Media Innovations Summit
LOS ANGELES – Media Innovations Summit, the premier event dedicated to monetization and technology strategies in the multiplatform marketplace, has added several senior executives from the service provider, content, advertising and technology sectors to its roster of more than 60 CEOs, presidents and other company leaders who will be meeting at the Directors Guild of America headquarters in Hollywood on Sept. 27–28, 2010.

In addition to previously announced executive heavyweights such as Dallas Mavericks owner and HD Net chairman Mark Cuban, Disney-ABC digital media EVP Albert Cheng and Sony Entertainment Pictures CTO Mitch Singer, newly confirmed speakers include:

Steve Necessary, SVP, Cox Communications
Ruchir Rodrigues, VP, product platforms, Verizon
Kelly Summers, VP, business development & new media distribution strategy, The Walt Disney Studios
Ted Schremp, CMO, Charter Communications
Arthur Orduña, CTO, Canoe Ventures
David Porter, VP, advertising product development, Cox Media
Dan Holden, Comcast Fellow in technology, Comcast
Tracey Scheppach, SVP & innovations director, Starcom MediaVest Group
Vince Pizzica, senior vice president, digital delivery, Technicolor
Ian Blaine, CEO, thePlatform
Rick Dean, chairman, 3D@Home Consortium, & SVP, THX
Phil Wiser, co-founder, chairman and president, Sezmi
Wilfred Martis, director, platform/programming strategy and planning, Digital Home Group, Intel
Jody Shapiro, product manager, TV advertising, Google
Scott Brown, SVP, digital platforms, Nielsen
Mark Greenberg, CEO, Epix

“We look on Media Innovations Summit as a rare opportunity to get together with leading decision makers at one of Hollywood’s premier screening venues to brainstorm the ins and outs of what needs to be done to turn all this new cross-platform technology into a success for consumers and providers,” said Fred Dawson, CEO and editor of ScreenPlays Magazine, which is producing the event. “We have a media-rich program of in-depth discussions in store touching on every facet of the monetization and implementation strategies that are top of mind among leaders in content, service delivery, advertising, applications and supporting technologies.”

About ScreenPlays’ Media Innovations Summit

The portfolio of ScreenPlays products, including magazine, portal and conferences, is produced by Broadband Information Resources, Inc. Colorado-based BIR was founded by CEO Fred Dawson and COO Joe Bullard to provide a full line of information products for the new media and communications marketplace. ScreenPlays Magazine launched as a print and online product in 2006; and BIR’s conference business, including OnTarget advanced advertising, Cable IPTV and CableNext, launched in 2007. For more information, visit www.screenplaysmag.com.

EMERYVILLE, Calif. – Lithium Technologies, the leading provider of Social CRM solutions to power the customer network, announced the preview of the industry’s first customer community platform optimized for mobile access during its Social CRM Virtual Summit on November 11. Developed with some of the world’s leading wireless and media companies — including MTV, Research In Motion Limited (RIM), T-Mobile, Univision and Verizon, Lithium Mobile advances the state of the art in the industry by providing the first tailored, interactive community experience accessible from any web-enabled mobile device.

“Mobile phones outsold PCs by four to one this year, but fewer than 10 percent of Fortune 500 companies have mobile-optimized Web sites,” said Lyle Fong, Lithium’s CEO. “One reason is that their customers don’t have a reason to regularly visit their sites on the go. Community gives users a reason for customers to interact with their favorite brands every day. Lithium Mobile gives them a way to do it from anywhere.”

Lithium introduced the product with a demonstration and a live conversation with the product team during the Social CRM Virtual Summit, which Lithium is hosting on November 11. The Virtual Summit features webcasts by industry leaders in an interactive exhibit hall, a resource center with extensive materials for download, and a virtual networking lounge to chat live with speakers and participants.

Participating in the summit are leading practitioners and analysts in the Social CRM market, including:

• Mike Fauscette (IDC)
• Paul Greenberg (The 56 Group)
• Bill Johnston (Forum One)
• Brent Leary (CRM Essentials)
• Kevin Ryan (Barnes & Noble)
• Jeremiah Owyang and Ray Wang (Altimeter Group)
Register: For more information, including a continually updated list of speakers and sponsors, and to register, visit http://bit.ly/vscrmreg. Hashtag: Follow the event on Twitter at #vscrm.

About Lithium Technologies

Lithium is the leading provider of Social CRM solutions to power the customer network. Working with market leaders such as Best Buy, Sony, AT&T, Research In Motion Limited (RIM), Univision, and PayPal, Lithium is delivering the next generation of customer relationships by unlocking the value of the social customer network. Lithium solutions combine the power of online customer communities with the broader social web and traditional CRM business processes to inspire customers to innovate, promote, and support on the company’s behalf. As a result, businesses measurably improve their marketing and sales, accelerate innovation, and increase customer satisfaction. Lithium’s platform is proven in high-volume, growth environments and provides the security, analytics, APIs, and multi-language support that enterprises demand. Founded in 2001, Lithium is privately held with headquarters in Emeryville, California. For more information, visit www.lithium.com.

- Acumium Acquires Search-Friendly GravityMarket Ecommerce Platform
Dan Costello, founder of Acumium, Madison-based internet technology firm, announced the acquisition of the GravityMarket ecommerce platform from Netconcepts, natural search marketing agency.
“We are happy to add GravityMarket to our suite of ecommerce and content management solutions,” said Costello. “GravityMarket complements our own expertise in online retail best practice and search marketing.”
First developed by Netconcepts in 2001, then re-architected and again released in 2007, the GravityMarket platform includes search engine friendly features like text-based, optimized URLs, unique title tags and keyword-rich content. According to Netconcepts, most clients moved to GravityMarket because their previous websites were virtually invisible to the search engines, making it an expensive proposition to drive online traffic.

“Consumers are looking for a company that provides a tangible value in family plans, a full range of handsets and an outstanding customer experience,” said Bill Morgan, senior vice president of Corporate Marketing for Sprint. “We have all of those, plus the superiority of America’s largest, most dependable 3G network. Sprint’s Now Network means our customers get what they want when they want it.”

Head-to-head savings demonstrated:

- The new ads will be integrated into the current national advertising campaign and will include print, television, online and radio to help tell Sprint’s story. Unique comparison charts will demonstrate how families can save at least $240 and up to $1,000 annually based on comparable rate and service plans offered by Verizon and AT&T.

- With families pressed for cash every month, a $480 savings during the course of two years represents a car payment, a needed appliance, a month’s worth of groceries or a deposit into a child’s college fund. In these times, the Now Network is not just fast and full of wireless data possibilities; it’s also sensitive to the finances of today’s family.

- With the Sprint Everything plan, just $99.99 buys a month’s worth of unlimited talk, Web browsing, email, text, video messaging, picture sharing, GPS, push-to-talk, Sprint TV, Music and exclusive NFL and NASCAR applications.

“Our ads highlight ‘Now’ by showing how we deliver to consumers what they want, when they want it,” continued Morgan, “and with a full-range of handsets and the most affordable, full-service family and data plans available today — all of which provide a solution that financially-savvy consumers really appreciate.”

Simply Everything offers savings for unlimited data — more than $480 annual savings vs. AT&T and Verizon on an individual plan

Earlier this year, Sprint revolutionized unlimited pricing in the wireless industry by moving beyond its competitors to deliver more features for a flat rate of $99.99. Sprint’s Simply Everything plan provides unlimited nationwide calling, texting, email, Web browsing, GPS Navigation and much more — all for only $99.99. Comparable yearly messaging and data plans on Verizon and AT&T cost the consumer an additional $480 and $540, respectively.

A great example of the value offered by Sprint is the cost savings available with the Samsung Instinct vs. the iPhone. The Instinct is $70 less than the iPhone after a mail-in rebate, but that is only the start of the savings. When comparing similar rate plans for both phones, customers who purchase an iPhone will pay approximately $1,200 more for similar services during their two-year contract than customers who purchase an Instinct. Sprint’s plans with unlimited data begin at less than $70 per month.

America’s largest, most dependable 3G network

In addition to the value message, the new advertising will highlight the fact that Sprint has America’s largest (based on number of square miles — including roaming, Sprint has four times the coverage of AT&T’s current 3G network) and most dependable 3G network. The dependability statistic is backed up by independent, third-party drive-test data on connection success and session reliability for the top 50 most populous U.S. markets from March to September of this year.

Device lineup second to none

Sprint’s advertising will continue to promote the company’s holiday handset line-up, six of which were highlighted by Forbes.com in its Top 10 best phones for holiday gift-giving. Led by the Samsung Instinct, named by CNET as “Best In Show” at CTIA’s spring show, Sprint also offers the Samsung Rant — named by LAPTOP Magazine as best cell phone at CTIA’s fall show. The Rant is available for $49.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and eligible upgrade or new line activation with a two-year agreement.

Sprint One Click — a user-friendly interface for consumer devices

Sprint One Click is a highly interactive user interface design that gives customers the ability to easily access the features they use most on their non-PDA phone. Offered exclusively by Sprint, it provides a widget-based stand-by screen and the ability to easily access the most-used features on the customer’s wireless phone. Sprint One Click is available on four new phones: LG Lotus, Samsung Highnote, Samsung Rant and Samsung Eclipse.

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including two wireless networks serving nearly 51 million customers at the end of the third quarter 2008; industry-leading mobile data services; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. For more information, visit www.sprint.com

ATLANTA – Launching SMS text mobile marketing campaigns with interactive capabilities is now as easy as 1-2-3, thanks to GO WITH SMS!®, a turnkey Web-based program available exclusively from LSN, Inc., Local Solutions Network, the largest local mobile advertising network in the United States. The GO WITH SMS!® program provides all of the tools companies need to rollout an interactive mobile promotion, at a low cost, within a short timeframe.

Companies simply select a platform from eight promotion categories, using one or more of the LSN short codes, add an exclusive keyword and then write the SMS text message. LSN’s GO WITH SMS!® requires no long-term contracts or sign-up fees and offers three pricing options. Companies can launch a mobile campaign for as little as $199/month with an allocation of 1-1,500 text messages per month. Other plans include 1,501-10,000 text messages per month for only $759/month and 10,001-25,000 text messages per month for only $1599/month.

“We are extremely proud to introduce another innovative mobile marketing application that empowers companies to leverage interactive SMS text messaging to drive brand awareness through consumer adoption and participation,” said David Spear, EVP sales and marketing, LSN. “Since 94% of text messages are read by participants, text mobile marketing is becoming more essential to marketers every day. The GO WITH SMS!® program now gives any company the capability to create an interactive mobile campaign, either by selecting one of our ready-to-go promotion platforms, or by creating their own customized campaign, to reach mobile subscribers, in less than a week!”

GO WITH SMS! ® Highlights

The GO WITH SMS! ® turnkey campaigns are available for contests, voting, offers, news, buying/selling, auto, sports, and information alerts. Customized campaigns are also available.

Access the Go With SMS!® Web portal.
Select a promotion platform, including one of the LSN memorable short codes. Pick a keyword(s) and write your SMS message.
Launch the campaign within two to four business days over LSN’s reliable and scaled text platform.
Review your campaign performance – LSN provides password protected login access to view all data.
Send alerts – GO WITH SMS!® offers clients the capability to send out alerts to all opt-in users, fostering a true interactive exchange between marketer and end user.
Short Message Service (SMS) is a communications protocol allowing the interchange of short text messages between mobile devices. SMS text messaging is the most widely used data application today, with 2.4 billion active users, or 74% of all mobile phone subscribers, sending and receiving text messages on their phones.

LSN works with 17 of the top 20 wireless carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and MetroPCS.

About LSN, Inc.

LSN (Local Solutions Network), Inc., headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, is a mobile media and marketing company that enables local broadcasters and brand advertisers to extend their reach to the mobile consumer market via their handset. LSN has the nation’s largest network of local television news content, in both English and Spanish, currently offering news, weather, sports and more to over 200 million mobile users. Through its Direct Mobile Marketing & Advertising Group, LSN enables companies to rapidly deploy direct mobile marketing campaigns to mobile users via text messaging, rich media content, and interactive mobile marketing campaigns across all wireless carriers and handsets.

To learn more, please contact sales@lsnmobile.com or visit www.lsnmobile.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.

“Sneeze” comically depicts one man’s struggles during allergy season, cleverly positioning Superpages.com as an easy relief solution. To view the award-winning ad, which ran on sites including AOL.com, CNET.com, MSN.com, People.com, TVGuide.com and Yahoo.com, click here: http://awards.tmastaging.net/2008/OMMA/Superpages/sneeze.html. (From here, click on Sneeze Vertical or Sneeze Horizontal.)

“Sneeze” was created in collaboration with Janimation and EyeWonder and bested finalists A&E Television (client: A&E Television) and VML (client: Dr Pepper).

Other recent awards won by TM Advertising for the Superpages.com campaign include: Runner-Up 2008 Most Effective Online Marketing Strategy Award presented by the Dallas Ft. Worth Interactive Marketing Association (DFWIMA) for excellence in interactive marketing; and a 2008 Regional Silver ADDY Award for a Superpages.com outdoor bulletin, presented by a regional chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF).

“Since it is critical that we deliver quality leads to our small business advertisers, we are continuously leveraging advertising to promote our products to consumers,” said Briggs Ferguson, President-Internet, Idearc Media. “Thanks to TM Advertising, our advertisements receive the critical attention they deserve, and we are honored to have recently received the prestigious OMMA Award.”

Created in 2006, the OMMA awards honor brand marketers, agencies and content providers who continue to push the potential of online advertising creative.

“Our innovative campaign for Superpages.com is a fantastic way for us to showcase our clients’ passion for creating and delivering the most successful interactive branding campaigns,” said Tom Hansen, President of TM Advertising. “We’re thrilled to be recognized by OMMA and to be in such great company with the other finalists.”

About TM Advertising

TM Advertising, headquartered in Dallas, with offices in Austin and Seattle, is an independently managed subsidiary of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), one of the world’s largest marketing communications companies. Agency clients include the brands of American Airlines, Bell Helicopter, Discover Network, EDS, Fossil, Group Health, Nationwide Insurance, Redhook Ale Brewery, Superpages.com and Texas Tourism. For more information, please visit www.tm.com.

About Idearc Inc.

Idearc Inc. delivers products on multiple platforms to help consumers find the information they want, wherever they are. Idearc’s multi-platform of advertising solutions includes Superpages.com®, Superpages MobileSM, Superpages Mobile SM for BlackBerry®, Switchboard.com, LocalSearch.comSM, Verizon® Yellow Pages, Verizon® White Pages, smaller-sized portable Verizon® Yellow Pages Companion Directories, FairPoint® Yellow Pages, FairPoint® White Pages, FairPoint® Yellow Pages Companion Directories, reFresh reCharge reNew™ magazine, Solutions At Hand™ magazine, and Solutions on the Move™ and Solutions Direct™ direct mail packages. For more information, visit www.idearc.com.

“The sheer volume of submissions coupled with the extraordinary level of creativity that cut across such a wide swath of platforms and technologies speaks to the vitality of the interactive advertising industry,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “Interactive advertising is breaking new ground in engaging consumers in ways that we had not even dreamed of, and the pace of change will only continue to accelerate.”

This year, submissions jumped by nearly 40 percent, and were sent in from hundreds of leading agencies, representing traditional advertising agencies and native digital shops which entered work across virtually every major vertical industry.

The gala’s ultimate honor, Best in Show, went to TEQUILA\ and Nissan for its “Rogue Launch.” TEQUILA\ and Nissan took home additional honors for digital video, digital integration and VOD and interactive television, winning golds in all three categories. “The Rogue Launch” was based on consumer insights geared to Generation X males who wanted to still feel “in the game” and tap into a sense of playfulness. The campaign was credited as the most successful new car launch in Nissan’s history.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners, last year’s Best in Show agency winner, won two golds this year in Product Launch and Business-to-Business for its campaign “Adobe Layer Tennis” for the launch of Adobe’s Creative Suite 3. And in a testament to the breadth and variety of brands’ interactive campaigns, some marketers were honored in multiple categories for work with different agencies. BMW, for example, was honored for its work with three different agencies—Dotglu, JOGO Media and GSD&M Idea City across the categories of Direct Response and Lead Generation, In-Game Advertising and Social Marketing, respectively.

The MIXX Awards are the only juried advertising competition that evaluates all critical components of the interactive marketing mix, including strategy, creative, execution and results. To view the complete gallery of the MIXX Winners please visit: www.mixx-awards.com/gallery

The Complete List of 2008 MIXX Award Winners:
Best in Show

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

Brand Awareness and Positioning
GOLD: American Express OPEN and Digitas for “OPEN Forum”

SILVER: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! and BlockDot for “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Now You Know Better!”

BRONZE: U.S. Army and Universal McCann for “U.S. Army Halo 3 Experience”

Product Launch
GOLD: Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for “Adobe Layer Tennis”

SILVER: Verizon and Campfire for “My Home 2.0”

BRONZE: P&G/Downy and Digitas for “Discovering Radiance”

Direct Response and Lead Generation
GOLD: ING of the Americas and BBDO Atlanta for “ING Numbers”

SILVER: BMW North America and Dotglu for “1 Series Interactive Launch”

BRONZE: McDonald’s and OMD for “Dollar Menunaires”

Business-to-Business
GOLD: Adobe Creative Suite 3 and Goodby, Silverstein & Partners for “Adobe Layer Tennis”

SILVER: Dell and T3 for “Times Square We believe: in small business”

BRONZE: Motorola and BBDO New York for “Cityscape”

Public Service/Not-for-Profit
GOLD: The Ad Council / U.S. Department of Justice / National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and Merkley + Partners for “Think Before You Post”

SILVER: The Bridgespan Group and Sapient Interactive for “One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference”

BRONZE: Roundabout Theatre Company and Situation Marketing for “Sunday in the Park with George – Connect: The Dot Project”

Search Marketing
GOLD: Honda Certified Used Cars and RPA for “Custom Search Program”

SILVER: Covad Communications and Geary Interactive for “Localized Search Campaign”

BRONZE: Adobe Systems Incorporated and Adobe Search Marketing for “AIR/RIA”

Super-Rich Media
GOLD: Apple Inc. and TBWA\Media Arts Lab for “ Don’t Give Up”

SILVER: Apple Inc. and TBWA\Media Arts Lab for “Banging, Knocking & Hiding”

BRONZE: HBO and Deep Focus for “Flight of the Conchords”

Multicultural
GOLD: U.S. Army and Sensis for “Leaders Among Us”

SILVER: The Home Depot and The Vidal Partnership for “Colores Origenes “Mixer” Campaign”

Widget Marketing
GOLD: Honda Civic and RPA for “Honda Civic Tour: Panic at the Disco”

SILVER: Kimberly-Clark and MindShare for “Huggies Baby Countdown”

BRONZE: Samsung and Cheil Worldwide for “Juke by Samsung”

In-Game Advertising
GOLD: BMW and JOGO Media for “BMW M3 Challenge”

SILVER: Nissan and OMD for “Forza 2”

BRONZE: The Coca-Cola Company and MediaVest for “Sprite NBA Gaming”

Digital Video
GOLD:

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

SILVER: Neutrogena and Tribal DDB Worldwide for “The Wave Power Cleanser”

BRONZE: Microsoft Small Business Products and Cole & Weber United for “Microsoft Small Business Summit”

Social Marketing
GOLD: Alberto-Culver Company and Carat for “Extreme Style by VO5”

SILVER: BMW and GSD&M Idea City for “1 Series – Facebook Graffiti Contest”

BRONZE: Verizon and Campfire for “My Home 2.0”

International Award
GOLD: Vodafone and OgilvyOne Worldwide, Athens for “Livefeeds”

SILVER: Air New Zealand and Host for “Home Sweet As”

BRONZE: Coke Europe and Sapient Interactive for “Coke Burn Alter Ego”

Mobile Platforms
GOLD: Virgin Atlantic Airways and McKinney for “ Love from Above”

SILVER: MasterCard Worldwide and MRM Worldwide for “Peyton Pep Talks with Peyton Manning”

VOD and Interactive Television
GOLD:

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

SILVER: AXE and BrightLine iTV for “Art of Skin Contact”

BRONZE: I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! and BrightLine iTV for ”Sprays in the City”

Brand Destination Site
GOLD: MasterCard Worldwide and MRM Worldwide for “Priceless.com”

SILVER: American Airlines and TM Advertising for “AAdvantage Milestones”

BRONZE:
Pabst Brewing Company and Cole & Weber United for “The Tales of Colt 45”

Digital Integration

GOLD:

Nissan and TEQUILA\ for “Rogue Launch”

SILVER:

Liberty Mutual and Hill Holliday for “The Responsibility Project”

BRONZE:

ING of the Americas and BBDO Atlanta for “ING Numbers”

Cross-Platform Integration
GOLD: Liberty Mutual and Hill Holliday for “The Responsibility Project”

SILVER: ING of the Americas and BBDO Atlanta for “ING Numbers”

BRONZE: Verizon and Campfire for “My Home 2.0”

MIXX 2008 Judges:

Marketers:

* Cheryl Guerin – VP, Global Digital Marketing, MasterCard Worldwide
* Jenny Howell – Manager of Interactive Marketing, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
* Carole Irgang – SVP, Integrated Marketing Communications, Kraft Foods
* Carol Kruse – VP, Global Interactive Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company
* Tim Murphy – Senior Director Digital Marketing, Anheuser-Busch
* David Roman – VP, WW Marketing Communications, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
* Debbie Jo Severin – VP, Marketing, Covad Communications Group, Inc.

Agencies:

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

Publishers:

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

MIXX Awards Sponsors:
Adweek Media
Brightcove.com
Broadband Enterprises
Comcast Spotlight
Forbes.com
International Data Group (IDG)
Microsoft Advertising
Terra Networks
Traffiq
ValueClick Media
Yahoo!

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.

NEW YORK – Ai Media Group launches today with a team of experienced professionals ready to offer unique digital advertising solutions including “traditional” search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) as well as promotional campaigns for video, mobile, emerging digital media, widgets and social networking.

Ai Media Group is a new venture headed by its Chief Operating Officer, Sergio Alvarez, who formerly led the top-ranked national sales team for Verizon’s SuperPages.com. Ai Media Group is 100% employee owned and operated.

“In today’s ever changing digital landscape, offering placement on a few networks is already old news,” says Sergio Alvarez. “Advertisers demand more and count on us to help them understand and track new advertising methods. We work with agency needs, whether it’s video, mobile or social networking. It’s not ‘one product fits all,’ rather which products are right for that advertiser.”

Incoming Chief Information Officer, Ron Trenka, has over 20 years of experience developing web applications for companies like Olympus America, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Alitalia Airlines, Absolut Vodka and others.

“The push for emerging technologies and different methods of advertising keeps us ahead of the curve,” Trenka says. “Our job is to deliver these results in a package that is easily understood while educating our partners.”

“Ai Media Group is an ideal choice for agencies, Certified Marketing Representatives (CMRs), and local businesses based all over the nation,” says Sergio Alvarez. “Part of our success comes from working as a team, which in a sales environment can be difficult. We integrate sales and technology into one unit in which independent roles work toward the same goal. In the end, it makes for a comprehensive package for the advertiser.”

About Ai Media Group:

The exemplary skills of Ai Media Group professionals have been at the forefront of search marketing, from digital advertising to Yahoo Yellow Pages, to bridging the gap into algorithmic search. Ai Media Group professionals have a proven record of providing measurable results to thousands of advertisers. The company’s mission is to educate the marketplace on the newest offerings and act as consultants to enhance business decisions with strategic business intelligence. Ai Media Group’s entire staff is well-versed on all aspects of search and is comprised of the industry’s most knowledgeable and experienced specialists. For more information, visit http://aimediagroup.com/.

RESTON, VA, August 26, 2008 – comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its June ranking of the top online display ad publishers and advertisers, based on data from the comScore Ad Metrix service. Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace.com, ranked as the top display ad publisher with 15.9 percent of all display ads viewed, while Microsoft was the top display advertiser with 1.7 percent of total views.

comScore Ad Metrix provides detailed reporting of the number and types of online display ads viewed by Internet users in the U.S. market. The syndicated service measures the number of times each advertiser’s ads are viewed and where they are viewed, the demographics of those exposed to the ads, and the reach and frequency of an advertiser’s campaign. Ad Metrix also provides samples of the creative ad units with information on ad sizes.

Fox Interactive Media Ranks as Top Display Ad Publisher in June

Fox Interactive Media ranked as the top display ad publishing property in June, serving 52.3 billion ad views (15.9 percent market share), with MySpace.com accounting for 51 billion of these views. Yahoo! Sites, which ranked second in total ad views with 34.7 billion (10.5 percent share), reached 130 million unique individuals with its ads – reaching more people than any other publisher. AOL LLC ranked third with 19 billion display ads (5.8 percent share), followed by Microsoft Sites with 15.4 billion (4.7 percent share), and Google Sites with 5.1 billion (1.5 percent share).

Top Display Ad Publisher Sites June 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Ad Metrix
Publisher Site	Total Display Ad Views (MM)	Share of Display Ads	Advertising Exposed Unique Visitors (000)
Total Internet	329,828	100.0	180,571
Fox Interactive Media	52,288	15.9	83,714
Yahoo! Sites	34,675	10.5	130,680
AOL LLC	19,004	5.8	96,512
Microsoft Sites	15,485	4.7	87,667
Google Sites	5,075	1.5	81,885
FACEBOOK.COM	3,650	1.1	30,723
eBay	3,512	1.1	52,238
Viacom Digital	3,114	0.9	36,382
COMCAST.NET	2,644	0.8	11,860
Glam Media	2,237	0.7	33,462

Microsoft Ranks as Top Display Advertiser in June

Microsoft was the top display advertiser in June with 5.5 billion display ad views, due in large part to its promotional campaign for Windows Live Search, including ads for Windows Live Search Club games and the new Windows Live Search cashback program. The University of Phoenix, an online university, ranked second with 4.7 billion, followed by Experian (4 billion), which advertises for a variety of sites including LowerMyBills.com and FreeCreditReport.com, and United Online (3.9 billion), which owns the heavily advertised Classmates.com. Several communications providers ranked among the top ten, including Verizon with 3.8 billion, AT&T with3.8 billion, Deutsche Telekom (which owns T-Mobile) with 3.6 billion and Vonage with 3.4 billion.

Top Online Display Advertisers June 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Ad Metrix
Advertiser	Total Display Ad Views (MM)	Share of Display Ads	Advertising Exposed Unique Visitors (000)
Total Internet	329,828	100.0	180,571
Microsoft	5,529	1.7	126,367
University of Phoenix	4,722	1.4	120,475
Experian Interactive	3,968	1.2	137,915
United Online, Inc	3,929	1.2	136,329
Verizon	3,818	1.2	130,839
AT&T, Inc.	3,802	1.2	134,341
Deutsche Telekom	3,594	1.1	129,951
Vonage	3,368	1.0	132,964
Netflix	3,146	1.0	134,554
Ask Network	2,852	0.9	102,565

To request more information on comScore Ad Metrix, please visit: http://www.comscore.com/contact

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comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world and preferred source of digital marketing intelligence. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com/boilerplate.

“We are interested in the nature and extent to which you engage in such practices, and the impact it could have on consumer privacy,” wrote Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., and ranking Republican Joe Barton of Texas. – Reuters (08/01)

All’s fine and a honorable initiative this is: I would, indeed, be creeped out to find out just how close I’m ‘watched’ by my ISP and the myriad of sites I use. However, I’m having a Carrie moment and cannot help but wonder: are these people (John Dingell and Joe Barton, namely) qualified to run such an investigation or this initiative is just a charade? Who are the advisors doing the actual work of analysing these dotcoms and ISPs?

Check out the two videos below to see how in-game advertising (product placement, in fact) currently looks like – you’ll agree it’s nothing glamorous so far. In-game advertising is still a vaste untapped resource of targeted audiences but nobody seems to have figured exactly how to do it, or has developed the technology.

Always Sunny ads in an Xbox game:

The Simpsons, Ford, Verizon, Subway, BIC and others in EA Skate game (US version):

Relevant ad metrics are practically inexistant for in-game ads at the moment and will continue to be so until suitable technologies are developed – something that will most likely open a can of worms in terms of data collection and privacy concerns.

With consumers being increasingly aware of privacy issues and not willing to provide much profiling and usage data, one could expect agencies to have a hard time including in-game ads in their clients’ media plans – once the novelty wears off, there is little justification to spend money on something with unquantifiable benefits.

Full findings of the study, its methodology and results are being presented this afternoon at the iMedia Brand Summit in Coconut Point, Florida.

The study illustrates that heavy clickers represent just 6% of the online population yet account for 50% of all display ad clicks. While many online media companies use click-through rate as an ad negotiation currency, the study shows that heavy clickers are not representative of the general public. In fact, heavy clickers skew towards Internet users between the ages of 25-44 and households with an income under $40,000. Heavy clickers behave very differently online than the typical Internet user, and while they spend four times more time online than non-clickers, their spending does not proportionately reflect this very heavy Internet usage. Heavy clickers are also relatively more likely to visit auctions, gambling, and career services sites – a markedly different surfing pattern than non-clickers.

Further preliminary Starcom data suggests no correlation between display ad clicks and brand metrics, and show no connection between measured attitude towards a brand and the number of times an ad for that brand was clicked. The research presentation suggests that when digital campaigns have a branding objective, optimizing for high click rates does not necessarily improve campaign performance.

“There is more and more emphasis by advertisers for greater return-on-objectives in campaigns, particularly in the digital space where the accountability data is so readily available,“ says Starcom USA Director of Connections Research and Analytics Grant Prentice. “Natural Born Clickers shows us that we can’t count on click-through rate as our primary success metric for display ads; Starcom is more reliant on shifts in brand attitude metrics and analytics tying on-line exposure to sales as the true measures of online advertising efficacy.”

“While the click can continue to be a relevant metric for direct response advertising campaigns, this study demonstrates that click performance is the wrong measure for the effectiveness of brand-building campaigns,” said Erin Hunter, executive vice president at comScore. “For many campaigns, the branding effect of the ads is what’s really important and generating clicks is more of an ancillary benefit. Ultimately, judging a campaign’s effectiveness by clicks can be detrimental because it overlooks the importance of branding while simultaneously drawing conclusions from a sub-set of people who may not be representative of the target audience.”

“One of the underlying values of looking at people and not just pages in our business is that we are able to help uncover behavior that is counterintuitive to what much of the media world assumes about online audiences,” says Daniel Jaye, CEO of TACODA.

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR) is a global leader in measuring the digital world. This capability is based on a massive, global cross-section of more than 2 million consumers who have given comScore permission to confidentially capture their browsing and transaction behavior, including online and offline purchasing. comScore panelists also participate in survey research that captures and integrates their attitudes and intentions. Through its proprietary technology, comScore measures what matters across a broad spectrum of behavior and attitudes. comScore analysts apply this deep knowledge of customers and competitors to help clients design powerful marketing strategies and tactics that deliver superior ROI. comScore services are used by nearly 900 clients, including global leaders such as AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo!, BBC, Carat, Cyworld, Deutsche Bank, France Telecom, Best Buy, The Newspaper Association of America, Financial Times, ESPN, Fox Sports, Nestlé, Starcom, Universal McCann, the United States Postal Service, Verizon, ViaMichelin, Merck and Expedia. For more information, please visit www.comscore.com.

Starcom USA is a full-service media division of Starcom MediaVest Group (www.smvgroup.com), which is ranked one of the largest media communications agencies in the world and encompasses an integrated network of highly specialized consumer contact companies. Starcom’s organization includes strategic marketing communication architects who are highly specialized in media management, response media, internet and digital communications, as well as multicultural, entertainment, sports sponsorship and event marketing and media. With over 900 employees in the U.S., Starcom delivers brand-building results for many of the world’s leading companies.

TACODA®, Inc. (www.tacoda.com), a wholly owned division of AOL and a Platform A company,runs one of the worlds largest and most advanced behavioral targeting advertising networks. Since 2001, TACODA has provided a comprehensive range of behavioral targeting solutions to thousands of web publihers and brand marketers. Its patent pending technologies power TACODA Audience Networks™, which enables brand advertisers to target relevant messages to specific audience segments. TACODA Audience Networks™ has more than 4,500 sites reaching over 120 million monthly unique users. Major US media partners include Dow Jones, The New York Times Company, NBC Universal, Hoovers, HGTV.com, FoodNetwork.com, KBB.com and USAToday.com.