How Google Plans to Control TV Advertising and Crush Agencies
AdWeek ran an interesting story a few days ago about Google’s foray into television advertising. As I’ve been saying for years, Google’s ultimate plan is to be the middle-man for all advertising, everywhere. There are clearly inefficiencies in the buying and selling of traditional media. It requires multiple phone calls and emails and spread sheets. […]
3 Secrets Rock Stars Can Teach the PR Biz
R&B star Jonelle Monae has burst on the scene recently, with guest spots in the Outkast movie Idlewyld and new tracks co-produced by Sean “Diddy” Combs, who says Monae may be the most important new artist signing of his career. In addition to loads of raw talent, Monae (who has self-directed much of her career […]
Email Marketing – What Do You Want to Know?
I’m happy to announce that I’ve been elected to co-chair the Consumer Education Roundtable for the Email Experience Council. The EEC is the global professional association for email marketers, striving to enhance the image of email as a tactic while advocating its importance for business. In partnership with the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), EEC also […]
Ad Agency New Business Survey – Take It
My friend Michael Gass, who writes the excellent Fueling Ad Agency New Business blog, has launched a survey of small and mid-sized ad agencies and the current state of their business development program. With the economy getting as ugly as pre-surgery Joan Rivers, figuring out how to keep your agency in front of key prospects […]
The World’s Best PR Blog – Vote Today
To celebrate its 10th Anniversary, PR Week has launched a “Best PR Blogs” contest with YOU the agency community as the judge and jury. PR Week nominated 16 well-known PR blogs, and asked each blogger to nominate another blog for the contest. The result is a 32-blog, March Madness-style blog off. Each week, blogs are […]
PitchEngine Takes the Mystery out of Social Media Releases
Agency Advantage Tools – #3 In a Series Since it’s invention by Todd Defren at Shift Communications in 2006, the social media press release has taken root. Combining short paragraphs and bullet points with Web-friendly links, tags, and multi-media content, the SM release aims to give reporters and bloggers the key ingredients for a story […]
Internet Advertising to Grow 20% in 2008
A new report from Bernstein Research says online advertising in the U.S. will grow by 20% in 2008, despite weakness in travel, auto, and financials. Top categories for online advertising spend include: Finance, insurance, real estate – 29.6% of overall spend Media and entertainment – 25.2% Retail – 13.8% Other – 12.9% Auto – 8.6% […]
Ad Networks Are a House of Cards – But a Great Deal
A groundbreaking study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Bain & Company shows that ad networks’ share of display ad sales soared from 5% to 30% from 2006-2007. (Read the excellent full report here) It seems the rise in Internet advertising (~20% per year, according to eMarketer) is creating a flurry of new sites, and […]
7 Critical Questions When Outsourcing SEO
Many agencies without full service digital marketing departments choose to outsource any SEO work to a specialist. While I believe that the present focus on good content makes SEO easier, not harder for traditional agencies (especially PR) to handle in-house, many will continue outsourcing this critical service (or at least until I launch a “How […]
The Truth About Publicis Buying Performics
In a sign that major advertising agencies are continuing to recognize the long-term profitability of search marketing, Publicis Groupe bought Performics from Google today. One of the largest search marketing agencies, Performics will join Digitas and other Publicis entities as part of VivaKi Nerve Center (no, I am not making this up) the new strategic […]
4 Rules for Good Email Design in a Cynical World
Email is the most popular (and by many counts, the most successful) of all online marketing channels, but it’s role and best practices are changing dramatically and rapidly. The excellent David Daniels, analyst for JupiterMedia (recently purchased by Forrester) wrote a report in July on “The Social and Portable Inbox” that underscores how the game […]
3 New Features for Google’s Ad Planner
Google announced on Friday via one of their blogs that they have added 3 new features to Ad Planner. (note: for more about Ad Planner, and Google’s long-term plan to totally change the ad agency business, read this post from Convince & Convert’s greatest hits) Impressive that Google has made pretty significant upgrades to Ad […]
Agencies Need to Embrace Digital Even If It’s Uncomfortable
Excellent post by Bart Cleveland on the AdAge Small Agency blog recently about Comfort Zones. Bart made the point that if you get too careful and comfortable in your agency, you won’t attract clients that are looking for innovative work. There’s no question this is true. His post used “risky” or groundbreaking creative as the […]
Agency Advantage Tools #2 – Yureekah
The variety and quality of banner ads online is truly staggering. From the infamous X10 Camera pop-up, to Punch the Monkey, to today’s highly engaging rich media video ads, turning out great banner creative is a universal challenge. For nearly every facet of the creative process, there are libraries that can be used for inspiration. […]