iPad Turns Out To Have Superbowl Like Advertising Appeal

It looks as though the big advertisers are lining up for ad space in iPad apps and the platforms launch is drawing Superbowl like numbers! The New York Times is reporting that:

"iPad advertisements on print publishers’ applications cost $75,000 to $300,000 for a few months with some exclusivity, said Phuc Truong, managing director of Mobext U.S., a mobile-marketing unit at Havas Digital."

All the while developers are trying to figure out how to make the most of the opportunity and the hype. It's interesting that it has taken Apple to make this happen, I guess the advertisers are counting on the larger format of the iPad and the magic of Apple to make tablets / e-readers a mainstream consumer product and the publishers are doing a good job selling the launch.

Offer-Based Ads In Your Mobile Apps?

Here is something to be on the lookout for! GIGaom is speculating a wave of in app offers as the result of the acquisition of Tapjoy by Offerpal Media.

Offerpal specializes in the kind of pitches that have quickly become very popular on social networking sites such as Facebook as a way to generate revenue and enable users to enhance the gaming experience. A casual gamer who accepts a trial offer from Netflix, for instance, could be rewarded with extra levels, while a fan of a mafia game could get a weapons upgrade by taking a survey.


Tapjoy delivers a related service for mobile developers looking to monetize their apps. The company offers free content or in-game upgrades to users who agree to download additional applications.

 I suppose it was inevitable, I just hoped it wouldn't happen so soon.

Sending The Wrong Message?

This is a timely followup to my last post regarding your brand and social media. WPMI TV in Mobile Alabama thought that an electronic billboard with a live Twitter feed would help to promote their news team. However good the idea may have been, the implementation has put the Station Manager and News Director in hot water after an unfortunate and embarrassing combination of a live post and News Team promotion.

Source: cnn.com

Exploding Or Eroding Your Brand Via Social Networking

Social media savvy can come in handy while trying to market your business, brand, product, or service; however the Globe and Mail has compiled a list of anecdotal evidence and they've spoken with the "experts" who warn that the opposite can also be true. The truth of the matter is that exploiting social media is like a wild fire rather than a controlled burn, and just as you might hope the winds are in your favour, they'll sometimes turn on you and you'll get burned!

"...where potential returns come with risk, summarized in this warning from Della Smith, the principal of Q Workshops: With social media, “you can do a lot of brand damage very easily.”"

Check out Timothy Taylor's "Are Twitter and Facebook evil?" a short, but interesting read.

The Ads Have Eyes

Watch a video advertisement in a mall or grocery store and be aware that the ads might be watching back! Though in limited use at the moment, some video ad displays are now making use of small cameras and software to determine the gender, age range and, in some cases, ethnicity of the viewer and then change the ads accordingly.

“This is pro-active merchandising,” says Vicki Rabenou, the chief measurement officer of Tampa, Fla.-based TruMedia Technologies Inc., “You're targeting people with smart ads.”

As the CBC points out it sounds a lot like Minority Report... but no retinal scans yet!

During a recent trip through Boston's Logan airport I spotted a video ad that reacted to the movements of passers by. I thought at the time that it was a clever way to draw attention to the ad but perhaps they were gathering a little insight into me as well?

Another Seinfeld And Gates Commercial - The Simple Life?

Here is another Jerry and Bill commercial that at least attempts to give us a hint at what they are up to, I'm a little less confused by this one. It seems both Seinfeld and Gates are attempting to connect with the real world, as Jerry says to Bill "You and I are a little out of it. You’re living in some kinda moon house hovering over Seattle like the mother ship. I’ve got so many cars I get stuck in my own traffic. We need to connect with real people."

Seinfeld - Gates Ad - Huh?

Microsoft's new ad campaign said to cost $300 million was kicked off on Thursday night with a 90 second spot during NBC's National Football League season opener. The first ad features Jerry Seinfeld spotting Bill Gates trying on shoes in a discount shoe store and the usual Seinfeld zaniness ensues. I can only assume that the follow up ads will shed some light on the message that the company is trying to get out there... the ads had been touted as showing Microsoft as being more hip, and were meant to combat the extremely successful Apple - John Hodgman I'm a Mac, and I'm a PC ads. You be the judge...

CBS Mobile & Loopt Bring Location Based Ads to Cell Phones

The New York Times is reporting this morning that CBS will announce the introduction of a new location based ad campaign customized for a person’s location and delivered to their cell phone via CBS Mobile News and CBS Mobile Sports web sites. “Mobile phone users already see ads on Web pages. But with the CBS service, instead of a more or less random banner popping up on the screen, people who have chosen to participate might see an ad from a business in the neighborhood, even one within a block or two.” The experiment is, for now, limited to two carriers that Loopt has signed deals with, Sprint Nextel and Boost Mobile. If it's an opt in service, and the result is no more ads than would normally be displayed, I really wouldn't have objections. Then again, I live in a very small market and it will probably be a very long time before this type of service makes it way here. I also don't subscribe to the privacy concerns of many... I just don't think that anyone is going to be that interested in where I am at any given time.

Google testing Adsense Review Center

In a move aimed at giving publishers more control over the ads that they display on their sites, Google is testing a new system called "Adsense Review Center". On the Inside AdSense blog Google says this of the service, "... will allow you to review ads placement-targeted to your site and ensure those ads are relevant to your site's users... If you think an ad is not relevant for your users, you can prevent it from appearing again by blocking it in the Ad Review Center." As an AdSense user I think this is great, I'm not always thrilled with the ads that are placed on the site and until now had no choice but to allow them to filter through or stop participating in the program. I'm certainly not ready to quit the day job by any means, but may AdSense allow me to feed my geek habits a bit and I don't think it detracts from the blog?

From the wtf department!!!

I really like this... but wtf Microsoft?


Thanks to TechCrunch for this one.

Minority report type ads coming to the web?

Yahoo! has announced a new service called SmartAds which promises a more targeted approach to serving up advertisements on the web. As this news.com article explains, rather than offering up a generic advertisement the service will be able to provide ads that are relevant to the surfers gender, location and online activities. Ads for your local Toyota dealer would appear rather than the more generic manufactures ad, for instance. Up to the minute pricing can appear in the ad, combining Yahoo's demographic, geographic and behavioral targeting capabilities the advertising will be customized to each individual surfer. I'll reserve comment until I see how well it works but I like the localization aspect of the approach, living in a small town I'm not so sure they'll find advertisers who are really relevant to my location but we'll see.