, president of Gumiyo. “It turns traditional classified advertising into truly interactive media by giving consumers a way to directly engage The Times’ dealers, agents, or brokers listings anytime, while also allowing advertisers to reach thousands of busy, motivated buyers.”

The Los Angeles Times and latimes.com reach over 40 percent (1.3 million) of households in its designated marketing area (DMA). latimes.com, and its Internet marketing partner Cars.com, receive more than 3 million unique visitors each month looking to purchase a new or used car.

“With this initiative, we can now offer infinite space for a rich-media, interactive user experience that can be uniquely combined with The Times local, time-sensitive ads,” says Ken Nail, Director of Automotive Advertising for the Los Angeles Times. “Put simply, readers can get the best of both the print and interactive worlds and we see this as a great way of extending our advertisers’ reach to consumers on the go.”

The Los Angeles Times mobile marketing initiative is powered by Gumiyo’s Mobile Ready platform, a turnkey mobile marketing solution that integrates with traditional and online advertising to increase response rates and ROI. Simple text-able keywords, unique to each dealership, agent or brokerage, are incorporated into the auto retailer or broker’s print advertisements, classified and online listings. Consumers use the keywords to quickly and easily send text messages to receive additional vehicle or property information. The system automatically replies to the buyer with a text message that includes basic information and a link to the advertiser’s rich-media Mobile web site.

“Our mobile initiative gives homebuyers instant access to details on homes they are interested in buying, keeping them engaged and stimulating fast leads for the listing agent,” stated Leslie Lindemann Director of Real Estate for the Los Angeles Times. “The Times news coverage and advertising is the first place many homebuyers turn to in their search for a home, and working with Gumiyo greatly enhances that experience for both buyers and sellers.”

Dealers and real estate agents can subscribe to the mobile marketing service for one low monthly fee that includes unique keywords, custom outgoing text messages and a branded mobile Web site. Mobile web pages for properties and vehicles are generated automatically from existing inventory data that include complete descriptions, photos, videos, vehicle and home reviews and CARFAX reports (automotive only). Advertisers can also build custom mobile campaigns for various aspects of their businesses including service specials or open house events. Dealerships and brokers that sign up for the new program can become “mobile ready” and begin driving new business in less than a week.

About the Los Angeles Times

The Pulitzer-prize winning Los Angeles Times (http://latimes.com) is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country with a daily readership of 2 million and 3 million on Sunday. The Times has been covering Southern California for 127 years and reaches a combined print and interactive local weekly audience of 4.5 million. The fast-growing latimes.com now draws 10 million unique visitors monthly.

The Los Angeles Times Media Group portfolio of products also includes LA, Los Angeles Times Magazine; The Envelope (http://theenvelope.com); Metromix (http://losangeles.metromix.com); Times Community Newspapers; Hoy (http://hoyinternet.com) and California Community News, with an overall reach of approximately 5.3 million or 40% of all adults in the Southern California marketplace. It is part of Tribune Company, one of the country’s leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information is available at http://latimes.com/mediacenter.

About Gumiyo (www.gumiyo.com)

Gumiyo connects small and medium-sized businesses with consumers in the mobile space and facilitates their real-time conversation. By seamlessly integrating a mobile presence into an overall marketing and merchandising strategy through SMS, MMS, and the Mobile Web; partners and advertisers can dramatically increase the number of interactive touchpoints with their customers anytime and from anywhere. As one of the earliest entrants in the field of mobile classifieds, mobile merchandising, and mobile marketing solutions; Gumiyo has built a reputation for expertise in mobile-based programming and content development.

The Gumiyo Mobile Ready Platform takes advantage of the unique capabilities of today’s mobile handsets with an eye toward future innovations in the industry. Comprised of a flexible suite of tools, the Gumiyo Mobile Ready Platform is a turnkey solution enabling nearly any business to launch a mobile presence, merchandise inventory and listings to mobile phones, and run mobile marketing campaigns.

As a private label solution, the Gumiyo platform powers a number of offerings in the retail automotive, real estate, and printed publications industries.

NEW YORK – The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced the release for public comment of Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines, a major industry-wide initiative that provides clear, consistent definitions of metrics and sets standards for how to measure unique audience across different methodologies. The guidelines were released at the IAB’s annual Leadership Forum on Audience Measurement in New York City, where leaders of media companies, measurement companies and advertising agencies convened to gain insights on the evolution of audience measurement and where sessions will be devoted to a detailed review of the proposed guidelines.

“These guidelines represent an industry wide endorsement of clarity and transparency of methodologies and metrics, particularly around reach, a core metric used throughout the media world,” said Sherrill Mane, senior vice president, Industry Services of the IAB. “The driving force for marketers’ ongoing embrace of interactive media is the accountability that interactive provides and these guidelines will enhance that clarity and certainty.”

The gathering, reporting, and measurement of audience metrics has a material impact on interactive media buying decisions. Transparency into these methodologies and clear definitions of commonly used terms are critical to the ongoing growth of interactive media as marketers continue to allocate a larger portion of their budget to the platform.

The guidelines will address these key areas of audience measurement:

* Provide definitions of key industry metrics such as unique users, unique cookies, unique browsers, visits and time spent.
* Establish a framework for all measurement providers to have their methodologies audited, providing greater certainty for the industry.
* Foster greater accuracy and reliability of all forms of online audience measurement, whether based on server data, online panels or user registration.

“Audience size and composition are vital to planning interactive advertising campaigns,” said Lynn Gutstadt, Director of Corporate Research, CBS Interactive and a member of the IAB’s Audience Measurement Working Group. “Adoption of these guidelines by the interactive industry will give marketers, agencies and other stakeholders in the digital ecosystem greater certainty in the measurement of our audience.”

“Ongoing Media Rating Council (MRC) audits of several of the syndicated measurement companies represent a commendable step toward accountability,” said George Ivie, CEO and Executive Director of the MRC. “The completion of the IAB Audience Reach Measurement Guidelines paves the way for other measurement organizations, for example census measurers such as sites, ad-servers or analytics organizations, to have rigorous consistent guidelines to help ensure consistent measurements of unique cookies, devices or in certain circumstances even users.”

Members of the industry (advertising agencies, advertisers, online publishers and technology vendors) are encouraged to read the proposed guidelines and submit comments on the IAB site at www.iab.net/audiencemeasurement. After the comment period closes on January 20, 2009, the feedback will be reviewed and the guidelines will be finalized and released.

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.

WALTHAM, Mass. – Digital Influence Group, a next-generation interactive agency that helps clients build communities with their key constituencies, has been recognized in the 2008 Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) Awards for “Best Use of Social Media.” Digital Influence Group’s winning “Burma: It Can’t Wait” campaign supported a 30-day effort launched by The Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma to build a grassroots movement to free Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma.

MITX is the largest Internet advocacy organization in the world. The annual MITX competition rewards the development and implementation of interactive technologies in New England. This year’s competition included more than 130 entries from a wide variety of industries including biotechnology and pharmaceuticals to travel and tourism. More than 1,000 people attended the MITX awards night in Cambridge last week.

“Digital Influence Group has set a high bar in the social media marketing space,” said Michael Smith, President of Digital Influence Group. “‘Burma: It Can’t Wait’ is a great example of our creativity and acute understanding of interactive media.”

Digital Influence Group developed a comprehensive branding and educational outreach campaign for “Burma: It Can’t Wait” within social media shopping site Fanista and through a Facebook application. Each day in May 2008, visitors to www.burmaitcantwait.org could watch a new video with celebrities such as Will Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston describing the dire political situation in Burma and stressing the urgency of acting to reverse it. All thirty videos, which attracted 3.5 million views, were posted to YouTube and embedded in more than 100 blogs. Both the microsite and a Facebook application directed viewers to watch the videos, learn more about Aung San Suu Kyi, sign an online petition to help the Burmese people, and share the site or application with friends.

About Digital Influence Group

Digital Influence Group, a W2 Group company, is a next-generation interactive agency that helps clients build communities with their key constituencies. We have developed a unique methodology for identifying, educating and influencing the blogosphere, reputation aggregators, e-communities and social networks. Our approach, a true innovation in marketing services, blends the expertise of public relations and interactive marketing to achieve new levels of engagement and influence with targeted audiences.

SAN FRANCISCO – As advertisers and publishers seek ways to improve performance to compensate for shrinking budgets, new technologies like location-based advertising provide a means of improving relevance and response rates. Today, leading real estate site, Trulia.com, and interactive media company, 1020 Placecast, have announced their partnership, using location information to target specific audiences for advertisers and deliver more relevant messages to them on Trulia.com.

Placecast adds a new dimension to audience targeting by using location information as the key to relevance. In Trulia’s case, the starting points are the real estate locations in which users express interest. Placecast’s proprietary targeting algorithms correlate these with dozens of other demographic, psychographic and geographic data points.

“Once we know the place a user is interested in, we can derive a lot of useful insights about what kind of consumer they are, and then serve them a very targeted ad,” said Alistair Goodman, CEO of Placecast.

For publishers in categories such as travel, events, tickets, real estate, weather, classifieds and career search, Placecast uses the location information already present on these sites to target audiences and customize messaging. Improved performance results in a dramatic increase in the value of ad inventory for advertisers, transforming remnant ad space into premium CPM real estate for publishers.

“Turning locations into audiences is one of the biggest challenges facing advertisers today,” said Sean Black, Vice President of Sales at Trulia. “Trulia presents advertisers with multiple opportunities to serve very targeted ads based on location and consumers’ search behavior. Placecast is a cutting edge media company and we are excited to be working with them and their clients to build and deliver successful campaigns.”

One of the first advertisers to take advantage of this approach with Placecast and Trulia is leading car rental brand, Avis-Budget. Approximately halfway through a three-month campaign, Avis has seen its ads on Trulia perform strongly relative to other publishers. The Avis-Budget campaign is just the first of many in the expanded partnership between Trulia and Placecast.

“Agencies and advertisers are really searching for ways to stretch their marketing dollars these days,” observed Goodman. “As an emerging technology capable of driving better performance, Placecast provides an ideal way to effectively target audiences and improve response rates by adding local relevance to national campaigns.”

About 1020 Placecast

1020, Inc. is the developer and owner of Placecast™ Media, the first online advertising network 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 and Hyatt Hotels. 1020 is funded by Voyager Capital and Onset Ventures. For more information about Placecast, visit www.placecast.net.

About Trulia

Trulia, Inc. (www.trulia.com) is a residential real estate search engine and the fastest-growing U.S. real estate Web site (comScore), which has revolutionized online home search by offering a rich, intuitive user experience that points consumers directly to listings on agent and broker Web sites. By partnering with the real estate industry, including 93 of the top 100 largest U.S. brokers, Trulia helps approximately 5 million unique visitors per month find information on homes for sale using custom search criteria. The site also provides market trends and neighborhood data at the hyper-local level, as well as a real estate Q&A community that enables consumers and professionals to exchange information about their local markets. For more information about Trulia or to experience the power of a Trulia search, visit http://www.trulia.com/.

About Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NYSE:CAR) is a leading provider of vehicle rental services, with operations in more than 70 countries. Through its Avis and Budget brands, the Company is the largest general-use vehicle rental company in each of North America, Australia, New Zealand and certain other regions based on published airport statistics. Avis Budget Group is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J. and has more than 30,000 employees. For more information about Avis Budget Group, visit www.avisbudgetgroup.com.

Next year will be the first in many in which some components of interactive advertising show little or no growth, or may even decline. The changes foreseen are not cyclical, and show no sign of improving quickly, irrespective of upward movement in the nation’s economy. For local interactive media, the big slowdown has begun a year earlier than we anticipated. The spending levels by local advertisers – which have grown at a frenetic 47% this year – are expected to slow down to a relatively paltry 8% in 2009. Local media companies projecting double-digit and even triple-digit increases in their interactive budgets next year will have a very difficult time meeting those expectations – especially if they rely on banner ads. Traditional forms of interactive advertising such as banner ads are quickly falling out of favor and site publishers should begin looking at expanding their ad arsenal with other offerings. Download the executive summary to read more.

Forecasting how businesses will spend their precious ad dollars next year is like skeet- shooting in a windstorm. We’ve got the velocity and trajectory down pat, but the gusts caused by the credit crisis make it harder to pinpoint the target. The generalities, however, are certain for 2009: spending on traditional media will decline, while spending on interactive will increase. Our latest forecast has onine media dropping 1.4 percent next year, while interactive media increases 7.2 percent.

For local interactive media, the big ad slowdown has begun a year earlier than we anticipated. Spending by local advertisers – which has grown at a frenetic 47 percent this year – is expected to diminish to a paltry 7.8 percent in 2009. Local media companies projecting double-digit and even triple-digit increases in their interactive budgets next year will have a very difficult time meeting those expectations – especially if they rely on banner ads. The credit crisis has magnified trends that were already in motion. For most of this decade, advertisers have been viewing interactive media as a more effcient, less costly way of reaching consumers than traditional media buys. “Adjusting the dials” of advertising expenditures is normal business behavior in bleak economic environments. It can be seen in prior downturns as far back as 75 years ago, when radio advertising got a big boost (at the expense of newspapers) during The Great Depression, and 17 years ago when cable advertising expenditures accelerated during the 1991-92 recession. The dials are just about adjusted for interactive media, with some final tweaking occurring next year.

Key Topics Covered:

Executive Summary

CHAPTER 1 – The National Forecast

- Fig.1: US Media Ad Revenue 2007-2009

- Fig.2: Interactive Ad Format Spending, 2007-2009

- Fig.3: Change in National & Local “Standard Format” Ad Spending, 2004-2009

- Fig.4: 2008 Interactive Ad Spending – B2B versus B2C Components

CHAPTER 2 – Credit Crisis Impact

- Fig.5: Original and Recast 2008 US Ad Media Revenue Projections Compared

- Fig.6: Original and Recast 2008 US Interactive Ad Format Spending Projections – Compared

- Fig.7: Forecast Effect of Credit Crisis on “Standard Format” Ad Sales, 2004-2009

- Fig.8: Forecast Effect of Credit Crisis on Paid Search Ad Sales, 2004-2009

- Fig.9: Forecast Effect of Credit Crisis on Direct E-mail Ad Sales, 2004-2009

CHAPTER 3 – Promotions Spending – the Rest of the Story

- Fig.10: Promotions Spending 2007-2009

- Fig.11: Online Promotions Spending, 2006-2013

- Fig.12: Percentage Growth in Online Promotions Spending From Previous Year, 2007-2013

- Appendix A – How Borrell Associates Forecasts

- Appendix B – 2009 Local Interactive Ad Spending Forecast by DMA

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/dac4c3/2009_outlook_big

Silicon Valley, CA and New York, NY—November 18, 2008—Glam Media, Inc. (www.GlamMedia.com), recently ranked comScore Media Metrix Top 10 Web property, today announced the launch of the Glam Applications Network. The platform that enables brand ad-enabled applications and widgets to be integrated into web sites and blogs, Glam Apps “Atako”, includes a standardized payment system for developers, publishers and media companies. Apps and widgets will be available in the Glam Apps Store (www.GlamApps.com), which provides a curated set of applications for publishers to add new features, build traffic and create new revenue streams. Today, Glam Apps names more than 50 premier charter developers, including: Sphere (a division of AOL); BuzzFeed; Meebo; PollDaddy; PicApp, JS-Kit and Kwanzoo. GlamTV, a signature application on the Glam Apps platform, features video content from select media partners including Cinelan, Diagonal View and Young Hollywood.

As the largest vertical content network, Glam Media fills a unique position in the marketplace, bringing together publishers, developers, content producers, media companies, agencies and advertisers to create branded, distributed media content and applications. The Glam Applications Network, launching today in beta, is immediately available to the 700+ web sites in the Glam.com and Brash.com vertical networks—and will be open to all professional Web publishers in early 2009. Examples of Glam Apps include: polls; slideshows; video commenting and contests; content feeds & syndication; ratings; recipe search, quizzes and shopping search.

Glam Apps Atako was built with brand advertisers’ needs in mind. Glam Apps’ ad-supported widgets contain IAB standard ad units that can be sold by Glam Media, the media publisher, agency and/or the developer. Today, most widget platforms are designed only to add functionality to social networks with no targeting technology or controls for brand advertisers, like brand proximity and relevance. For example, the main display ad may be a retail client, with widgets on the same page showing non-targeted or even competitive retail ads. Glam Media’s platform is also noteworthy because it solves the challenge of revenue-sharing with a built-in distributed ad payment system. Glam Apps Atako allows a range of monetization and distribution choices for developers building applications: ad-enabled with required IAB-standard ad units, sponsored or advertorial widgets, paid for or subscription based applications and free no-ads utilities.

“Widgets and distributed content are great examples of how interactive media companies are transforming marketing in search of new ways for consumers to engage with brands,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “That these widgets adhere to IAB ad standards, simplifies the interactive ad buying process and will help expand the value and measurement capabilities of widgets.”

Glam Media has already created many successful application campaigns for advertisers. Glam Apps builds on this success with a platform that allows developers to create the apps and for advertisers to sponsor them. With Glam Apps, brand advertisers can develop custom publisher features and share-of-voice branded widgets on targeted sites, resulting in deeply immersive campaigns and advertorials. Agencies can use Glam Apps Atako to create integrated brand applications and widgets that leverage the distribution of the Glam Publisher Network. Application campaigns previously built on the Glam platform include:  a styling video built for Levi’s® brand Luv My Levi’s® campaign; a flirting widget for V05; Glam Re-Skins, which enable a publisher to automatically re-skin their entire site with specific ads; and Glam Spotlight units which allow an advertiser to distribute video in a brand-engaging/skinned module.

Media companies can use Glam Apps Atako to create widgets for content distribution in a “rights-managed” system with monetization or distribution from content networks. Video providers and media networks can use GlamTV and BrashTV applications to distribute protected video content packaged with high-CPM display and video ads.

Glam-developed applications that are part of Glam Apps at launch include:

GlamTV/BrashTV: an innovative video application that allows for the distribution of professionally-produced premium content across the Glam Network, reaching 22 million users with over 50 million views per month three months after its beta launch.

Glam Now:  a vertical content story headlines widget promoting the hottest story links in the Glam Network, reaching 31 million users with over 100 million widgets views per month.

“The Glam Applications Network allows developers and advertisers to easily promote and distribute applications on a wide variety of web sites with a built-in system for monetization,” said Ryan Roslansky, VP of Products & Audience for Glam Media. “Not only are we expanding the app distribution market for developers, we are opening up new opportunities for publishers to add functionality to their sites and for advertisers to reach users with innovative campaigns.”

The charter developers for Glam Apps at launch include: Apture; Bang International; BuzzFeed; CookThink; FoodChannel; Fotoviewr; Grouptivity;  Meebo; Kwanzoo; NearbyNow; Ojingo (Blipback); PicApp; Pixsta; Predictify; Poll Daddy; TheFind; JS-Kit; Sphere; ShareThis; Polyvore, The Astrologer and WeSeed.

“Sphere partnered with Glam Media to build a module for Glam Apps that is distributed content at its best,” said Tony Conrad, CEO of Sphere. “For Glam’s publishers, Sphere’s module connects their articles to contextually relevant content from their archives and also displays related content from around the Glam Publisher Network. Participating publishers will serendipitously see inbound traffic from other Glam sites. The module also integrates a high quality ad unit that provides marketers a new and innovative way to engage with their audience and drives incremental revenue for the publisher.”

“JS-Kit provides ultra-lightweight community services like Comments, Ratings, and Polls for any web site,” said Khris Loux, CEO of JS-Kit.  “Glam Apps gives us a new way to access premium web publishers and advertisers at the same time.”

“PicApp is thrilled to be selected by Glam Media as a developer partner,” said Eyal Gura, PicApp’s CEO. “PicApp gives Glam’s publishers easy access to millions of premium images from sources such as Getty Images, Corbis, Splash News, Newscom, Image Source and others. Our images not only enhance and drive traffic to publishers’ sites, but also encourage viewers to further interact with the content. The partnership with Glam Media, and other partnerships to be announced soon, is a further demonstration of PicApp’s appeal to blog networks.”

Built upon standards including Google Gadget, OpenSocial and OpenID, the application distribution software powering Glam Apps Atako is scheduled for full open source release in Q4 of 2008. Glam’s first open source release underscores the company’s commitment to creating a vibrant community of developers with the common goal of integrating functionality into a wide variety of publishing platforms. Integration with OpenID creates a whole new class of consumer applications in a distributed media environment, where users can use one log-in across the wide Glam Publisher Network or specific vertical networks, enabling social networking and communication applications.

Today, Glam is also launching GlamID, a distributed login and registration platform built off OpenId for use across Glam Media properties. Glam Apps Atako is built on Google’s open source Gadget technology. Glam Apps allows developers to leverage Glam Evolution, Glam’s unique ad services platform with full Brand Sense Accountability and ROI measurement for advertisers. Glam is also one of the first to use the newly announced tracking comScore Extended Web measurement (CXW), to help measure and report reach and advertising for distributed Web content such as Glam Apps. This allows targeting, measurement and reporting of key data to brands and agencies.

For additional information, please visit www.GlamApps.com.

About Glam Media
In creating a new prototype, Vertical Content Networks, the founders of Glam Media have introduced a revolutionary new media model that powerfully brings brand advertisers to targeted vertical audiences online. With more than 700 sites, Glam Media comprises Glam.com, a carefully curated network of popular and influential lifestyle women’s websites, blogs and magazines, and Brash.com, the newly launched network catering exclusively to men. Glam Media’s reach is deep and far-reaching; it is a comScore Top 10 Web property, with a total reach of 52 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. and 88 million uniques globally, and is also a Top 10 Display Ad Publisher. Glam Media is backed by Hubert Burda Media, GLG Partners, Accel Partners, DAG Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Walden Venture Capital and Information Capital.  The company is headquartered in New York City, New York and Silicon Valley, California, with international offices in London, Munich, Berlin and Tokyo.

Irvine, Calif. – October 21, 2008 – Specific Media, the largest independent online advertising network, today announced the launch of Offline Sales Impact™, the industry’s most comprehensive and accurate offline sales reporting product for online advertising clients across a variety of vertical markets including the automotive, retail and travel sectors. Specific Media’s proprietary Offline Sales Impact reports reveal the direct correlation between online advertising campaigns and consumers’ offline purchase behavior.

Utilizing test and control group data provided by leading third-party industry research firms including comScore and Nielsen Online, Specific Media is the only interactive media company that can track consumer purchases resulting directly from online advertising campaigns it runs on behalf of its advertisers. Specific Media provides these advertisers with the ability to understand the true impact of their campaigns and accurately measure ROI. Offline Sales Impact reports provide clients a deep view into campaign-generated unit sales, consumer purchase behavior, price sensitivity, lifestyle segmentation, and more.

“To effectively measure their spend, advertisers need to understand the direct sales impact their online campaigns are delivering in the offline marketplace,” said Chris Vanderhook, co-founder and COO, Specific Media. “This need is magnified in a volatile economy, where every ad dollar spent needs to be quantified. We developed Offline Sales Impact to provide the most highly accurate, scientifically sound offline reporting capabilities in the industry, made possible through our partnerships with the most respected third-party data sources in the online advertising world.”

Vanderhook adds that offline impact reporting is a unique benefit to online advertising. “TV and radio just can’t provide this clear understanding of consumer purchase behavior as it relates to their advertising campaigns. As advertisers continue to take a hard look at their advertising spend in traditional channels, we’re confident they will see a real benefit in the ability to better quantify their interactive advertising.”

The third-party partnerships Specific Media maintains with leading research firms ensures consumer anonymity is maintained, and that online advertising privacy standards are fully upheld. Offline Sales Impact reports are customized for clients by industry, and are currently benefitting Specific Media customers in the retail, automotive, consumer packaged goods, entertainment and travel categories.

About Specific Media
Specific Media, the advertising industry’s largest independent online advertising network, enables advertisers to target consumers throughout North America and Western Europe based on demographics, behaviors, geographic locations and/or the contextual relevance of websites visited. Specific Media works with many of the Fortune 500 companies including seven of the top 10 brands. The company’s Premium Network reaches more than 150 million US consumers and 225 million consumers globally each month. Since 1999, Specific Media has connected advertisers with target audiences across consumer branded publishers. Visit www.specificmedia.com.

Sapient topped the agency rankings for the second year running. The ranking recognizes the series of award-winning campaigns completed by Sapient this year for major UK brands. These include the development of a new digital brand for BSkyB and a searchable archive of all Times Online content published since 1785.

“We are committed to building the most formidable, well respected digital agency in the world,” said Sapient Chief Creative Officer Gaston Legorburu. “Our second consecutive #1 ranking from New Media Age further validates our tremendous progress, as well as the importance of the European market to our strategy. We are thrilled to receive this award from a trusted publication like New Media Age.”

Nigel Vaz, vice president responsible for Sapient Interactive in Europe, said: “Our people’s commitment to client success has caused our brand reputation to continue to grow in the UK market, as shown by this ranking. We have a winning combination in our ability to create compelling and measurable digital brand experiences focused on our clients’ business objectives, our understanding of consumer behavior across multiple channels and our strong technology heritage. The New Media Age recognition proves this. As Sapient moves forward, we will continue to invest in top talent in order to deliver work that is respected by our clients and industry peers.”

About Sapient

Sapient, a global services firm, operates two groups—Sapient Interactive and Sapient Consulting—that help clients compete, evolve and grow in an increasingly complex marketplace. Sapient Interactive provides brand and marketing strategy, award-winning creative work, web design and development and emerging media expertise. Sapient Consulting provides business and IT strategy, process and systems design, package implementation and custom development, as well as outsourcing services such as testing, maintenance and support.

Sapient’s passion for client success—evidenced by its ability to foster collaboration, drive innovation and solve challenging problems—is the subject of case studies on leadership and organizational behavior used by MBA students at both Harvard and Yale. Leading clients, including BP, Essent Energie, Hilton International, Janus, Sony Electronics and Verizon, rely on the company’s unique approach to drive growth and market momentum. Headquartered in Boston, Sapient operates across North America, Europe and India. For more information, please visit www.sapient.com.

OTTAWA – Today Overlay.TV, an interactive media platform that gives video creators and viewers the power to add a layer of custom-designed, clickable content over any embeddable online video, announced the general availability of its platform, which includes a new monetization system, several new interactive tools and open API.

With the Overlay.TV toolkit, users can add video-in-video, product placements, hyperlinks, text and clip art to build alternate endings, pop-up video, detailed product reviews or any number of creative applications to personalize and share video content. In addition to these innovative tools, the newly launched Overlay.TV site has made it possible and simple for content publishers, marketers and users to capitalize on popular videos.

“The eternal question of online video is how to make it interactive and profitable,” said Rob Lane, President and CEO of Overlay.TV. “Overlay.TV helps everyone from videobloggers to corporate marketers answer that question by letting users add a new layer of personalization that can be easily turned into revenue.”

Overlay.TV has been working with many different customers throughout the beta period and is launching joint efforts with several content creators and partners, including Nettwerk Records, Amber MacArthur and several others. Uh Huh Her, one of the first Nettwerk artists to go live has already integrated the Overlay.TV content into their online web presence, and you can see more content from Nettwerk Records in the Overlay.TV Nettwerk Channel at http://www.overlay.tv/channel/show/Nettwerk+Records.

How Video and Overlay Creators Can Cash in

With the ability to link to more than 1,000 affiliate retailers including Amazon.com, iTunes and Macy’s, Overlay creators will be able to start making money from online video with just a few easy clicks.

Every time a product featured in a creator’s video is clicked on and purchased, Overlay.TV shares the affiliate revenue with the creator—as much as 50 per cent depending on the retailer. Registered users simply point their Overlay.TV Wallet to their PayPal account and monies made are deposited through PayPal into their bank account on demand.

Video-in-Video Capability

The new platform includes a video-in-video feature that can be used for everything from video Karaoke, complete with song lyrics, to narrating demonstration or product review videos directly from a Web cam, or by uploading a separate video file into the overlay.

Twitter and Chat Integration

Overlay creators will be able to incorporate their Twitter stream right into the video through one of Overlay.TV’s ingenious video widgets. There is also a live chat feature, which means that video viewers and producers will be able to chat in real-time through the video player while the video is playing.

Overlay.TV Opens Up

As part of this release, Overlay.TV has completed their integration with OpenSocial, which makes it very easy for content creators to embed their creations in sites like MySpace and others using the OpenSocial standards. Overlay.TV has also given developers and designers access to the API and the player’s SDK through the Overlay.TV Developer Center. Developers can customize the player in any way they see fit, and easily integrate it with their own applications and Web presence.

User Control

The viewer is always in control when watching an Overlay.TV video. Don’t want to register to see the videos? No worries, it’s not required. Don’t want to see the overlays? Click the off button and watch unmodified video.

Overlay creators have full control of what they create, from the content, to making their videos public or private and embeddable on other sites either with an embed code or Overlay.TV’s new video widget.

Who’s Talking About Overlay.TV

Amber Macarthur, podcaster, Net@Nite; founder, MGImedia

“As a journalist and blogger, I am mostly excited about using Overlay.TV to add more context to the information in my own videos. When I am talking about a product or service, I can offer more information, hyperlinks, and even other videos within the videos. This gives me a more powerful broadcasting tool that keeps all that relevance, context and interactivity anywhere it is shared.”

James Governor, analyst, Red Monk

“What makes Overlay.TV really unique is the fact that they approached this as a platform, not a medium. The advantage of enabling other sites and developers to take advantage of commerce and UGC in online video will ultimately boost the relevance of video content, and of Overlay.TV as a company.”

Kevin Nalts, YouTube superstar

“Video creators are storytellers at the end of the day, and we will use whatever tools we can that help us tell that story in a more engaging and relevant way. Overlay.TV really opens up the possibilities by adding a whole layer of interactivity to the dialogue we create. Using Overlays I can have alternate endings, or entice users to follow links or easily add graphics and text that were typically complex and didn’t handle being resized very well. This is getting a permanent home in my toolkit.”

Demo Video

The best way to experience Overlay.TV is to see it in action. Amber Macarthur is hosting a 13-part daily video series on Overlay.TV that will give users all the tips and tricks they need to become an overlay-producing superstar. The OverView will launch on Overlay.TV on September 12th.

How it Works

The Overlay.TV platform enables video to stream from most of the popular video sharing sites like YouTube, MySpace TV, Google Video and Yahoo! Video; among others. Publishers can simply overlay video, pictures, words and graphics on top of video and link to products or information on external Web sites.

They can then share the enhanced video via email, their blogs, social networking profiles, personal websites and social bookmarking sites like del.icio.us and Digg. As video streams from its original location, viewers are able to opt-in to receive “overlays” or turn them off.

With Overlay.TV platform, publishers are also able to monetize their “overlays” by linking to various e-commerce Web pages. The platform provides publishers and e-commerce partners with tools to measure ROI and analyze resulting traffic to improve their advertising strategies, without increasing the costs associated with video production.

About Overlay.TV

Overlay.TV is an interactive media company that provides a video commerce platform that enables Internet users, content owners and e-commerce sites to monetize and customize their video assets by overlaying contextual information directly onto online video content and linking to external websites. Overlay.TV is a private company headquartered in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, please visit www.overlay.tv.

Press room:

http://www.overlay.tv/about/press

RSS:

http://blog.overlay.tv/category/in-the-news/rss

Blog:

http://blog.overlay.tv/

Del.icio.us

http://del.icio.us/overlay.tv

The acquisition of PBJS reaffirms Publicis Groupe’s commitment to pursuing its development through targeted acquisitions in high growth sectors such as marketing services. The newly acquired agency’s interactive expertise further demonstrates Publicis Groupe’s determination to infuse digital capabilities into all of its different businesses, including events management. This move also brings a significant part of Microsoft’s marketing business to Publicis Groupe, given that Microsoft is PBJS’s biggest client.

PBJS will continue to operate autonomously and will be aligned with Publicis Events Worldwide. The acquisition of PBJS brings new multichannel events capabilities to Publicis Events USA, such as video production, webcast and interactive exhibits. PBJS will continue to be managed by its founder and CEO Bob Bejan. Under the new structure, Bob Bejan will now report to John Farrell, President & CEO of SAMS.

Founded in 2003, PBJS employs 26 professionals and services an impressive portfolio of blue chip clients. The company enjoys a long-term and extensive agreement with Microsoft for the production of a variety of both internal and external events. PBJS also has established growing relationships with premier brands such as AT&T, Intel, Smart Balance Foods, Sephora and Boys & Girls Club of America. In addition, PBJS partners with top tier content creators to create a range of branded entertainment experiences on the internet. PBJS took the New York Times number one bestseller The Green Book to a broader audience engagement with expanded content experiences online. The agency also secured distribution with MSN, msnbc.com and MSNBC Cable to launch a cross-channel episodic online extension of Tom Friedman’s best-selling book The World is Flat.

We congratulate PBJS on their relationship with Publicis Groupe. We have worked with PBJS over the past several years on a number of our live experiences, product launches, internal and external communication events, and they will continue to be our valued and experienced partner in these areas,” said Mich Mathews, Senior Vice President, Marketing for the Microsoft Corporation.

John Farrell, President & CEO of SAMS Worldwide, welcomed the news. “Bob Bejan, Jeanette Pigott and Ian Saunders together with their team at PBJS bring an impressive array of credentials to the SAMS offering. Bob is someone who truly understands rapidly evolving technology and its impact on new media consumption patterns. His expertise will be a major asset to further benefit our clients. With this acquisition, we are once again demonstrating our commitment to strengthening our leading position in global events marketing.”

Bob Bejan, CEO of PBJS, “Joining Publicis Groupe is a critical step for us and it means a lot in terms of validating our business model and providing accelerated scale. With this move, we are well-positioned to reap the benefits of being part of a global group while, at the same time, maintaining our identity and remaining true to our roots.”

About PBJS

PBJS has grown from two accounts in 2003 to fifteen accounts in 2007. The agency currently employs 26 full-time employees. PBJS prides itself on developing business through recommendation, referral and preexisting relationships.

Web Site: http://www.pbjs.com/

About Publicis Groupe

Publicis Groupe [Euronext Paris: FR0000130577] is the world’s fourth largest communications group. In addition, it is ranked as the world’s second largest media counsel and buying group, and is a global leader in digital and healthcare communications. With activities spanning 104 countries on five continents, the Groupe employs approximately 44,000 professionals.

Web Site: www.publicisgroupe.com

New York, New York(July 22, 2008)—The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today announced that submissions to the fourth annual MIXX Awards hit record levels, surpassing 2007’s entries by nearly 40 percent. Since their founding in 2005, the MIXX Awards, the only advertising awards to recognize creativity and effectiveness, have evolved into the most prestigious interactive advertising award and have attracted a distinguished cross-section of the world’s top brands and agencies.

· This year’s entries include submissions from hundreds of agencies—“native digital” shops and large traditional ones as well.

· These agencies have submitted the work they have done on behalf of their clients who encompass every major vertical industry—including blue-chip brands, luxury products and services, pharmaceuticals, automotive, financial, consumer packaged goods , entertainment and technology.

· The campaigns will be evaluated in 18 categories by a cross-industry panel of judges that includes senior executives from agencies, publishers, and marketing organizations deliberating together—an industry first.

“The sheer quantity of submissions and the caliber of the marketers and agencies represented is a testament to the increasingly critical role that interactive advertising plays in marketers’ media plans,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, the trade association for interactive media in the United States. “To think that this awards show is only in its fourth year and has already attained levels of submissions that are on a par with long established shows is nothing short of a revolution—showing how far interactive advertising has come. Now the real excitement begins as our judges see which work among this extraordinary lineup will make it to the final round.”

Winners of the IAB’s 2008 MIXX Awards will be announced at a ceremony in New York City on September 23, near the start of Advertising Week, a gathering of the media and marketing industries that typically draws 10,000 professionals to conferences, seminars, recruiting events, and parties celebrating advertising and its evolution. The host for this year’s MIXX Awards is one of the industry’s keenest observers and practitioners, Rob Norman, Group M CEO, whose regular riffs on all things interactive have made him the natural emcee for the evening’s ceremonies.

Last year’s MIXX Award winners included many of the most prominent brand marketers in the United States, including Anheuser Busch, American Airlines, The Coca-Cola Company, BMW, Royal Caribbean, Showtime and Unilever, as well as leading agencies such as Universal McCann, Ogilvy, McKinney, Digitas, BBDO and Mindshare. In 2007, the gala’s ultimate honor, Best in Show, went to Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners, San Francisco, for its super-rich media campaign for Hewlett-Packard, “The Computer is Personal Again.”

For more information and to view the complete gallery of the 2007 MIXX Finalists, please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery.

About the IAB:
Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) represents over 375 leading interactive companies that actively engage in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the continuing 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 evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research, and educates marketers, agencies, and media companies, as well as the wider business community, about the value of interactive advertising.

NEW YORK – Ringleader Digital, the only third-party ad serving network for mobile devices, today announced that it will provide the mobile advertising platform for IAC Ad Solutions (IAC/AS) and its broad range of consumer brands. For Ringleader Digital, the IAC/AS relationship significantly increases its direct publisher network to include some of the most visited Web sites in North America. The deal also creates greater reach and return on investment for mobile advertising campaigns, the fastest growing segment of the advertising world.

“We’re committed to offering our brands and external marketers powerful advertising tools that leverage digital technology,” said Rich Stalzer, President of IAC/AS. “As the mobile ad market grows, and our audience reach extends, we want to make sure our inventory is filled by the right brands, and delivered to the right people. We believe our partnership with Ringleader Digital will help make this happen.”

Ringleader Digital’s next generation mobile advertising network allows advertising agencies and direct brands to easily extend their digital advertising initiatives to mobile. The company offers the only third-party mobile advertising service that delivers ads by device functionality, not just device type, among many other targeting parameters. This means that advertisers purchasing inventory on mobile sites in the IAC/AS network can be sure their ads are sent to their entire target demographic on any available mobile network. Advertisers are no longer limited by incompatible ad formats or costs associated with designing and serving up multiple ad formats.

“Our partnership with IAC/AS is yet another example of a world-class publisher endorsing our third-party approach to mobile advertising, which allows advertisers and agencies to efficiently and effectively deliver their online ads to mobile,” said Bob Walczak, CEO of Ringleader Digital. “Ringleader is pleased to be working with an interactive leader that positively impacts the way we live and communicate every day with digital technology.”

Additional inventory will be made available to advertisers as IAC Ad Solutions continues to roll out its brands’ mobile sites throughout the year.

About IAC Advertising Solutions

A division of IAC Search & Media, a wholly-owned business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), IAC/AS offers innovative marketing opportunities across some of the world’s top interactive brands, including Citysearch, Match.com, Evite, Ticketmaster, Excite, Fun Web Products, IWON, and RealEstate.com. Display and interactive media, content and feature sponsorships, custom creative solutions, direct marketing, and mobile are just some of the ways IAC/AS helps marketers effectively engage their target audiences. Main office of IAC/AS is located in New York City. For more information please visit iacadvertising.com or phone 212-404-1000.

About Ringleader Digital

As the next-generation mobile advertising network, Ringleader Digital brings the online advertising experience to mobile–fulfilling the potential and promise of the mobile Web. Ringleader’s device-agnostic network is the only third-party mobile ad service, and is the first to specifically target ads by device functionality. Ringleader simplifies advertising transactions and delivery by providing brands and publishers the ability to seamlessly and simultaneously distribute ad campaigns across any mobile digital platform. With this unprecedented control, publishers maximize the revenue potential for ad campaigns while brands and advertisers can finally track and audit every element of a campaign’s effectiveness. Ringleader is based in New York City. For more information please visit www.ringleaderdigital.com.

“To our knowledge, this is the first time agencies, publishers and marketers have come together to referee a major advertising awards program,” said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB, the trade association for interactive media in the United States. “This unprecedented assembly of media and marketing professionals reflects our belief that success in interactive advertising is about the entire ecosystem collaborating to drive growth.”

Winners of the IAB’s 2008 MIXX Awards will be announced at a ceremony in New York City on Sept. 23, near the start of Advertising Week, a gathering of the media and marketing industries that typically draws 10,000 professionals to conferences, seminars, recruiting events, and parties celebrating advertising and its evolution.

Agencies, marketers and publishers are invited to submit entries in any of the 18 MIXX Awards categories from today through June 20.

In addition to the traditional categories—which include Brand Awareness and Positioning, Product Launch, Search Marketing and Digital Video, among others—the IAB called for entries to three new categories this year: Social Marketing, Widget Marketing and Brand Destination Site, reflecting the steady stream of innovation that has been a hallmark of the growth of interactive media.

The MIXX Awards are open to marketers and advertising agencies that have run any media, marketing or advertising campaign that was carried out during the qualifying period: April 1, 2007 through March 31, 2008. Full details and entry forms are available at www.iab.net.

Founded in 2005 to honor creativity and effectiveness in interactive advertising, the IAB’s MIXX Awards have grown into the premier honor in digital marketing. Last year’s MIXX Award winners included many of the most prominent brand marketers in the United States, including Anheuser Busch, American Airlines, The Coca-Cola Company, BMW, Royal Caribbean, Showtime and Unilever, as well as leading agencies such as Universal McCann, Ogilvy, McKinney, Digitas, BBDO and Mindshare. In 2007, the gala’s ultimate honor, Best in Show, went to Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners, San Francisco, for its super-rich media campaign for Hewlett-Packard, “The Computer is Personal Again.”

From the beginning, the MIXX Award judging panel was composed solely of executives from consumer marketing organizations. But with the guidance of its MIXX Awards Advisory Board, the IAB changed the panel’s composition to include agency and publisher executives, as well.

“Case studies increasingly show that digital marketing excellence requires marketing strategy, media channel and advertising content work intimately together,” Mr. Rothenberg said, “so having judges who represent these different spheres simply made sense.”

The 2008 MIXX Awards Judging Panel: Marketers:

- Carole Irgang – SVP, Integrated Marketing Communications, Kraft Foods
- David Roman – VP, WW Marketing Communications, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
- Debbie Jo Severin – VP, Marketing, Covad Communications Group, Inc.
- Joseph Eibert – Executive Director, Interactive Marketing, Warner Home Video
- Cheryl Guerin – VP, Promotions & Interactive, MasterCard Worldwide
- Carol Kruse – VP, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company
- Arjen Linders – VP of Marketing, Philips DAP N.A.
- Tim Murphy – Senior Director Digital Marketing, Anheuser-Busch
- Jenny Howell – Manager of Interactive Marketing, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.

Agencies:

- Jean-Philippe Maheu – Chief Digital Officer, Ogilvy North America
- Alan Schulman – SVP, Executive Creative Director, Executive Director of User Experience, imc2
- Marty Cooke – Chief Creative Officer, SS+K
- Hans Neubert – Executive Creative Director, Avenue A | Razorfish
- Michael Prieve – Chief Creative Officer, Doremus New York
- Baba Shetty – EVP Chief Media Officer, Hill, Holiday Advertising

Publishers:

- Suzie Reider – Director of Advertising, YouTube
- Lauren Wiener – SVP, Meredith Interactive Media
- Mark D’Arcy – Chief Creative Officer, Time Warner Global Media Group
- Jane Grenier – VP, CondéNet
- Heidi Browning – SVP, Client Solutions, FOX Interactive Media
- Wonya Lucas – EVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Discovery Communications
- David Sturman – Chief Technology Officer for Massive (A Microsoft Company)

Other:

- Todd Wasserman – Editor, Brandweek

To view the complete gallery of the 2007 MIXX Finalists, please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery

About the IAB:
Founded in 1996, the Interactive Advertising Bureau (www.iab.net) represents over 375 leading interactive companies that actively engage in and support the sale of interactive advertising. IAB members are responsible for selling over 86% of online advertising in the United States. On behalf of its members, the IAB is dedicated to the continuing 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 evaluates and recommends standards and practices, fields interactive effectiveness research, and educates marketers, agencies, and media companies, as well as the wider business community, about the value of interactive advertising

IAB Media Contact:
Marla Nitke
Director, Marketing Communications
212.380.4714
marla@iab.net

Today, Yahoo! Inc. and Havas Digital, one of the world’s leading interactive agencies, announce a global partnership that encompasses all of the operating units within Havas Digital.

Under the terms of the agreement, Havas Digital will work with the Right Media Exchange to develop a proprietary media trading platform based on Yahoo!’s technology. To better serve their customers and extend its advertising platform, Havas Digital plans to be an early adopter of AMP! from Yahoo! which significantly simplifies the process of buying and selling ads online. AMP! from Yahoo! is due to roll out beginning with members of the Newspaper Consortium in Q3 2008. This important relationship will also include a partnership between Yahoo! and Havas Digital’s Centers of Excellence to build a global outsourcing practice, based in India and Brazil, for digital advertising leveraging the Right Media Exchange.

Yahoo! will provide the Right Media Exchange platform to enable Havas Digital to create a digital media trading practice to effectively drive results for both large and small advertisers and web publishers. In collaboration with Yahoo!, Havas Digital will help to grow the Exchange by bringing new advertisers and publishers to the ecosystem across many markets. In addition, the parties will develop global training resources to facilitate Exchange participation.

“By deepening our strategic media relationship with Yahoo!, Havas Digital will develop an innovative trading platform that can apply the insights in Artemis to the benefit our clients. The combined capabilities will allow Havas Digital clients to execute highly segmented media buys on a mass scale,” said Don Epperson, chief executive officer of Havas Digital. “Yahoo!’s Right Media Exchange is clearly driving the exchange revolution and we are delighted to be a global agency partner.”

“Yahoo! is proud to partner with Havas Digital in driving online marketing leadership,” said Hilary Schneider, EVP of Global Partner Solutions for Yahoo!. “The innovation happening at Havas Digital, combined with our technology solutions, will help them to achieve a new level of insights and performance for their clients. Havas Digital is a forward looking agency that we’re pleased to be working with at multiple levels.”

About Havas Digital
Havas Digital is the umbrella holding company that manages all Havas Media’s interactive companiest: Media Contacts and Lattitud, global interactive media networks; iGlue, new independent interactive media network; Mobext, mobile advertising network; Archibald Ingall Stretton, creative interactive network quickly expanding around the globe; Uncommon, direct marketing specialist in Spain; One-to-One, specialized CRM solution in Portugal; and N2, offering digital strategy services in France. Havas Digital is the second largest interactive media company according to RECMA (RECMA Interactive Report — Oct. 2007).

Irvine, Calif. and London — March 12, 2008 — Specific Media, the largest independent online advertising network, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire all the assets of Adviva, a leading display advertising network in the United Kingdom. The combination of Specific Media and Adviva in the UK gives brand advertisers an opportunity to combine massive reach with every method of targeting to produce the results they are looking to achieve. The Adviva acquisition marks Specific Media’s entry into the European market, giving the company a strong start on global expansion. The deal closed this week for an undisclosed amount.

With $5 billion in online advertising revenues in 2007 according to eMarketer, the UK is the largest European advertising market. Adviva’s broad network of brand-friendly content driven websites reaches more than 21.3 million unique UK internet users. Post-acquisition the combined companies will become the fourth largest ad network in the UK reaching 25.9 million unique UK users.

“Specific Media has anonymous data on 365 million consumers globally and the acquisition of Adviva gives us the opportunity to utilize the European portion of that data,” said Tim Vanderhook, co-founder and CEO of Specific Media. “Specific Media chose to partner with Adviva because it had a compelling value proposition of brand advertisers, quality publishers and a tremendous team that are enthusiastic about the opportunities in front of us.”

Specific Media is the only advertising network offering brand advertisers a complete targeting solution that combines demographic, behavioral, contextual, and geographic methods. The company currently works with more than 300 of Fortune 500 brands including seven of the top 10. Following the acquisition, Adviva’s London office will become Specific Media’s European headquarters. The acquisition of Adviva brings the total employee count for Specific Media to close to 200.

“Specific Media and Adviva have a great deal in common already and the new synergies will further benefit our advertisers and publishers,” said Todd Treusdell, co-founder and CEO of Adviva, who will stay onboard as Specific Media’s Managing Director, European Operations. “Now reaching nearly 80 percent of consumers in the US and the UK, Specific Media gives publishers and advertisers an attractive alternative to the large, publicly-held players in the industry.”

About Specific Media

Specific Media, the advertising industry’s fastest-growing interactive media company, enables advertisers to target consumers based on demographics, behaviors, geographic locations and/or the contextual relevance of websites visited. Specific Media works with many of the Fortune 500 brands including seven of the top 10 companies. Specific Media’s network reaches more than 140 million U.S. monthly unique users. Since 1999, the company has partnered with hundreds of top quality publishers such as: ABC, CBS, FOX, Major League Baseball, Sportsline.com and VIACOM. For additional information, visit www.specificmedia.com

Irvine, Calif. — March 10, 2008 — Specific Media, the largest independent online advertising network, today announced a record-breaking revenue increase of more than 300 percent in 2007 compared to 2006. Further, the company also experienced unparalleled growth in year-over-year comScore rankings. Since debuting in the rankings in February 2007, Specific Media’s reach grew by 57 percent, outpacing all of the other ad networks appearing in the top 10. Specific Media now reaches more than 140 million unique users for a total U.S. reach of 77 percent and only trails the ad networks of AOL, Yahoo, and Google.

In the rapidly changing online advertising market last year, Specific Media’s growth was fueled by the quality of its publisher partners and the breadth and depth of its data network as well as the ever-growing demand for its uniquely accurate suite of targeting solutions that combines demographic, behavioral, contextual, and geographic methods. The company works with more than 300 of the Fortune 500 brands including seven of the top 10. Utilizing Specific Media’s proprietary targeting technologies, major brand advertisers in the automotive, retail, packaged goods and financial industries reach highly specific audiences.

“Online display advertising saw an unprecedented flurry of merger and acquisition activity last year that highlighted its strategic value in the online advertising industry. During the same time, Specific Media became the fourth largest online advertising network and secured $100 million in funding,” said Tim Vanderhook, CEO and co-founder. “With the consolidation still far from finished, Specific Media aims to continue its rapid growth. Expect a lot more from us in the coming months.”
Company Growth Fuels Office Expansion

Specific Media recently opened an office in Boston to help drive expansion in the northeast region. The new office will further improve Specific Media’s service and offering for its new and existing clients on the East Coast. Bill Schild, director of sales, East Coast, will head up the office.

Specific Media also added more than 50 new employees in the past year alone, including such key hires as David Jakubowski, formerly general manager of Microsoft adCenter and Search Strategy and now senior vice president at Specific Media.
About Specific Media

Specific Media, the advertising industry’s fastest-growing interactive media company, enables advertisers to target consumers based on demographics, behaviors, geographic locations and/or the contextual relevance of websites visited. Specific Media works with many of the Fortune 500 brands including seven of the top 10 companies. Specific Media’s network reaches more than 140 million U.S. monthly unique users. Since 1999, the company has partnered with hundreds of top quality publishers such as: ABC, CBS, FOX, Major League Baseball, Sportsline.com and VIACOM. For additional information, visit www.specificmedia.com