I-COM worldmeasurementnews

Blurring Lines

William Common [pictured], founding principal of Jun Group writes for MediaPost: The 1940's-era CPM mindset still reigns, but there's a growing demand, in video especially, for engagement-based distribution, and a general acceptance of its value. The "viral video" craze has evolved into a more mature understanding of shareable paid placements, and online video as a whole has become a mainstay for an increasing number of major advertisers. But it's difficult to overstate the disruptive impact of social media. More…

Fractional Attribution: Nice To Have, But Hard To Use

Chen Wang [pictured], Director for Research Analytics at Mindshare writes at MediaPost: In the past few years, there has truly been a blossoming of companies trying to tackle -- or claiming to have tackled -- one of the thorniest issues in digital media metrics: fractional attribution.

Fractional attribution is ad essentially effectiveness measurement beyond the last ad exposure. For those who are new to the field, the last-ad model has been dominating the digital measure for as long as we can remember. More…

In US, Banyan Branch Launches Social Interactive Practice

Announces Jostin Darlington as Director of Social Interactive to lead newest practice group; Full-service social media agency now supporting major national brands with social media strategy, engagement, creative interactive and analytics programs

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Banyan Branch, a full-service social media agency that provides end-to-end marketing services for the world's leading brands, today announced the launch of its new Social Interactive practice to complement its existing Strategy, Engagement and Research & Analytics practices. Banyan Branch's Social Interactive practice helps major brands fuel conversation and boost engagement through social experiences that increase brand visibility and drive consumer loyalty to support business objectives. The Social Interactive practice works with Banyan Branch's Fortune 500 client base to build cutting-edge digital and mobile experiences that harness the power of the social web.

"Creative content is the key to generating and increasing brand-driven dialogue in social networks and communities," said Blake Cahill [pictured], president of Banyan Branch. "Brands need to spark social sharing via viral videos, integrated contests, quizzes and other interactive engagements - experiences we specialize in creating for all web, social and mobile platforms. While many digital agencies build for online, they're not necessarily developing campaign assets specifically for the social environment. By adding a dedicated Social Interactive practice to our broader suite of offerings, we're able to identify, recommend, develop and execute winning social media strategies for our clients' brands." More…

In Finland, Zokem is Now Arbitron Mobile

Finnish research & technology company becomes new Arbitron division; Expands Arbitron technology portfolio and global footprint

Helsinki, Finland; July 28, 2011 – Arbitron Inc., (NYSE: ARB) announced today that it has acquired Zokem Oy, a Finland-based mobile audience measurement and analytics firm for a payment of approximately $11.7 million in cash at closing with possible additional incremental cash payments through 2014 of up to $12 million based on future financial performance.

“Arbitron’s expertise in survey methodology, its currency panels for media measurement and its established sales channels are a tremendous complement to Zokem’s mobile technology, mobile expertise and international footprint. We will be in a strong position to capitalize on these assets while continuing to work with our existing partners,” said Hannu Verkasalo [pictured], founder and chief executive officer, Zokem Oy. “We are already delivering unique and valuable insights to advertisers and media buyers around the world who want a better understanding of how consumers rely on their mobile devices and services. Arbitron Mobile is now better positioned to enhance and expand these insights. For Zokem’s management, employees, customers and investors, this acquisition is a welcome step forward”. More…

In US, Crowdtap Raises $7 Million in Series A Financing to Help Brands Leverage Their "Crowds" of Influential Consumers

NEW YORK, July 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Crowdtap, the network for Brand Influencer Communities, today announced that it has secured a total of $7 million in Series A Funding led by Foundry Group, with participation from GSA Venture Partners and Mr Youth, the leading social marketing agency that incubated Crowdtap and provided $3 million in seed funding. This brings Crowdtap's total financing to $10 million.

"We believe deep participation and collaboration with consumers is the future of marketing and the over 50 leading brands and many of the country's best agencies leveraging our platform have really validated our model," said Brandon Evans [pictured], Crowdtap's CEO and Founder. "Bringing on partners like Foundry and GSAVP with such deep experience in gaming, crowdsourcing and advertising technology really formed a perfect opportunity for us to grow our position as the leader in Brand Influencer Communities." More… 

What Data-Driven CMOs Need to Know to Truly Reach Their Audience

Jon Ingalls [pictured], chief marketing officer of BlueKai writes at AdAge:   With fast hinting, marketers and agencies can attain more insight into which audiences are intersecting with their media, as well as the size of available opportunity in real-time. Data-driven CMOs have the luxury to play, iterate, learn and refine their conclusions through very fast and interactive analytics. In this world, the CMO is having a dialogue with data. More…

In US, Right Media Launches New Seller Controls for Data, Inventory and Pricing

New features expand real-time bidding across the exchange

Ramsey McGrory [pictured], VP Marketplaces  & Head of Right Media posts in Right Media blog: Right Media is rolling out new features that give sellers more control over managing their data, pricing and inventory and expand real-time bidding (RTB) across the exchange. 

Right Media’s new controls aim to address these RTB challenges and help sellers determine their level of engagement with each buyer—what inventory to sell, at what price, and at what level of visibility. Seat holders on the Right Media Exchange can also use the new features listed below to conduct traditional hosted transactions and to create private marketplaces. More…

In US, Millward Brown and Dynamic Logic Launch FanIndex

New Global Solution Measures Branding Effectiveness of Social Media Fan Pages

New York, July 27, 2011 - Global market research agency Millward Brown, and its digital practice, Dynamic Logic, announced today the launch of FanIndex, a solution for measuring the impact of brand pages on social platforms. FanIndex provides quantitative measurement of Facebook fan page performance along with rich diagnostics to help marketers optimize page content. 

“Marketers are looking for standardization in metrics across platforms. With FanIndex, our analytic construct uses traditional attitudinal metrics at the same time adjusting them for Facebook,” says Ali Rana [pictured], senior vice president and head of Dynamic Logic’s Emerging Media Lab. “Marketers can now get deep diagnostic insights into fan motivations, their expectations and their resultant change in perceptions.” More…

CAAAA joins I-COM as Global Patronage Organisation

GENEVA, MUMBAI & SINGAPORE, July 29, 2011 - The CAAAA (Confederation of Asian Advertising Agency Associations) and I- COM (International Conference on Online Media Measurement) announce today that the CAAAA has become a Patronage Organization of the upcoming I-COM Global Summit on October 14-18, 2011 in Rome.

Srinivasan Swamy [pictured], Chairman, CAAAA stated, “We are moving towards a world where everything will be in digital form and distributed through the net. We see this already – there is no newspaper or magazine without a web presence; or for that matter TV programmes. Our members consider on-line measurement critical in this larger context.” More...

In US, Visual Revenue Secures Series A Seed Funding

Investment to Accelerate Product Development of Company’s Predictive Analytics Platform for Media

New York, NY (PRWEB) July 27, 2011 Visual Revenue Inc., the market leader in predictive analytics for online media, today announced that it has secured $512K in funding led by Lerer Ventures, SV Angel, Kima Ventures and NYC Seed and joined by 10 individual Angel investors. This investment will primarily help fuel the company's product development.

"Online editors have access to a lot of data, but this typically paints an unclear or misleading picture," said Dennis R. Mortensen [pictured], CEO and founder of Visual Revenue. "We are leading the way by providing online editors with advanced, yet simple, decision support tools they need to take informed, real-time content placement decisions that impact the future.” More…