Ad News and Views from Around the Web

Posted onMarch 10th, 2010 byadministrator

Yahoo’s March Madness hoop dreams; recession brand lessons; data’s not everything; 2010 looking up, and more

Calling all bracketologists
March brings with it green beer, spring flowers and, of course, three weeks of hoops hysteria in the form of the NCAA college basketball tournament. This year’s Yahoo! Sports March Madness line-up is stronger than ever, beginning with our seasoned veteran, Tourney Pick ‘Em. The contest pits Yahoo! users against each other and the “experts,” with cash prizes of up to a million dollars on the line. Something new and cool for this year’s tournament is “Predictalot,” an experimental app from the brainiacs at Yahoo! Labs: Predictalot enables fans to make all types of prestidigitations, then assigns odds and lets users buy and sell them like stocks. Yahoo! has also created a dedicated mobile site just for your tournament picks, as well as a new web show, “Bracket Madness Live.” Picking begins this Sunday after the match-ups are announced, and the usual bracket-busting begins Thursday, March 18.

JWT’s top ten lessons recession brand lessons
Those JWT guys sure are into their “top tens.” The global agency spent a year surveying brand and consumer response to the recession, and came up with ten key brand lessons for surviving a downturn. And then they put them all in a book, which you can download for bupkis—well, in exchange for the usual name/rank/serial number data, anyway.

It’s not all about the data?
Yep, that’s what Dax Hamman says in AdExchanger.com’s Displaying Search column. Hamman, the VP of Display Media at iCrossing, says that “Search and analytics data has helped define media programs for some time…Data is essential to this evolution in media.” But, he also says, “As an industry we must remember that we are talking to real people, not just pixels, and real people will always respond better to something that is visually exciting, has sizzling copy or simply makes them say ‘wow’.” In short, creativity’s still king, kids.

High Standards
It may still seem like the Wild West when it comes to digital advertising but, rest assured, the frontier days are over. Today we have high standards, as ClickZ’s Hollis Thomases explains.

2010 looking up for marketing execs
According to a recent survey of more than 400 North American marketing execs performed by the research firm Frost & Sullivan, marketing execs are viewing the glass as at least half full. Budgets remain flat, staffing and processes remain an issue, and the biggest challenge remains the global recession. But, nevertheless, marketers are finding that life can be so sweet on the sunny side of the street.

— Michael Mattis

(Hoops image by Ryan Fung via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Video: Carol Bartz on Science, Art and Scale

Posted onMarch 2nd, 2010 byadministrator

“No one can do this as well as we can.”

In an informal conversation at the 4A’s conference, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz says that only Yahoo! can offer everything advertisers need for successful digital advertising: science, art and scale.

Talk About A-Plus

Posted onFebruary 26th, 2010 byadministrator

Yahoo! at San Francisco’s 4A conference

Did you ever see the 1950 classic “All About Eve?” In it, Bette Davis plies the classic line, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”

Well Sunday, Feb. 28 begins the 4A Conference at the Union Square Hilton in San Francisco. At this fab confab, advertising’s best will appear and show off their newest and most fabulous wares. It promises to be a bumpy but fantastic conference, one full of surprises.

As the 4A the website says, it’s a chance for advertisers and agencies to “Collaborate with and ask questions of one another. Listen to leaders who have first-hand experience in transforming their own businesses to meet the emerging needs of a new era. Be a part of the bigger picture, the solutions to the time-consuming age-old questions of monetization and evolution.” That sounds pretty good. We can’t wait.

Here’s the up-shot on the Yahoo! down-low:

Sunday, Feb. 28

• 6:00 to 7 P.M: Opening Night Reception Sponsored by Yahoo! — Cityscape Room, Hilton

Monday, March 1

• 10 A.M: Carol Bartz, Transforming Yahoo! — Continental Ballroom, 2nd Floor
  Noon to 7 P.M: Yahoo! Transformation Lounge — Free custom lattes and live storyboard artist, lobby level
• 5:30 to 7 P.M: Cocktails in 4A’s Transformation Lounge (which includes a special Yahoo! space)
  7 P.M to 10 P.M: Dinner in Continental Ballroom sponsored by Microsoft

Tuesday, March 2

• 8 A.M. to 6 P.M Yahoo! Transformation Lounge Open — Free Custom lattes and live storyboard artist

Can’t be there? No problem. We will be, live blogging the events, tweeting and posting to the Yahoo! Advertising Facebook page.

—The Team

Yahoos at SMX West

Posted onFebruary 26th, 2010 byadministrator

Attending the SMX confab in Santa Clara next week? Check out our line-up of speakers and panelists

It’s no secret that we Yahoos are big fans of Danny Sullivan—the smooth jazz of SEO—and his Search Marketing Expo conference series. Next week, March 2 to 4, SMX West convenes at the Santa Clara Convention Center in (where else?) Santa Clara, Calif. Come check out what Danny has to say, and all the tips and trick that can help you be a better search marketer.

Of course, Yahoo! will be present at booth 216. We’ll also be giving away coffee in Yahoo!-branded mugs, as well as other fun tchotchkes, at our own coffee cart. We’ve also got a fabulous line-up of Yahoo! speakers to answer your questions about such hot-button topics as the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010
9:45 A.M. o 10:45 A.M.
Location: A1
Real Time Search & The Major Search Engines
Yahoo! Speaker:
Ivan Davtchev, Senior Product Manager, Yahoo! Search

Wednesday, March 3, 2010
1:30 to 2:45pm
Location: TBD
Search Meets Display, Display Meets Search
Yahoo Speaker:
David Oliveira, Regional Vice President Sales, Yahoo!

4:45 P.M. to 6:00 P.M.
Location: TBD
Ask the Paid Search Reps
Yahoo! Speaker:
Tomaso Pozzi, Product Manager, Yahoo!

Thursday, March 4, 2010
9:00 A.M to 9:45 A.M.
Location: A1
Keynote – The State of the Search Union
Yahoo! Speaker:
David Roth, Director of Search Engine Marketing, Yahoo! Inc.

10:00 A.M. to 11:15 A.M.
Location: A3
Bringing SEO In House: How To Be Successful!
Yahoo! Speaker:
Laura Lippay, Director of Technical Marketing, Yahoo!

11:30 A.M. to 12:30 A.M.
Location: A1
Ask The Search Engines
Yahoo! Speaker:
Arnab Bhattacharjee, Senior Director, Yahoo! Search Technology and Engineering, Yahoo!

Hope to see you all there!

—The Team

What Do I Do With All This Data?

Posted onFebruary 23rd, 2010 byadministrator

Yahoo’s Scott Burke answers your questions

It’s a pretty common question among online advertisers: How do I use all the marketing metrics I’m inundated with? In an article posted yesterday on Ad Age, Scott Burke, our VP of engineering, user data and analytics, tackles that question with some pretty detailed answers, and talks about what’s important now—whether it’s clicks, time spent, the delta between search and display analytics, and much more. Click over to Ad Age for all the details.

—The Team

(Image by Pink Sherbet Photography via Flickr CC 2.0)

Search Innovation in Five Minutes

Posted onFebruary 12th, 2010 byadministrator

SearchSpeak 2010 video spolights Yahoo! search initiatives

Earlier this week we blogged about SearchSpeak 2010, an event that took place at our Sunnyvale campus. At SearchSpeak, some of the smartest and savviest Big Cheeses at Yahoo! took folks through the search and search marketing innovations we’ve introduced over the past six months, and some of the innovations we’re working on for the future. This short video provides a synopsis of the coolest things that are going on here at Yahoo!

For more, visit the Yahoo! Search blog.

—The Team

New Year, Original Content

Posted onJanuary 8th, 2010 byadministrator

Yahoo! and Electus’ Ben Silverman announce new content, ad delivery concept

Three words: Content, content, content.

Over the past decade, cable TV has experienced tremendous growth because of its ability to develop programming for very specific audiences, telling the stories that those audiences love to hear. At the same time, it has provided opportunities for advertisers to reach their core audiences, telling the stories that advertisers need to tell. 

Like cable, online today is poised to do just the same, and more. Yet, despite the targeted programming capabilities available, online publishers and advertisers have yet to take full advantage of the medium in terms of content development. That’s where today’s announcement comes in.

Yahoo! has just announced a partnership with Electus, a new venture headed by Ben Silverman, former co-chair at NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios, who has been involved with such hit shows as “30 Rock,” “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” “Saturday Night Live,”  “The Biggest Loser,”  “Celebrity Apprentice” and “The Office.” This guy knows how to tell a story.

The Yahoo!-Electus partnership is all about producing original programming, as well as giving advertisers new opportunities to integrate their brand messages—their stories—into the next generation of online programming.

We look forward to working with Ben and Electus, and getting your messages and stories out.

—The Team

The Best of Yahoo! Ads, ‘09

Posted onJanuary 4th, 2010 byadministrator

What can you do with a Yahoo! display ad? More than just display, for starters

Whether video, Web or mobile, Yahoo! display ads are rocking the house down, branding your products, sending the messages you want and getting the ROI you want, as this video shows. Enjoy, and happy new year!

—The Team

Random Acts of Kindness, Yahoo! Style

Posted onDecember 8th, 2009 byadministrator

“You In?” program encourages acts of good during the holiday season

Bob Hope once said, “If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.”

Truer words were seldom spoken. At Yahoo!, we strive not only to not be evil, we want to do a little good. That’s why, during this year’s season of sharing, we’ve launched the year-end giving campaign “You In?”.
The campaign, designed to send a cascade of kindness throughout the Yahooniverse and beyond, is an extension of our Yahoo! for Good Purple Acts of Kindness program, and aims to encourage you, the most valuable part of our global community of 600 million, to give back a little of your good fortune through random acts of kindness—and encourages others to do the same.

And without necessarily spending a dime.

Here’s how it works. First, go to kindness.yahoo.com and enter your random act of kindness. You might have dropped off a raincoat at a homeless shelter, or donated a sawbuck to fight breast cancer, or sent a holiday greeting card to a disabled veteran, or simply just remembered to say “happy holidays” to the bus driver. You get the idea.

Once you’ve submitted your act, it will automatically appear on your Yahoo! Status and can be shared on your Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace pages. It will also be displayed on an interactive global map on the campaign’s website at kindness.yahoo.com.

For example, your post might say, “I just helped an elderly person with a walker cross the street. You In?” and provide a link so others can join in and share their own acts of kindness.

So get in, give well and ask others, “You In?” It’s a great way to give Scrooge the what-for during a tough season. To get you in the mood, here are a few more quotes from the great and good:

“Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”—Mark Twain

“Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.”—Seneca

“The more sympathy you give, the less you need.”—Malcolm S. Forbes

—The Team

(Special thanks to Quote Garden for the inspiring words above; image courtesy Ed Youdon via Flickr, CC 2.0)

Right Media is Open for Premium Business

Posted onDecember 4th, 2009 byadministrator

An Announcement from Right Media

Right Media will discontinue supporting the Direct Media Exchange (DMX)—our self-serve platform for small publishers looking to monetize their sites. The DMX site will serve ads through Jan. 31t and DMX participants can access their reports through March 1.

For more on this anncouncement, see the full post on the Right Media blog by Stephanie Dorman, Senior Director, Client Services and Operations.

—The Team