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In US, IAB Releases Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification

Common Methodologies for the Evaluation of Campaigns Will Promote Growth, Consistency and Greater Transparency in the Interactive Advertising Buying and Selling Process

NEW YORK, NY (February 14, 2012) — The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) today released the final version of “Guidelines for the Conduct of Ad Verification.” This advanced framework, developed in conjunction with the Media Rating Council (MRC), will ensure a common set of methods and practices for ad verification, ultimately providing vital assurances to marketers and publishers alike that companies engaged in the verification of interactive advertising campaigns can themselves be audited against a common, transparent standard.

“These guidelines introduce a transparent and auditable approach to ad verification practices in the industry,” said Steve Sullivan [pictured, left], Vice President, Advertising Technology, IAB. “While ad verification in principle is valuable to the digital advertising industry, the lack of accountability created tension between the publishers and marketers. We developed these guidelines to introduce a level of consistency into campaign assessments commensurate the industry's standards for impression measurement.”

“Consistent and transparent conduct of ad verification is vital for deepening confidence in the industry and driving the advancement of digital advertising,” said George Ivie [pictured, right], Executive Director and CEO of the Media Rating Council. “We believe the issuance of these guidelines represent a major step toward achieving these goals.”  More...

In US, the Mobile Marketing Association Makes it Easier to Buy and Sell Mobile Ads for Smartphone and Tablet

Industry-Standard Guidelines for Smart Phones, Feature Phones and Tablets

MMA Will Issue MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package Compliance Stamps to Companies Adopting New Standards

New York, NY (February 8, 2012) — The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), the leading global trade association for the mobile industry, today released an updated version of the MMA Universal Mobile Ad Package. Created with MMA members, with added input from the industry gathered during a public comment period, the new, 2.0 version makes it easier to create, buy and sell mobile ads for smart phones, feature phones and tablets.

“We’ve taken 60-plus ad unit sizes and streamlined them down to just six. That simplicity frees brands and agencies to focus on developing innovative, compelling mobile campaigns that span the widest possible variety of devices and demographics,” said MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart [pictured]. “As a result, the new guidelines make it easier than ever to buy and sell ads for phones and tablets.”  More...

Designing An Accurate Global A/B Test To Improve Campaign Optimization

Robert L. Marsa, Ph.D. [pictured], VP of Technology at Adometry, Inc. writes for Mediapost's Metrics Insider: For online marketers, the practice of global optimization involves making small changes to the volumes of impressions served on all, or almost all, ad placements with the goal of maximizing a target metric, such as gross profit or number of conversions.

While advertisers have been performing more simple A/B tests for years, many now realize that they need to improve their tests in order to effectively optimize global campaign spends and remain competitive. While global optimization tests require a bit more effort, the results can significantly improve return on ad spend (ROAS).  More...

Demand-Side Platforms – Is India ready?

Ravinder Pal 'RP' Singh [pictured], Vice President at Neo@Ogilvy writes for ClickZ.Asia: It might sound like a buzzword today, but irrespective of what name we give it, DSPs will continue to evolve and be an indispensable part of Indian digital media scene sooner than later.

How a DSP can add value to an agency’s story to clients will decide a lot about the fate of DSPs in India. Considering DSP means a lot to display media spends and a lot of “brand” advertisers’ digital media efforts are largely managed by their agencies, the agency plays a vital role of deploying DSP interface for its clients. More...

In US, Extole Secures $10 Million in Series C Funding Led by Shasta Ventures

Following Record Growth in 2011, Leading Social Marketing Platform Closes Round with Participation from New and Existing Investors

San Francisco, CA, Feb. 8, 2012 – Extole (www.extole.com), the leading Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) Social Marketing Platform, today announced it has closed a $10 million Series C round of funding, bringing the company’s total financing to $22 million. The round was led by Shasta Ventures with participation from existing investors Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, and Trident Capital. Extole marks the first Shasta investment for Jim Barnett, who joined Shasta Ventures as a partner in November 2011 and has served as Extole’s Chairman of the Board since 2009.

“Brands have a massive opportunity to tap into an entirely new, high-value marketing channel by harnessing the power and reach of their social advocates with C2C Social Marketing. At the same time, our platform also improves the performance of existing marketing channels, such as SEO and display,” said Brad Klaus [pictured, left], CEO of Extole. “The market opportunity is validated by our incredible growth trajectory. We’re thrilled by the vote of confidence from Shasta and our existing investors.”

“C2C Social Marketing will revolutionize how marketers interact with their customers. The market opportunity is enormous,” said Jim Barnett [pictured, right], Partner of Shasta Ventures and Chairman of the Board of Extole.  “Extole has established itself as a leader based on its C2C focus, strong leadership team, and comprehensive platform, making it an easy choice to be my first investment at Shasta Ventures.”  More...

How to Evaluate and Buy Online Ad Effectiveness Research | Part 4: Cookies

Marc Ryan [pictured], Senior Vice President & Chief Research Officer at InsightExpress writes at InsightfulAnalytics Blog: True to its pedigree, the cookie enjoys quite a bit of notoriety,  frequently showing up in Wall Street Journal headlines.  Some consider it to be the Achilles heel of online ad measurement because it’s so susceptible to deletion.  The idea that an individual could be exposed to an ad,  delete the cookie associated with the ad, and subsequently be sampled for a control cell seems to be a deal breaker to some buyers of ad effectiveness research. More…

In Australia, Adslot signs No.1 accommodation site - Wotif.com

1 FEBRUARY 2012. Webfirm Group Limited (ASX:WFM) today announced Adslot has entered into a commercial agreement with Wotif Holdings Limited (ASX:WTF) to implement Adslot’s end-to-end self-serve display sales platform.

Andrew Barlow [pictured, left], CEO of Webfirm Group, said: “Wotif is a recognised world-leader and innovator in one of the fastest growing online sectors. We are excited to be working with yet another classifieds market leader and look forward to playing a key role in building wotif.com’s display advertising revenue.”

Robbie Cooke [pictured, right], Managing Director of the Wotif Group stated, “The Adslot platform has a proven track record in the Australian market place and presents an ideal opportunity for us to tap into the display advertising market. We are looking forward to a strong partnership with Adslot.” More...

Taming Big Data

Mark Hughes [pictured], CEO of C3 Metrics writes at MediaPost: Each ad designated worthy of attribution credit is assigned revenue and divided to the cost of the ad, ending with a single number: [attributed revenue of the ad] divided by [total cost of the ad].

This chain of data is going to get longer, and understanding each data point is going to becoming increasingly important in informing how media is bought and sold online. That’s Big Data. More...

In US, Adometry Upgrades Advanced Attribution Capabilities to Help Advertisers Reach More Audiences

Advertisers Up and Running with New Adometry Ad Analytics Suite 2.0 in as Little as Two Weeks

AUSTIN, Texas – January 19, 2012 - Adometry®, Inc., the leader in cross channel fractional attribution and ad verification technology, today announced a new release of the Adometry Ad Analytics Suite. The latest version enables online advertisers to on-board advanced attribution and optimization capabilities in as little as two weeks, without having to re-deploy site tags or interrupt site operations.

“Our new advanced attribution technology ensures that digital marketers have the data and automated tools needed to simultaneously invest campaign dollars more effectively across all channels – from mobile, social, video and more,” said Paul Pellman [pictured], CEO of Adometry. “In addition, with implementation times of as little as two weeks, we’re helping advertisers accelerate the ROI for their campaigns.” More…

Exchange-Based Buying and Data Integration – Trend Drivers for 2012 [Video]

Video by ClickZAsia: Arun Kumar [pictured] from Mediabrands is confident that, “Recession or no recession, spending will continue to grow” this year.

He also said display will become more competitive than search and marketers will look at data more carefully to ensure data integration from multiple sources.  More...