Archives for the month of: January, 2008
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Google & Publicis transfer programme – is it wrong?

January 28, 2008 //
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It was announced on brand republic last week that Google and Publicis have been working closely together for the past year and plan to step up their alliance with a proposed staff swapping system which could see “possibly hundreds of Google employees” taking placements with the huge media giant.  This strikes me as being slightly wrong, seen as Publicis owns Digitas, ZenithOptimedia, Zed and Starcom, all of whom work with the Google system for their clients, trying to get the best from paid and natural search results.

Surely there is something wrong with such an alliance which could potentially mean Google staff giving favourable treatment and inside information to agencies who operate in the search sphere, therefore giving them an advantage on the competition.  And if they did, it surely gives the Publicis owned agencies an unfair advantage in their market place.  Im sure the parties invovled are going to claim it is just to learn from each others strategies, processes procedures etc etc but theres has got to be more too it than that.  Am I the only one who is worried by this?

 Full article here

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Categories Google

Adwords to Launch Demographic Targeting

January 25, 2008 //
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The adwords blog has announced the launch of a demographic bidding beta test and is offering the chance for advertisers in the UK and the US to sign up for the trial.  Reading into the release the targeting is only going to be available on the content network placement network and is dependent on the publisher site having the capability to provide the information on the users.  If the site has this information, more often than not through a sign in system, then it will be shared anonymously to Google and the appropriate ads.

From the detail in this article the benefits of this system over MSN’s own demographic targeting system is that the system will allow you to up weight your bids by a higher percentage (MSN’s limit is 150%) and that you will also be able to choose not to show your ads to certain audiences.  This is certainly an advance on MSN but the impact of it will be limited by the reliance on the publisher site and the fact that the targeting wont apply to the main Google search results, where it could have most benefit.  This is obviously due to the fact that you dont need to be signed in to Google to use it although they could have implemented it for those people who have a Google account and perform searches whilst signed in.  Maybe that will be in the next release, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

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Categories Google, Search Engine Marketing

Cadbury plans the Gorilla follow up

January 25, 2008 //
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As part of its record breaking 2008 marketing budget Cadbury are planning a follow up to their much loved drumming gorilla advert. According to the latest edition of Marketing the new ad will also feature an animal playing an instrument. The original advert was a major viral success achieving numerous blog postings, massive word of mouth and many a parody on Youtube (you can see some of them here). So the follow up has a hard task following in its footsteps, as do he agency charged with creating the ad. The original one worked well due to the human like actions of a gorilla but I cant see many other animals having the same impact without looking too comical. Answers on a postcard what you think the new animal and instrument will be and heres the original again just for fun!

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Categories Social Media

EA to launch ad supported online game

January 25, 2008 //
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EA have announced that they are going to release a free web only version of its Battlefield title (marketing, 22nd Jan). The version, to be known as Battlefield Heroes will only be available online and will not be sold in stores and will be supported online by advertising within the game and its interface. This is the first major launch in the western market of such a model and the title will spearhead EA’s “play 4 free” model as it moves away from the traditional retail environment.

This could be the first in a long line of initiatives by the big gaming manufacturers to produce ad supported gaming environments and reduce the cost of video games. In game advertising is already heavily behind the rise in online gaming through the games consoles markets but this is the first attempt to launch a web based system. It is going to be interesting how they include the ads into the environment as it will be difficult to keep them in the context of the game, as this is key to its success. But the fact that it is a web interface gives it an advantage over the console based online games. Firstly I would imagine there is a page display which uses a border for elements of the game controls, this provides some space, outside of the game environment which they can sell to advertisers without spoiling the experience too much. Also, there will be log in screens and menu’s they can use for advertising partners.

It will be interesting to see how this works and from a marketers perspective, what response is generating from the ads and whether users pay them any attention at all.

ea ad supported online game

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Categories In Game Advertising

The battle for stickiness

January 24, 2008 //
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Search engine land reported today the release of some new functional by ask which allows a user to upload their own personal background image for the search engine.  The functionality to add a skin to the background has been available since last year but this was only for predetermined images and wasn’t customisable.  I like the idea of customising the results page and this is a much simpler solution than Google’s which involves xml information rather than a simple image upload.  It is also much more flexible and interesting than msn and yahoo’s offerings which only allow the selection of different colour palletes for the page.

This functionality is just another stage in the battle for search engine supremacy but also for loyalty within internet users through added value.  Yahoo had this a long time ago through positioning itself as an information portal and one stop shop for your internet needs (email, news, sport, search…) a similar position taken by MSN.  Then Google smashed this with its simplicity and accuracy of results.  But even the big G has recognised the need to give people more and through iGoogle struck a balance between information on the page and usability by allowing the user to choose which information feeds they received.  The issue at the bottom of all of this is keeping people using your page/engine, setting it as their homepage, and a base for all their online activities.  If they can use your site for everything they need online whey would they go elsewhere?  The longer a user in on your site, the more searches they do, the more ads they view, the more ads they click, the more money you make! Simple.  Expect a lot more releases like in this in the next 12 months as the battle continues.

It’ll take a lot more functionality for Yahoo, Ask or MSN to catch Google but I do know people who now use the Yahoo homepage as they prefer it to Google so there is some movement going on.   You can check out the Ask function on the US site here, it is not yet available in the UK.

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Categories Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation
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