tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7595675425400602672024-03-13T03:23:18.757-07:00Who ClicksChris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-78766334030033488472021-09-22T09:08:00.001-07:002021-09-22T09:08:18.353-07:00<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.skicritics.com" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1836" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLq6Bq7J7YWB8QF5vmKPEdbtj0ZJC7Zfs2oLfaMiBXWcYH1gs_xyalGkxDTHmqTH7-uwG6sWq8R5mDKVqCX9UCuCCh28PgWpf4vpriGkLXpDwD92og01YzT_Xy1TvaAv-IX7nyOqzWqGU/s320/Screen+Shot+2020-08-11+at+1.10.01+PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I'm officially pre-launching my new personal website dedicated to the ski lifestyle. Please visit my new site <a href="http://www.skicritics.com" target="_blank">SkiCritics</a> to read in depth reviews of top ski resorts across the West, dig into equipment reviews, and discover the best ski cars, wagons and SUV's for getting you up to the mountains in style. </p><p>Please let me know if you're a professional web producer for the Wordpress platform and I will be adding resources to my team to help grow, promote and contribute to my new favorite project.</p><p>Share my site on social media when you have a moment.</p><p>Cheers</p><p>Chris</p>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-17843007971128158552021-07-08T08:18:00.001-07:002021-07-21T09:59:51.218-07:00Will Google Sit Idle on Privacy for 2 Years? - No I Don't Think So<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTfk-GeY80gxjWgxC8DzA4TUPubpEvDsiMEvRzaRaZhonaNr-I0sGLRgz2UlNyqoDlOKtsr5L-kPVbvZdACRfG8sCuBHv5pyfnI62R1p0DWhxquJdnPTpeKhmQ2kjhlBfbqkg0BH1_XMQ/s259/google.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="194" data-original-width="259" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTfk-GeY80gxjWgxC8DzA4TUPubpEvDsiMEvRzaRaZhonaNr-I0sGLRgz2UlNyqoDlOKtsr5L-kPVbvZdACRfG8sCuBHv5pyfnI62R1p0DWhxquJdnPTpeKhmQ2kjhlBfbqkg0BH1_XMQ/w373-h279/google.jpeg" width="373" /></a></div><br /><p>The recent news of Google delaying the depreciation of 3rd Party Cookies may be a party we should put on hold for a few months. The industry seems giddy with relief and a sense of business as usual. Some thought leaders like Paul Bannister have suggested we should keep the pedal to the metal and build sustainable, privacy respecting ecosystems, regardless of this short term news cycle. I agree whole heartedly.</p><p>Please keep in mind - Google is in a tough spot with Anti-Trust, their advertising partners, and publishers alike. If they stop moving forward on privacy policies they could get a backlash from privacy regulators and be called out as being hypocritical.</p><p>So, what will be next? </p><p>The short answer is "we will find out soon enough"</p><p>The longer answer is lies what other levers does Google / Chrome have to increase user privacy, and sustain their stronghold on the ads business. Apple has recently announced the upcoming elimination of IP address use on Safari, perhaps Chrome will do the same? Also, like Safari, Google could shorten the window of expiration to 1 day or 1 week. Further, Google / Chrome may decide to take action to eliminate or curtail UID development while things get sorted on the 3P Cookies. Finally, let's not forget about Android, and Google can follow suit to the iOS 14.5 release privacy measures.</p><p>Google has stated that they want to eliminate all 3rd Party Data Collection and Usage, along with the tactics including fingerprinting and UID / permanent ID's. This greatly benefits Google, and the consumer to some extent. </p><p>Let's dig into the consumer here a bit. I believe, and recent data on iOS 14.5 suggest that users want to keep their data private, when asked. What is not being asked to consumers is... "do you still want a free and open internet?" If publishers and advertisers lose their basic economics of running a business, then publishing will consolidate to the most tech savvy and lucrative margin pub businesses. High quality reporting, video creation, editorial, and analysis takes enormous resources. </p><p>As a consumer, publisher, ad tech guy I believe that result based advertising which google practically invented with paid search is essential to the fabric of the open and free web. Personally I feel comfortable with being targeted with relevant ads, re-targeted on products I've shopped for, etc. There are many ways to enable ad targeting and attribution without so much data leakage. In this case look at InfoSum and their methods on data matching and privacy united.</p><p>It's still clear that publisher 1st Party Data will stand the test of time (5 years or more), and worth while pursuing at scale. The main issue will be data unification, validation, and attribution. These are solvable problems even with privacy at the forefront.</p><p>I'm sure we'll see a headline before Q4 stating what Google is going to do instead of deprecating cookies in the new year.... It will be interesting to see how they proceed from here</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-4476188289652447422021-04-29T12:01:00.003-07:002021-04-29T12:01:43.620-07:00Are We At The End of The Open and Free Internet?<p> With all of the changes taking place under the broad umbrella of "Data Privacy" are we at the end of the open and free internet? Let's examine what is an open and free internet.</p><p>Open and Free implies that a user can access all data, content, information, and experiences as they deem safe, interesting, and engaging without a direct cost. For many good, and some bad reasons this state is not what it was 20 years ago. </p><p>Large and powerful gatekeepers have emerged including Apple, Google, ISP's, Twitter and Facebook who very much curate what we see, and how we engage with the web. Beyond the core, brands, agencies, and ad tech companies further curate the web by blacklisting ad placements which are out of "brand safety" parameters on where they spend their ad dollars, hampering growth of more fringe websites and apps. </p><p>Many of the advancements are quite good, protecting the public from dangerous scams, inappropriate content, hate, violence, and disinformation. We can all admit more needs to be done to protect consumers from Fake News as this may be the most dangerous element of the open web going forward.</p><p>Today is a new era where Apple and Google are deliberately reshaping the nature of an open and free internet to specifically advance their own revenues vs. advancing the interests of an open and free web. Many will see this as "the end", but perhaps it's just a new beginning. </p><p>My assumption is that Google and Apple's moves to curtail open advertising systems that feed publisher revenues will have a profound impact on where we go from here. Will new competition emerge and will the web become more fragmented. Let's look at the basics of the gatekeepers and where they have power over the ecosystem:</p><p>Apple and Google both control the primary landscape on code and where all the rules derive from hardware, to operating systems, app stores, and browsers. Google also controls the world search engine on how all content is discovered. We have all observed the verticalization of technology and have celebrated this in the financial markets with stock prices soaring at each new wall built. </p><p>Will this lead to new competition? If so, who and how will competition begin to define and reshape "the open web" with new innovations. There are new browsers like Brave, and Firefox, but they are still written on top of Chromium, and rely exclusively on Google Search. Good, but certainly not independent.</p><p>I believe that it's time for a new search engine, new mobile OS / App Stores, and browser to enter the market, perhaps several with a specific slant. Brave has taken the path to privacy and ad blocking by default, which will appeal to a certain audience, but what about building ecosystems that are appropriate for kids, subscription sites / apps, ad supported websites (free), shopping, social media, edgy content for those that dare, Anti-Fake News, etc. Will we choose our web experiences more specifically by which browser or app store we engage with?</p><p>Hopefully we will see new competition, and I also hope this stems from innovation here in the US vs. other regions of the world. That said, this innovation is likely to come from China, India, or Europe. Can a big US device maker like Dell or Microsoft step up and compete with a mobile device with their own store? or perhaps a new start up?</p><p>It's time for innovation to compete with Google and Apple !! </p><p><br /></p>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-12045671397257745092021-04-16T10:15:00.001-07:002021-04-16T10:16:27.800-07:00Will Ad Inventory Become Verticalized from DSP - SSP - Pubs<p>Constant change has been the state of the digital media landscape since the inception, but will constant change come to an abrupt halt? Would the verticalization of ad tech and publishing stabilize the industry and make for a more perfect ads world?</p><p>I think so. </p><p>Today, supply path routing of an ad impression is complex and messy. Single publishers often have 4-6 SSP partners and or Native Ad Network partners. Often the Native Ad Networks re-list the inventory on other SSP's, and there is still an old practice of shared inventory among SSP's leading to a single domain being spread across most all SSP's. This is not efficient for the publisher or the buyer.</p><p>In addition buyers will utilize 3+ DSP's, plus proprietary inventory like Facebook. This has consolidated, but it still complicates the sprawl of ad tech.</p><p>This has lead to massive inefficiencies and impression fraud that is still running out of control today. "what is the true origin of an ad impression?". Ads.txt is a lightweight and easy to spoof technique which is not well suited to tackle the problems stemming from above. Worse yet the added tax of IVT vendors like MOAT, IAS, DV, WhiteOps, Fraudlogiq triple charge the industry and have a high degree of errors leading to more inefficiency.</p><p>I believe that Google and Apple's "privacy" (aka land-grab) efforts will force change as it relates to how data flows across the ecosystem going forward. This is discussed in my last blog post covering <a href="http://whoclicks.blogspot.com/2021/04/how-data-privacy-regulations-privacy.html" target="_blank">Data Privacy</a>. Here is how I see further consolidation of ad tech and publishing going forward.</p><p>DSP's and SSP's should merge into one product, eliminating any ambiguity of impression origin for the buyer. Direct line of impression custody. This will also enable, in some cases, SSP's to combine and build audience and contextual segments in conjunction with publishers 1st Party data. Very efficient for buyers at the aggregated vs individual publisher level.</p><p>Further, there could be a world where either ad tech or publishers buy their own vertical. To an extent, facebook has done this with liverail, and Comcast has done this with Freewheel. If you have a large enough O&O footprint of high quality ad supply coupled with high quality 1st party data, why would you allow others to arbitrage your publisher earnings as they do today? Wouldn't it be more valuable for the publisher to sell their own inventory directly through a UI where a buyer could come and select audience, context, and other buying rules directly with you in an automated fashion. Since FLoC and Apple will eliminate the notion of frequency caps across 3rd party, why do you need an unified buying system to extract value?</p><p>Publishers should really begin conversations, corp dev, and design plans to aggregate all of their O&O in one unified stack. This will eliminate the 50%-70% ad tech tax currently charged to the industry. Yes this will take more human hands on the keyboards at the agencies, or agencies will need to be good at unifying publisher API's to automatically aggregate data for their purposes.</p><p>I believe that publishers, agencies, and brands would greatly benefit from this type of vertical consolidation going forward. Less ad tech tax, better quality supply, access to high value 1P data.</p><p>#chrisverzello</p><p> </p>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-48803411302376584922021-04-13T09:43:00.001-07:002021-04-13T11:03:22.524-07:00How Data Privacy Regulations , Privacy Browsers and iOS Change Publishing Going Forward<p>Being in Digital Media we have become accustomed to an annual shift of the winds into a new trend. Over the years we experienced the evolution of ad networks, then cookie re-targeting, cookie behavioral targeting, programmatic, multi-touch attribution, mobile, ad fraud mitigation, video, CTV, and now Privacy. </p><p>Each shift in digital media has always created both pain and new business opportunity. Often these changes have required massive tech investment across the spectrum from publishers to ad tech and ad agencies. Most all of these changes have been somewhat unfavorable to web / app publishers diminishing their ability to capture most of the ad spend.</p><p>For a publisher, at the end of the day, capturing ad spend is the most important element of running their ads business. Publishers sell direct, open exchange, custom packages, 1st Party Data and through resellers. All of these are expensive tactics for a publisher to run.</p><p>I estimate that publishers only get about 10 cents on the dollar from a brand. Let's visit how a dollar flows from a brand to a publisher:</p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Ad Agency - Media Strategy, Account Strategy, Brand Strategy, Media Mix Fees</li><li>Ad Agency - Media Buying Flat Fee Services </li><li>Ad Agency - Programmatic trading desk fee flat or arbitrage</li><li>Ad Agency - GAM Ad Serving and Analytics</li><li>DSP Fees</li><li>DSP Data Fees or Agency Data Fees</li><li>Loss to Publisher as buyer finds a way to buy the impression at the lowest available price</li><li>SSP Fees</li><li>IVT / Viewability Fees (Agency, DSP, SSP, and Publishers all pay separately for each impression)</li><li>IVT / Viewability Hidden Fees of Lost Ad Impressions due to incorrect scoring of an impression</li><li>Ad Serving Fee</li><li>Ad Serving Time out / broken creative / VPAID errors / etc</li><li>Publisher Sales Operations Team</li><li>Malware service to ensure ads are safe to users</li><li>Consent Management Platform</li><li>Legal Fees </li><li>Ad Product Team to keep up on tech changes</li><li>Sales Team - Salary + Commission</li><li>Sales Management</li></ul><div>By the time a major brand like Toyota or Coke takes $1,000,000 out of their media budget and applies that to the media landscape, their dollar is paying the publisher $100,000 or perhaps less. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, how will this shift in privacy change the math?</div><div><br /></div><div>Now publishers will need to determine if adding a CDP / DMP to their mix is needed, if they haven't already taken the step? Most publishers have not, but many majors have begun this process over the past 5-7 years. </div><div><br /></div><div>Advantages to the Publishers opting for using CDP over FLoC:</div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Less potential for media arbitrage on user level data - Plus for Publishers</li><li>Context and Publisher Brand Reputation mean more the the buyers</li><li>More Direct Deals, lowering total cost</li><li>IVT and Viewability are TBD - unsure how this will be impacted as these systems rely on PII</li><li>Selling Big Packages with time based commitments vs. Open Market or PMP limitations</li><li>Protecting very high value shopping or contextual proprietary data from leaking into a 3rd Party data ecosystem, forcing buyers to get your audience on your site, vs 3P cookie targeting on low cost medium. </li><li>Scarcity of data targeting should result in scarcity of buying inventory / increasing CPM's for high value contextual experiences</li></ul><div>Disadvantages of CDP over FLoC</div></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Media buyers tend to go for what is easy and familiar / Google will have a huge advantage with FLoC and media buyers will adopt over higher CPM direct deals</li><li>Attribution will be diminished and clicks will become important again - even though a very flawed measurement method. It will be easier for a media buyer to buy clicks from FLoC vs individual publishers</li><li>It's difficult and expensive to develop a strong CDP programmatic offering and will skew to larger mulit-site web properties who have the resources to pull this off</li><li>It will take more selling to agencies to gain traction as a publisher with 1P data</li><li>Agencies will question viability and ComScore / Nielson Match to target audience, vs FloC being a more trusted data source</li></ul><div>Each publisher will need to react to this change, and some have more at stake than others. In all this will be yet another tax on the business, except for the sites with great contextual content, shopping, reviews, concentrated interest and audience segments / high volumes.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>I believe this will lead to a consolidation of websites into large ownership groups where they can aggregate 1st Party data with massive scale. This will be the only path forward, as i see it. Go Big or Go Home (out of business).</div><div><br /></div><div>So, I anticipate a significant amount of M&A associated with cash rich companies seeking to buy highly contextual verticals at scale. Some will focus on shopping, others tech, others lifestyle. Perhaps some will diversify in all making them attractive to a multitude of brands.</div><div><br /></div><div>#ChrisVeraello</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p></p><p><br /></p>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-58190939444505570432013-04-26T16:24:00.001-07:002013-04-26T16:24:04.276-07:00Repost of Google's Offering in the Ad Viewability SpaceGoogle's offering in the ad viewability space has scored third party accreditation from the Media Ratings Council.<br />
Google joins others who have wended their way through the MRC's approval process – the respective viewability products from comScore, Double Verify and RealVu have been approved – so Google is not standing alone. But given its expansive relationship with marketers, agencies and publishers, the MRC's nod at its viewable offering is likely to spur more usage of this tool.<br />
"Viewability is the first critical building block – no other metric matters, from a brand's perspective, if the ad wasn't seen by an actual human being," said Neal Mohan, Google's VP of display, in an interview with <i>AdExchanger</i>. "Anything that we build on top of that, such as brand lift, as we announced with our Google Consumer Surveys product, follows from that first step of knowing if an ad has been viewed."<br />
<span id="more-75342"></span>Publishers are wary of the trend. Traditionally, sellers have benefitted from the mystery around what has been viewed and what hasn't. Google argues there's a silver lining in that ads "below the fold" may be undervalued. The promise of viewability is that, since more and more users find content through search or social media, the idea of placing content and their attached ads in places other than the top of the homepage means that placements that were once considered out of the way could command higher CPMs.<br />
"Viewable impressions inherently command a much higher price," Mohan said. "By giving brand advertisers more confidence, we grow the pie, rather than trying to grab dollars from somewhere else. This is how we crack what I call the '$200 billion nut' in brand spending for online."<br />
As a sign of how important Google values viewability, ActiveView will be more fully integrated into ad management systems for both buyers and sellers. Instead of using it for after-the-fact reporting, Google intends ActiveView to be "real-time and actionable." It will be baked natively in all of our ad platforms, into its buy-side ad servers like DoubleClick For Advertisers and its sell-side tools like DoubleClick For Publishers, and so it won't require any additional work by Google's clients on either side, Mohan said.<br />
But how much does MRC accreditation really matter? A lot, according to Brian Hughes, SVP, Audience Analysis Practice Lead for Magna Global.<br />
"We take MRC accreditation very seriously – it means that the methodology has been audited by a neutral third party (such as Ernst & Young or PwC) and deemed to meet the standards established by the MRC and agreed upon by industry stakeholders," he said. "Think of it as the 'Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval' for media research."<br />
As for viewability – it’s important because it’s possible, Hughes said. "To this day, we don’t know whether TV viewers are in the room 100% of the time when an ad runs," he said. "While not foolproof, viewability in digital media allows us to at least know whether the ad was visible on screen, and we can pay for only those occurrences… The idea is to eliminate waste."<br />
Meanwhile WPP Group's Neo@Ogilvy says the significance of viewability varies depending on the campaign goals.<br />
For brand clients, the brand message is key, therefore viewability will continue to be a hot button, according to managing director Bradley Rogers. For direct response clients where media cost is commonly linked to a direct action, it is of lesser importance.<br />
"The topic relies heavily on identifying consistent methodologies in which to accurately track and measure viewability in order to understand the impact on the impressions being sold," Rogers said. "With publishers already finding it difficult to create content and monetize that content, any factor that could potentially impact their profitability will likely meet with a slow adoption rate.<br />
He added, "While agencies and clients will continue to push the agenda, Google's success in this area will be tied to this adoption curve."<br />
Andrew Shebbeare, chief strategist at Essence Digital, was also cheered by ActiveView's accreditation. Still Essence, hasn't been all that focused on external accreditation to date; the company's been using viewability as a diagnostic metric more than a buying filter. But as the notion of viewability as a metric to buy against gains traction, he expects Essence's stance will change accordingly.<br />
"As I've said before [<a href="http://www.adexchanger.com/data-driven-thinking/viewability-is-not-a-tax-on-the-ecosystem/">on <i>AdExchanger</i></a>], I'd love to see viewability metrics available from ad servers at the impression log level," Shebbeare said. "It feels like Google is paving the way to impression-level viewability within the same measurement context as conversions and exposure will make our brand lift and attribution models considerably more powerful -- leading to better, faster decisions."<br />
Google's analysis of the strong correlation between viewability and clickthrough rates is interesting, Shebbeare adds. In particular, he agrees with the idea that viewability can demonstrate "gold below the fold" -- a reminder that simply being at the top of a page can no longer be equated with viewability.<br />
"It's hard to make fair comparisons since buying ads often carries a tradeoff between placement and targeting, which itself might entail a trade-off between viewability and CTR," Shebbeare said. "For example retargeting ads will generally have higher CTRs but might be less viewable on average than "premium" ads - it's hard to compare fairly. We find one of the more interesting relationships to be the one between viewability and brand lift. Here we repeatedly see powerful correlations -- so much so that viewability has become a proven first-pass optimization metric for brand campaigns."Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-59893769451850493452012-09-17T14:42:00.000-07:002012-09-17T14:42:31.828-07:00Re-Post / That's Progress<h1 id="title">
That's Progress! More Fake Reviews Coming</h1>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It can’t have been long after the first cavemen offered up grunts of approval or disapproval that someone had the bright idea of paying for good reviews. It’s cheap, it’s efficient, and best of all: it’s dishonest! Sure you’re basically lying to consumers, but tricking the gullible is half the fun, isn’t it? Movie marketers have elevated the fake review to an art form.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Needless to say, social media has taken the fake review phenomenon to the next level. According to a report from Gartner titled “The Consequences of Fake Fans, ‘Likes’ and Reviews on Social Networks,” “enterprise spending on paid social media ratings and reviews” (that’s a nice way of saying “fake reviews”) will increase over the next few years: by 2014, the research outfit predicts that 10%-15% of all online reviews will be fake.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Jenny Sussin, a senior research analyst at Gartner, stated: “Many marketers have turned to paying for positive reviews with cash, coupons and promotions including additional hits on YouTube videos in order to pique site visitors' interests in the hope of increasing sales, customer loyalty and customer advocacy through social media ‘word of mouth’ campaigns.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There are, of course, some legal questions which arise when marketers hire people to pose as ordinary, unpaid reviewers. Gartner also predicts that at least a handful of Fortune 500 brands will probably run afoul of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission by 2014. The FTC decided back in 2009 that paying for positive reviews without disclosure constituted deceptive advertising, which can be punished with fines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In August 2011 I wrote about software created by four Cornell students to identify fake online hotel reviews. The students described their efforts to combat “opinion spam” in a report titled “Finding Deceptive Opinion Spam by Any Stretch of the Imagination.” Overall, the Cornellians claimed their software is able to spot fake reviews 90% of the time, versus just 50% for human subjects, focusing on fake positive reviews and irrelevant comments which, say, post links to other Web sites for promotional purposes. With this focus in mind, the authors said roughly half of all online hotel reviews are fake -- four times the proportion guessed by human subjects (who estimated fake reviews as 12% of all reviews).</span></div>
<br /><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/183209/thats-progress-more-fake-reviews-coming.html?edition=51252#ixzz26lVUa3lg" style="color: #003399;">http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/183209/thats-progress-more-fake-reviews-coming.html?edition=51252#ixzz26lVUa3lg</a><br />
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My Comments: Chris Verzello<br />
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Having spent 3 years @ Technorati in the early years of blog marketing, it was always very apparent that positive posts were "For Sale". Izea, formerly Pay Per Post was at the top of the heap, when it came to a straight transaction payola and media coverage. <br />
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The whole reason blogs became important in the first place, was the bias reporting of Fox, and other pro RNC publications / media companies, who essentially moved the White House agenda forward, making it "fact" through the media channels. Blogs like Huffpo became famous by offering an independent voice to the media channels. Trust was formed with independent journalists / bloggers & readers. Now, this is the biggest sham. Seems like brand dollars have the most influence, and the independent journalist is just a voice for hire... What a shame on bloggers. <br />
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I have never really believed in paid blogger outreach, and feel that is has corrupted what was once pure. Shame on all those blogger who "whore themselves out" for a few bucks. I think the going rate is around $5-20 per paid post. Not a lot of money to sell our for...Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-82452938815688337592011-06-10T14:16:00.000-07:002011-06-10T14:28:47.741-07:00Natural Born Clickers - Your audience does not click on ads!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFQ22wcNc8FK1LvVYAmn-Z-ZcMMdmhCZZOVzxlGOKwFIJVjMrf-Or2pNQGEd_t67fD3AjHHipWuyv4QRVlMM17ee_0G6FsU3TkJj2qNNbIBRtKmRPCfobImdmFT3rktWGpm52ftObbEI/s1600/iMedia+Who+Clicks.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 183px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5616705956068449682" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrFQ22wcNc8FK1LvVYAmn-Z-ZcMMdmhCZZOVzxlGOKwFIJVjMrf-Or2pNQGEd_t67fD3AjHHipWuyv4QRVlMM17ee_0G6FsU3TkJj2qNNbIBRtKmRPCfobImdmFT3rktWGpm52ftObbEI/s320/iMedia+Who+Clicks.bmp" /></a><br />Coming from the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">iMedia</span> Brand Summit, a few GREAT quotes that are very much in line with the theme of my blog:<br /><br />If Not The Click, Then What?<br /><strong>“A click means nothing. A click earns no revenue and creates no brand equity. Your online advertising has some goal –and it’s surely not to generate clicks. You want people to visit your website, seek more information, purchase a product, become a lead, keep your brand top of mind, learn something new, feel differently, etc. Regardless of whether they clicked an ad or not, the key is to determine how that ad unit influenced a consumer to think, feel, or do something they <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">wouldn</span>’t have done otherwise.</strong><br /><br />”John Lowell, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">SVP</span> Director, Research & Analytics, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Starcom</span><br /><br /><strong>"By measuring the last ad seen or clicked by a converter, they focus entirely on a brief time span at the bottom of the funnel. Evaluating only a single point of advertising contact oversimplifies the delivery and performance of any media channel"<br /></strong><br />Microsoft’s Atlas Institute<br /><br />Ad-exposed non-clickers account for the vast majority of Internet users = 85% of all online users.Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-10377269688620736072011-05-24T10:21:00.000-07:002011-05-24T10:30:51.924-07:00SEO and Social Media Measurement<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsM3FVIdweVf-q4KR-Axd2zcoQkUbR99mjZR6JsPpOEflu7GKU2fhjEEXi9tZHQrFp_ZTCYE5e3HC1s26cpkXYY0Ss3fPL9Hq_fa-hhmsS7OxUeLzetAUFe8pcuMCbi6CixhOSm0ajy8w/s1600/Social+Graph+-+Resource+Nation.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5610334042957453810" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsM3FVIdweVf-q4KR-Axd2zcoQkUbR99mjZR6JsPpOEflu7GKU2fhjEEXi9tZHQrFp_ZTCYE5e3HC1s26cpkXYY0Ss3fPL9Hq_fa-hhmsS7OxUeLzetAUFe8pcuMCbi6CixhOSm0ajy8w/s320/Social+Graph+-+Resource+Nation.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>Great blog post on Resource Nation related to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">SEO</span> and Social Media Measurement. The concept of measuring how effective your social media is performing tied to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">SEO</span>.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Links, Traffic, and Influence of the media landscape is <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">measured</span> in the same way that Google measures "Page Rank". Genius!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.resourcenation.com/blog/make-it-your-business-to-analyze-social-performance/32440/">http://www.resourcenation.com/blog/make-it-your-business-to-analyze-social-performance/32440/</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Technorati</span> was an early pioneer in looking at the real time social map to understand influence. The <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Technorati</span> top 100 became an iconic measurement of a blogs success, and for many years the measuring stick of influence. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Today influence is more complex, and really needs to be examined in more detail... yes in a similar way to how Google looks at Page Rank. Or in a better way, why Google will place one site over the other within a search result page. Relevance to the keyword, and relative influence to that keyword or key phrase. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>This measurement is really quite standard across all media... correct? It's all about how relevant, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">authoritative</span>, and influential the content is to the search query. So <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">SEO</span> is guide to success for all forms of media, from mainstream, marketing, to social. </div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-61170935937011896592011-05-19T08:47:00.000-07:002011-05-19T08:58:24.656-07:00Linked In IPO<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lxMv4oe6_raeOaNNqlX1Smi_fnx1RlBPTyveqqk5Iv2XgEU-M3gZJnvfsVLZD7900ydLzUz_XVIw9iqp6r5N7PzLcdy-mRcK4icjUUN5iAcfv2GNhQZgAx4-1rRKRKWn5jMTjLQD-KY/s1600/LinkedIn_logo_1.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608454571646566754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4lxMv4oe6_raeOaNNqlX1Smi_fnx1RlBPTyveqqk5Iv2XgEU-M3gZJnvfsVLZD7900ydLzUz_XVIw9iqp6r5N7PzLcdy-mRcK4icjUUN5iAcfv2GNhQZgAx4-1rRKRKWn5jMTjLQD-KY/s320/LinkedIn_logo_1.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><div>Lots of chatter on the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">LinkedIn</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">IPO</span> from "is this another dot com bubble?" to "is now the right time to buy?", to "how can they support an $8 Billion valuation if they plan to lose money in 2012?".</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Jeff <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Weiner</span> appeared on the floor of the NY Stock Exchange this morning with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">CNBC</span>, and was asked all of these questions and more. He simply said... "the market will pick the value, and we're just focused on the three core business'." They have 3 lines of business including advertising revenue, recruiter services, and subscriptions for advanced services by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">indv</span> users. I think the big win for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">LinkedIn</span> over time will be the recruiter services, and in-house recruiting tools they're offering to business'. With recruiter fees being very expensive, many companies are seeking lower cost, efficient tools to help them staff up.</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Being a bull, I feel the economy is on its way to recovery, and thus hiring will be a huge pain point for business in 2011 - 2015. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">LinkedIn</span> helps to reduce this pain point, and thus will benefit from a robust economic recovery. (even a modest one).</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So, if you believe that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">LinkedIn</span> is a strong investment, as I do, how do you buy. Well, hindsight will be best, but my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">IPO</span> experience tells me to buy during the "quiet period", which is historically 30 days following the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">IPO</span> date. Shares tend to drift downward after the first day of trading, and usually land somewhere near the strike price. (in this case $45). </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>So, buy <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">LNKD</span> @ $45 per share if you like the company.</div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-28901517589290438162011-04-27T09:35:00.001-07:002011-04-27T09:50:45.440-07:00Who Clicks, Why, and Does It Matter<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhID5rP0HhNmxEsND0kyQdj2vhjYroxXlyGGn0XsXJelAAvskyowpRpv2KiRAEXnugX-R6wGT5oeF4-0-B3OoiplnKDlrCU83tJRWFlG639D1tjaAq68Ettp5TImXUbpiNrH8HUjj4gU9Q/s1600/logo_mediapost.gif"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 178px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5600303182633147330" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhID5rP0HhNmxEsND0kyQdj2vhjYroxXlyGGn0XsXJelAAvskyowpRpv2KiRAEXnugX-R6wGT5oeF4-0-B3OoiplnKDlrCU83tJRWFlG639D1tjaAq68Ettp5TImXUbpiNrH8HUjj4gU9Q/s320/logo_mediapost.gif" /></a><br /><br /><div>Great post by Gavin <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">O'Malley</span> in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">MediaPost</span> today....<a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=149267">http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=149267</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div>This is even more proof that clicks are not the intended measure of web advertising, and will likely go the way of the 468x60 banner. (Yes, I Occasionally see a random 468x60 out in the wild, and makes me chuckle a bit - I further digress to around 2002 @ SF Big party where Scott <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">McLernon</span> came to the front of the room with a casket for the dead ad unit size - "The Official Death of the 468x60" was declared!</div><br /><div></div><br /><div>Campaign measurement and performance is critical to understand the investment in ad spend. Many advertisers have become much more sophisticated and savvy with regards to understanding the impact their online advertising has for driving brand health metrics, or <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">ROAS</span>. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>We're heading in an interesting direction here at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span>, and working to help brand advertisers to understand organic brand lift metrics within the conversational media space. Specifically, we're finding that when advertisers place media within dense conversations which are relevant, influential, and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">authoritative</span> to the marketing communication strategy... we're seeing significant organic, positive lift. To me, this tells an insightful story for the brand which a click simply can't. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>I'm glad to see that our organization and the industry in general is looking towards new solutions and advanced analytics that will hopefully power our industry to get off the "click-through-rate" reporting <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">methodology</span>. </div><br /><div></div><br /><div>The first step of change is simply to identify there is a problem... Love the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">MediaPost</span> post this morning as it's further validation that the industry does indeed have a problem.</div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-80088707319000012872011-03-29T20:42:00.000-07:002011-03-29T20:48:49.812-07:00Munchies and Media: Delivering Insights That Matter Through Social Med...John Donahue is a very amazing mind in media today... Having spent hundreds of hours of time discussing media targeting, analytics, and insights, it's very apparent that something special is cooking in his mind, and shown on his blog. JD aka Godzilla, nails the concepts and summarizes the struggles and opportunities that exist in targeting consumers. Many current models are indeed flawed or at the least somewhat limited in their ability to deliver context and audience. One of the key industry problems we're solving for at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span>. Here's his latest post, and some really interesting perspective to chew on a bit. <a href="http://munchedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/delivering-insights-that-matter-through.html?spref=bl">Munchies and Media: Delivering Insights That Matter Through Social Med...</a>: "My last post ended with talking about data slices that are relevant to the consumer segment you are trying to detail through some social med..."Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-59876939752867482722011-03-10T13:49:00.001-08:002011-03-10T13:56:51.663-08:00BuzzLogic Announces New Executives<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tAodLcnaFGjv5JDpdQ-TdEdaF540or1DRmsTmlA2p3Bqw9UoDvMHBEjCUD4FzO7eY8nzN32AWnJ5UR8pXHc08djTK5yzWLCpbDLoOVrw36KzX-62feHJqLCz9et1q4QHx7YgHyIw97Q/s1600/buzzlogo.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 140px; HEIGHT: 34px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582571888342600754" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4tAodLcnaFGjv5JDpdQ-TdEdaF540or1DRmsTmlA2p3Bqw9UoDvMHBEjCUD4FzO7eY8nzN32AWnJ5UR8pXHc08djTK5yzWLCpbDLoOVrw36KzX-62feHJqLCz9et1q4QHx7YgHyIw97Q/s320/buzzlogo.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Some great news here at BuzzLogic. Today we have announced our recent appointments of Dave Hills as CEO, Peter O'Sullivan as CRO, and Seph Zdarko as COO. Very excited to be part of the team here at BuzzLogic.<br /><br /><br />BuzzLogic, an online media company that improves brand metrics through its scaleable media index and analytics platform, has appointed Dave Hills, formerly of LookSmart and 24/7 Real Media, as its Chief Executive Officer. The company also announced several promotions to its executive team, along with the addition of Jay Budzik, Ph. D. to its Board of Directors.<br /><br />Hills has more than 30 years experience in the industry, including 17 years in online media. His extensive experience in online advertising, search marketing, audience and technology development, and subscription services provides Hills with a relevant, useful perspective and practical experience in all strategic and operational areas.<br /><br />Before joining BuzzLogic, Hills was a General Partner with KPG Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in seed-stage, consumer Internet technology companies. His influence has also been felt at LookSmart, Ltd (NASD - LOOK), where as President, CEO and Director he rebuilt the company’s ad network, quadrupled audience to LookSmart sites and licensed the company’s ad center to sites such as Ask.com. He also has served as President of Media Solutions for 24/7 Real Media and was COO and President of Sales for About, Inc., which owned About.com and the pay-per-click service, Sprinks. He currently sits on the board of BuzzLogic and Interclick, (NASD – ICLK).<br /><br />Other appointments to the BuzzLogic executive team include Peter O'Sullivan as Chief Revenue Officer and Seph Zdarko as Chief Operating Officer. John Donahue remains Chief Technology Officer along with John Maley as Chief Financial Officer. Together, these seasoned executives bring to the company more than 50 years cumulative experience in online advertising, online publishing and digital media, as well as agency work. Their backgrounds include executive positions at Google, DoubleClick, Omnicom Media Group (OMG),Yahoo!, 24/7, Alta Vista and more.<br /><br />BuzzLogic has also appointed Jay Budzik, Ph.D. to the board of directors. Dr. Budzik is Chief Technology Officer of PerfectMarket™, which helps publishers create value from their online content. He brings more than a decade of experience in unstructured information processing, product development and intellectual property management experience to his role on the BuzzLogic board.<br /><br />“I’m really fortunate to have a team with the experience, drive and innovative spirit to dominate what we see as the next chapters in online marketing and media,” said Dave Hills, CEO of BuzzLogic. “Over the past year, the team has honed the company’s core assets in our media index and analytics, resulting in incredible results for an enviable list of advertisers through a differentiated view of conversations online. And we’re just getting started.”<br /><br />Throughout the last year, BuzzLogic has focused its core technology assets on the question of how brands can improve brand metrics in a world where media is social and conversations exist everywhere. The company’s all-in-one technology platform combines indexing and analytics to determine which conversations are most critical to advertisers; it allows for scaleable media placements using standard ad units, and ensures the greatest ROI via optimization and reporting.<br /><br />BuzzLogic can uniquely produce and place a customized, horizontal media plan across hundreds of publishers. This includes targeted placements around conversations, from points of inception all the way through to the most dense dialogues on the visible Web. The company’s proprietary tech platform utilizes indexing and ranking, versus cookies or other user targeting techniques.<br /><br />About BuzzLogic<br /><br />BuzzLogic’s proprietary index of content, unique analytics and scalable media capabilities enables brands to identify, impact and measure increases to their online brand persuasion. From content in the index, BuzzLogic’s analytics identify the genesis of discussions to help advertisers reach millions of potential customers with a customized media program, and understand the plan’s impact by measuring KPI’s critical to the brand.<br /><br />BuzzLogic’s clientele includes HP, Wal-Mart, Toyota, HBO, Starbucks, Microsoft, American Express, MediaVest and Omnicom Media Group. BuzzLogic is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. For more information, visit <a href="http://www.buzzlogic.com/">http://www.buzzlogic.com/</a>.<br /><br />Related Links:<br /><br />Sys-Con<br /><a href="http://www.sys-con.com/node/1748537">http://www.sys-con.com/node/1748537</a><br /><br />BizJournal<br /><a href="http://wwwnew.bizjournals.com/sanjose/morning_call/2011/03/buzzlogic-names-executive-team-ceo.html">http://wwwnew.bizjournals.com/sanjose/morning_call/2011/03/buzzlogic-names-executive-team-ceo.html</a><br /><br />BuzzLogic<br /><a href="http://www.buzzlogic.com/2011/03/10/buzzlogic-appoints-dave-hills-ceo-unveils-new-executive-team/">http://www.buzzlogic.com/2011/03/10/buzzlogic-appoints-dave-hills-ceo-unveils-new-executive-team/</a>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-11831995890491996232011-02-18T10:39:00.000-08:002011-02-18T10:48:06.397-08:00BuzzLogic Can Help Agencies Become More Strategic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKk3uWvAOQIxGo5S8gASMUmNLDuJeoAIeKPVf98pUfkGAAB2MOj7v1pXZCFoaMrwjDcoLNoxO6hUNQagfY_c0TjJXX8IWFMCmw1cDV5MZ6ihC5x1njMlDOhUlRPMCOe_mfoLaHhlaHl8/s1600/buzzlogo.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 140px; HEIGHT: 34px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5575101293346228994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnKk3uWvAOQIxGo5S8gASMUmNLDuJeoAIeKPVf98pUfkGAAB2MOj7v1pXZCFoaMrwjDcoLNoxO6hUNQagfY_c0TjJXX8IWFMCmw1cDV5MZ6ihC5x1njMlDOhUlRPMCOe_mfoLaHhlaHl8/s320/buzzlogo.jpg" /></a> In today's <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">ClickZ</span>, Chris O'Hara writes about the new era of digital media agencies. Over the past several years the demands on agencies have continued to grow, along with the variety of choices for technology partnerships and media choices.<br /><br />O'Hara specifically talks about <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> as it relates to agencies building better media strategies for their clients.<br /><a href="http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2025930/-agency-model">http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2025930/-agency-model</a><br /><br />"3. Be strategic: This sounds obvious, but sometimes the definition of strategic gets lost in the weeds when it comes to digital. Sometimes, an agency feels it is being strategic when it partners with enough technology companies that offer their clients a variety of digital tactics (social, video, mobile). But having those partnerships and capabilities is far different than using them smartly and in a way that gives your shop the edge over your competition (they have access to all the same technology as you do). True strategy involves finding what works for your clients and creating repeatable processes that lead to long-term success. When your clients say they "want to do social," are you smart enough to determine whether they simply need to access the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">API</span> - or are they looking to find their customers through conversational density around their products, such as <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> offers? How you offer "social" to your clients should come with a unique strategic model. (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> makes software that scrapes the Web and looks for where people are "talking about" different products/concepts in the social sphere. Conversational density happens where there is a lot of focused conversation around a topic.)"<br /><br />Here at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> we're working hard to provide a strategic approach to our advertisers needs, enabling them to understand the conversation and activate media to help influence their audience.Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-12942344967978069162011-02-07T11:33:00.000-08:002011-02-07T11:40:03.358-08:00AOL Beats out Yahoo for purchase of Huffpo<object id="wsj_fp" width="512" height="363"><param name="movie" value="http://s.marketwatch.com/media/swf/main.swf"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><param name="flashvars" value="videoGUID={0F20E91C-7469-4619-8826-7721DC5CCC02}&playerid=2001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://wsj.vo.llnwd.net/o28/players/&autoStart=false"><embed src="http://s.marketwatch.com/media/swf/main.swf" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoGUID={0F20E91C-7469-4619-8826-7721DC5CCC02}&playerid=2001&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://wsj.vo.llnwd.net/o28/players/&autoStart=false" base="http://s.marketwatch.com/media/swf/" name="flashPlayer" width="512" height="363" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" swliveconnect="true" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br /><br />If you recall, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">TechCrunch</span> reported that Yahoo was going to purchase <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Huffpo</span> for an undisclosed amount - estimated over $200 million. Well, it looks like Tim Armstrong (former google exec - Current Pres of AOL) won the battle to buy one of the leading online publishers.<br /><br />Content seems to be king for the portal strategy going forward. Seems like the portals are much less interested in search and more interested in content for this decade and round of M&A.<br /><br />Love to see that the largest blog has been acquired, and once again a tribute to what's happening with M&A in the social media space. I anticipate many more acquisitions here in 2011, especially if the stock market can hold its gains.Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-110990088994961032011-02-01T11:50:00.000-08:002011-02-01T12:04:13.655-08:00Ad.Ly Leverages Facebook to drive traffic<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqzm_Ijx-kSG3UdVmj4v9Ix1jeZHisYhYXWZR0rpIwaKb4sXdAD8snv7QfwR6Bw2UuzmEFfq_-FqnjcAxKOCzRRxtbrJg2V4Fk35DbhUItbxUSdAFo5-cXFktMUM_gbENGKlXLixOnt0/s1600/adly.png"><img style="WIDTH: 150px; HEIGHT: 82px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5568811044923587586" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdqzm_Ijx-kSG3UdVmj4v9Ix1jeZHisYhYXWZR0rpIwaKb4sXdAD8snv7QfwR6Bw2UuzmEFfq_-FqnjcAxKOCzRRxtbrJg2V4Fk35DbhUItbxUSdAFo5-cXFktMUM_gbENGKlXLixOnt0/s320/adly.png" /></a> Wow, this is great news for ad.<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">ly</span>. New integration into <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> will increase exposure onto multiple platforms for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">microblogs</span>. <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143878">http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=143878</a><br /><div> </div><div>I have been closely following ad.<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">ly</span> since Derek Rey, VP of Sales moved there from <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Technorati</span> a couple years ago. Derek is one of the great minds in Social Media today, and has established himself as a thought leader for marketing in social media.</div><div> </div><div>This move makes complete sense as <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> continues to lead the space for time spent, audience size. It's all about hitting critical mass of audience. So, why not Twitter & <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> & <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">MySpace</span>?... <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Microblogging</span> has been fragmenting since inception, and it's important to understand who and why audiences use the respective platforms. It's all about selecting the correct medium for your audience and message.</div><div> </div><div>Ad.<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">ly</span> has a really smart platform and great celebrity personalities to drive influence for brands across the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">microblogging</span> universe, driving enormous amounts of qualified, real time influence for events, products, and services. </div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-18746605842519953822011-01-06T13:27:00.000-08:002011-01-06T13:42:01.126-08:00Party Like it's 1999<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJpsTJXTMV_14yHEzv8WaaDYgVlMNacwjJb_g_srXrHvzACLG8AQbDnA4ShkhLzxr7Q217dEULpo2blzbO3w9ogSgQ0bQyydiYO7qPEi8vOG6euXbwlodXane2QRgxMwvDoIwDZSYK1Y/s1600/LinkedIn_logo_1.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5559188271991750482" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJpsTJXTMV_14yHEzv8WaaDYgVlMNacwjJb_g_srXrHvzACLG8AQbDnA4ShkhLzxr7Q217dEULpo2blzbO3w9ogSgQ0bQyydiYO7qPEi8vOG6euXbwlodXane2QRgxMwvDoIwDZSYK1Y/s320/LinkedIn_logo_1.jpg" /></a> Two Thousand Zero Zero .... Party Like it's 1999. Wow, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">IPO's</span> for <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">LinkedIn</span> and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> possible for 2011. That's a huge indicator for new investment and innovation in our social media industry. Adding to the hype, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">as</span> the rumor mill churns... <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Groupons</span> turned down some serious money (something like $6 Billion) from Google.<br /> <a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=142495">http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=142495</a><br /><br />Since we know that "fear and greed" drive our capital markets, I assume that these indicators will bring out the greed in the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">VC</span> community. This means that many new entrants to the social media race will become well fortified with capital to better compete in a liquid marketplace. I'm not sure if the event will really bring back the big DOT COM boom of liquidity into emerging social media companies, but historically <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">VC's</span> tend to invest where liquidity exists. <br /><br />The main question is which companies will be the next darlings. First it was eBay & Yahoo, bunched with everything that had Dot Com in the name, then Google emerged as the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Goliath</span>, and now? Will that be <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span>, or potentially a new entrant fueled by new <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">VC</span> monies. <br /><br />Personally I feel that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> is very limited, but does offer potential growth. I think the Bing partnership is very important, and there are come deep commerce implications associated with the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">build out</span> of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> over time. Question is... will there be a new social media platform that bumps them off the block with better tools, and a more interesting user interface.<br /><br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">LinkedIn</span> is an obvious value, and will succeed for a very long time. That said, they too have been fairly limited with regards to adding new powerful tools to drive more activity and community. But hey... it's a cash cow, and will hit hard once the economy and recruiting comes back strong over the next 3-5 years.<br /><br />Personally I'm very happy to see these companies thrive, and I would imagine that we'll see some very strong M&A, and more hopefully <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">IPO</span> action in the Dot Com and or Social Media space.<br /><br />Go Bulls !!<br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-540065479735780752010-11-22T12:46:00.000-08:002010-11-23T09:30:14.306-08:00Arianna Huffington @ ThinkLA Trends Breakfast<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ1rb3dBsPE_WGDuLrHwQg5RZqZ0MtbhTjMDpcdv1-GylVqoEye46xEYxbm2tYJE8LGt4TBgHvJ-kMZxdU7dZwtkj5ulwR-8qWoTo26Qd8fL6XF_cD1NLkcVpuFvILT0iw1dUaVFYo8_0/s1600/Arianna+Huffington.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 213px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542527499531831778" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ1rb3dBsPE_WGDuLrHwQg5RZqZ0MtbhTjMDpcdv1-GylVqoEye46xEYxbm2tYJE8LGt4TBgHvJ-kMZxdU7dZwtkj5ulwR-8qWoTo26Qd8fL6XF_cD1NLkcVpuFvILT0iw1dUaVFYo8_0/s320/Arianna+Huffington.jpg" /></a>It was a great pleasure seeing <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Arianna</span> <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Huffington</span> present at last week's <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">ThinkLA</span> trends breakfast. She really enchanted the audience bringing them into her fold and view of social media.<br /><br /><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Arianna</span> is really well grounded, and discussed some of the key advantages and disadvantages of always being connected. Her view is to allow social media to connect people, but never to allow social media to replace personal interactions. Rather, social media should only be an extension of those natural interactions.<br /><br />In addition, she warned us of "good and evil" uses of social media, and really asked the audience to help promote and advocate positive uses.<br /><br />Regarding a potential run for public office in the future, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Arianna</span> plainly stated, "that a person would have to be a masochist in today's media landscape to engage is such a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">dysfunctional</span> system". Unfortunately she's absolutely correct. Who would want to get punished in the press, have their family and reputation criticized to such an extreme.<br /><br />Really enjoyed the show, and had a chance to shake her hand following the presentation. I was very delighted to see <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Arianna</span> present. On behalf of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span>, we were very proud to sponsor and participate in the event!<br /><div><div><br /><div></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipF49EaitFD61i0d0YsvOM6wDC3dmHDigy2YXiEIMmBVifAbcm8BnL0C8JET5D6WzFYAiJptJMpgeN1r9Oj8XIp8BqFAQheBx7NkV96gbzX4Fx1jIpwTtOrLM700eE0D7OyX25KToMYvo/s1600/Arianna+Huffington+%2526+Sara+Morton.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 213px; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5542528017002644338" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipF49EaitFD61i0d0YsvOM6wDC3dmHDigy2YXiEIMmBVifAbcm8BnL0C8JET5D6WzFYAiJptJMpgeN1r9Oj8XIp8BqFAQheBx7NkV96gbzX4Fx1jIpwTtOrLM700eE0D7OyX25KToMYvo/s320/Arianna+Huffington+%2526+Sara+Morton.jpg" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div>Thank you Sara Morton and ThinkLA for inviting us to sponsor and participate... </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-26896506592617893262010-11-09T06:42:00.000-08:002010-11-09T06:52:26.549-08:00The future of the web - I think it's already here<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YWfLy845x9nEPvWV15jQVmsSVhW851SYTXUwaxVPYq-dAvy0C2d5eHwnE7_W7746DO71ezHQZ51r9tPw_vN3HJX14cD7vQLTziZVZeSEE7Ys-vSCpfMnYCRgm7jvkdpVMA3I1kjIuQk/s1600/RocketMelt.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 216px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 70px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5537560415711853442" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5YWfLy845x9nEPvWV15jQVmsSVhW851SYTXUwaxVPYq-dAvy0C2d5eHwnE7_W7746DO71ezHQZ51r9tPw_vN3HJX14cD7vQLTziZVZeSEE7Ys-vSCpfMnYCRgm7jvkdpVMA3I1kjIuQk/s320/RocketMelt.png" /></a><br /><div>Very interesting capabilities and validation that social media platforms are becoming the growth segment for navigating the web. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> is winning the war with #1 site for time spent, so does that mean <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> has become the home page of the web? Is this where people are starting their day on the web, discovering headlines, funny jokes, new videos, and "social news" within their network? I don't think it's quite all of that yet, but <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">RockMelt</span> seems to hold this promise. </div><div> </div><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Earning trust</span>, positive feedback, and social sharing among the key <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">influencers</span> group will become increasingly important. Knowing where your <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">influencers</span> turn for information, and messaging them at those critical intersections has always been important, but as this trend accelerates with new facilitating technology it will transform web marketing.</div><div> </div><div>So, what is the best way to engage these key <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">influencers</span>? Direct Outreach, Advertising, Special Offers for the group facilitators, custom engagement ad units, Information Access, ?? </div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-46447965236649737632010-11-06T11:30:00.001-07:002010-11-06T13:39:10.119-07:00ThinkLA Trends Breakfast - November 19th<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_geiHB0icKJMQpuYNn83058pSQ2KpG5it4l6gMAKhr19PbAcPHitAUoZ08tQfjSry2JcoUnb1-G8JqbDr-bcmroEN42ao0atITPkXsYLpq7l6XPbO10xUpw4-gn7R0ZrIN7AclxlB0R0/s1600/Think+LA+Logo.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 107px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 99px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5536506061316864834" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_geiHB0icKJMQpuYNn83058pSQ2KpG5it4l6gMAKhr19PbAcPHitAUoZ08tQfjSry2JcoUnb1-G8JqbDr-bcmroEN42ao0atITPkXsYLpq7l6XPbO10xUpw4-gn7R0ZrIN7AclxlB0R0/s320/Think+LA+Logo.jpg" /></a> Come join us at the ThinkLA Trends Breakfast on November 19th. BuzzLogic is proud to sponsor this high profile event, featuring Arianna Huffington<br /><br /><br />Here is the registration information if you would like to attend:<br /><a href="http://www.thinkla.org/en/cev/129">http://www.thinkla.org/en/cev/129</a><br /><br />The central theme of the event is straight in line with BuzzLogic, and the topics will center around influencing the influencer. BuzzLogic is one of the best positioned media comapnies within "conversational media", helps brand advertisers to identify the most topical and influencial blogs, and inserts brand messaging (ads) within those centers of influence.<br /><br />Hope to see you at the event!Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-32200040668059683642010-09-22T10:14:00.000-07:002010-09-22T10:31:19.298-07:00Six Apart and Video Egg Merger = SAY<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3BIkpFsFRO_RyD1o6CvmxZqk7oFaF2QRpjKCM-9Fxk0CcVwB_hM27M36P8dFbiUA8O_BmTFa60qnE7G_Csq30tXkpk4hE3zvjOwxy810gIDDraQOtjAm0f3mNuH87zgjRW1C28jv0bvM/s1600/say+Logo.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 136px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519787790856147314" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3BIkpFsFRO_RyD1o6CvmxZqk7oFaF2QRpjKCM-9Fxk0CcVwB_hM27M36P8dFbiUA8O_BmTFa60qnE7G_Csq30tXkpk4hE3zvjOwxy810gIDDraQOtjAm0f3mNuH87zgjRW1C28jv0bvM/s320/say+Logo.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Kind of a funky name for a media company... But, Google sounded kind of funky the first time the name came around. The post on Paid Content says that Video Egg is to purchase Six Apart, so this must be an all stock deal. <a href="http://paidcontent.org/article/419-online-ad-net-videoegg-to-acquire-six-apart-forming-say-media/">http://paidcontent.org/article/419-online-ad-net-videoegg-to-acquire-six-apart-forming-say-media/</a></div><div> </div><div>I also understand that Six Apart will have a 25% ownership position in the new media company SAY. Being that Video Egg has only raised $30 million, I don't anticipate all the employees at Six A running out to buy a new <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Prius</span> (sorry a little Natural Path Humor), or even a Tesla or something crazy. Probably just a nice round of apps, and a glass of bubbly.</div><div> </div><div>I am excited to see this M&A activity, especially as it's so close to home for me (<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">literally</span> as six apart is 1 block one direction, and Video Egg is one block from us the other direction), plus of course the business proximity with my current run @ <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span>, plus the 3 years logged in @ <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Technorati</span>. </div><div> </div><div>Personally, I think media buyers will be excited about the combination of Video Content + Blog Content. Six Apart has been very strong with their custom executions, and should highlight their work for Avatar. Entertainment, specifically Movie Studio advertisers should take note of this new media <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">entity</span>, as they will certainly offer some powerful solutions. I would also imagine that many of the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">CPG</span> brands can benefit from their long tail blogger outreach + video too.</div><div> </div><div>Will certainly be watching SAY closely, and very excited about what this means for the industry. </div><div> </div><div> </div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-92007377763761591082010-09-13T15:30:00.000-07:002010-09-13T15:40:29.892-07:00It Doesn't Take A Genius...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm8o39x7PNhbvmGaD8Hsk3IvdBA8E5DA4CRUxlzyI95azfB21TU3LvBgEjzf-EBz1iSq05hPaLdeo06h6dm5PZ-IEdG7YcQHk5hD5SyrrH1la4kPCsxfSXgrYA9DvcvS8_5IOM2by3Ng/s1600/Hamburglar.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 270px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 187px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516529937926774722" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtm8o39x7PNhbvmGaD8Hsk3IvdBA8E5DA4CRUxlzyI95azfB21TU3LvBgEjzf-EBz1iSq05hPaLdeo06h6dm5PZ-IEdG7YcQHk5hD5SyrrH1la4kPCsxfSXgrYA9DvcvS8_5IOM2by3Ng/s320/Hamburglar.jpg" /></a><br /><br />It doesn't take a genius to realize that all your <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">facebook</span> updates from a <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">foreign</span> country could tip off burglars that you're not at home.<br /><br />Today's story surrounds an <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">incident</span> in NH, where fear became reality:<br /><a href="http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135640&nid=118523">http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=135640&<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">nid</span>=118523</a><br /><br />I always wondered about those in my "friends circle" who constantly brag about their distant whereabouts... only to tip off those who may have a motive to know that "You're not home", and too far away to protect the homestead.<br /><br />It certainly took a very long time for this to happen, and wonder if this will:<br /><ol><li>Tip off new burglars that they can use <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">facebook</span>, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">myspace</span>, twitter, and foursquare as lead gen for their heists</li><li>Make people change their online behavior and place additional protections, limit viewers, and or avoid telling people that they're not at home now.</li></ol><p>The aged old balance between vanity and sanity ....</p>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-37401107804311523952010-09-09T16:14:00.000-07:002010-09-09T16:34:30.175-07:00Comments On Re-Targeting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNcSQPYJSPXfnoZs0hqUQJSoTGR-YUkQku-bpFdFcMdF8ZGSeZfjYVw1z6Bakn_K0P_mGKQ0obXeB7pS5LVBFi0rKLUoXlafaakJBTQ7-op1164j-HTzQ-4hH8xhSPaIdZ8qCTvy1lHcQ/s1600/Re-Targeting.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 265px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 190px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5515056517516991042" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNcSQPYJSPXfnoZs0hqUQJSoTGR-YUkQku-bpFdFcMdF8ZGSeZfjYVw1z6Bakn_K0P_mGKQ0obXeB7pS5LVBFi0rKLUoXlafaakJBTQ7-op1164j-HTzQ-4hH8xhSPaIdZ8qCTvy1lHcQ/s320/Re-Targeting.jpg" /></a><br /><div>Alright, OK they found me...</div><div> </div><div>I'm trying to remember the year I was at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">LuLu's</span> in San Francisco for the big <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">DoubleClick</span> launch party for abacus. I remember something about re-messaging a person who was shopping for a Yellow Shirt, and abandoned the shopping cart. I'm not absolutely sure, but that was the first major REV on behavioral targeting. </div><div> </div><div>Since then, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">BT</span> has become commonplace as a very effective online marketing tool. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">Whether</span> it's direct response or branding with sequential messaging, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">BT</span> delivers amazing results. </div><div> </div><div>I can see the big deal with the NY Times example, and some times I even get a little spooked, then very interested in why I keep seeing particular ads. Sometimes I have to re-think or retrace my web surfing behavior to realize that I was on the brand site just the day previous. Happens to me all the time, and when I'm researching a brand I usually get surrounded for the days following. John <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Battelle</span> wrote a great piece on this a few days back <a href="http://battellemedia.com/archives/2010/08/on_retargeting_fix_the_conversation">http://battellemedia.com/archives/2010/08/on_retargeting_fix_the_conversation</a></div><div> </div><div>When it comes to re-targeting & re-messaging, I really like the dynamic product ads, and love the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">NexTag</span> versions. Last winter I was shopping for some skis via <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">NexTag</span> search, and viola, for the next week or so, I received a ton of ads for those skis and related products. Genius. Actually, when you get over how spooky it seems, it's actually a very good service to the user. I'm sure we'll see better and better <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">iterations</span>, with price drops, special offers, etc. Some early versions of this have been in the market for awhile.</div><div> </div><div>Conversational Media is a whole new frontier, and we're working on some amazing new products to empower our advertising partners in unique ways. By the very nature of Conversational Media, we know that we have users who are very engaged with the content they're consuming. So, naturally, studying a users engagement within a conversation, rather than a "site visit" can provide key <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">learnings</span> and targeting opportunities. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> is really the only media company today who can gain from targeting & re-targeting users who are part of the conversation.</div><div> </div><div>Today is the era of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">DSP's</span>, Exchanges, and Mega Networks. It only makes sense to add more targeting based on rich data in today's media environment. </div><div> </div><div> </div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-16813707742189186032010-09-08T15:33:00.000-07:002010-09-13T08:13:29.327-07:00BuzzLogic Grows to 122 Million Unique Users<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-mq4mGaiIKk55dnDnFRdqo6zM1ensnpLGIsTciFeA3WxqiegCZmJ95nQcedCpQLwzQCItLbQpJ2ZGAINi94XEc-MDwjoevpg-7ge5Eh8-UoFezpm_hYgeiIM9YcrTt5Bl0esqwNeb50/s1600/buzzlogo.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 140px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 34px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516415383543153346" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu-mq4mGaiIKk55dnDnFRdqo6zM1ensnpLGIsTciFeA3WxqiegCZmJ95nQcedCpQLwzQCItLbQpJ2ZGAINi94XEc-MDwjoevpg-7ge5Eh8-UoFezpm_hYgeiIM9YcrTt5Bl0esqwNeb50/s320/buzzlogo.jpg" /></a>For many years marketers and advertisers who have embraced the blogosphere have had difficulty achieving scale. Here @ BuzzLogic, we have solved this problem, and enable brands to place targeted media across over 20,000 blogs & conversational media sites. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Comscore</span> numbers are posted for August, and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> is now at 122,927,000 US Only, Monthly Unique Users. <div><div><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><br /><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> now offers marketers the most scalable solution for the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">blogosphere, enabling brands to reach large pools if highly endemic traffic</span>. That said, scale is only part of the equation and total solution here at <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span>. <strong>Targeting at Scale</strong> is our value proposition for marketers. There are many networks and media companies that allow you to reach scale, but very few, if any offer the level of targeting <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">BuzzLogic</span> provides. </div><br /><div></div><div>Scale, Targeting, Custom Media Executions, Campaign Measurement, and Brand Analytics = BuzzLogic</div></div></div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759567542540060267.post-73772027206211295522010-08-31T11:27:00.000-07:002010-08-31T11:34:45.902-07:00Vail Resort - New Social Network Apps<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZ_xM_HC8EI4Zr0kyuf_AK0sXOhDY82OE84GH_0uzxCn0VJskfP5YOSB3TMpzudTBMVYmwcX5vWkGTtR61lL6uDJ_Ud7afFJxAYq2xkZhX4jSzXgeMDfetooDKO33AWNB3M3nV3lZiPU/s1600/hotdog.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 125px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5511642456838310994" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMZ_xM_HC8EI4Zr0kyuf_AK0sXOhDY82OE84GH_0uzxCn0VJskfP5YOSB3TMpzudTBMVYmwcX5vWkGTtR61lL6uDJ_Ud7afFJxAYq2xkZhX4jSzXgeMDfetooDKO33AWNB3M3nV3lZiPU/s320/hotdog.jpg" /></a><br /><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">EpicMix</span> by Vail Resorts looks like a very cool way to capture and share your time on the slopes.... <a href="http://www.snow.com/epicmix/home.aspx?intcmp=EE000003">http://www.snow.com/epicmix/home.aspx?intcmp=EE000003</a></div><div> </div><div>Vail Resorts seems to be on the leading edge of social media marketing for the ski resort business, and I know that they have been a leader in producing daily video's on their site for online marketing purposes. Of course, my favorite local resort <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kirkwood</span> is also very strong on pumping out <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Facebook</span> updates (Thanks Coop), and Daily Ski Video's (Thanks Pete & Coop).</div><div> </div><div>Love the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">EpicMix</span> program to track your vertical feet, runs you've skied, and special <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">promo's</span>. Seems like a very fun way to stay connected with the sport, share and connect with friends.</div><div> </div><div>I'm probably going to ski Vail & Beaver Creek this winter, so hopefully I can check this out!</div>Chris Verzellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00572056950086838791noreply@blogger.com0