Digital advertising and marketing: only the best ideas worldwide, since 2003

Google and the future of content targeting

on October 29, 2003 by Martina Comments

Last week Google knocked out another competitor by acquiring Sprinks online advertising network. On CNET News.com Stefanie Olsen analyses Google’s present and future business strategies. Content-targeting ads still need to be improved: according to Forrester Research, response rates to content-targeted ads are about one-fifth that of search-related ads.

File under: Content targeting, contextual advertising, google

Don’t Ask Jeeves, ask someone else…

on August 13, 2003 by Martina Comments

Net imperative reports that Internet search firm Ask Jeeves has decided to drop “Jeeves” the butler from its latest US advertising campaign, prompting speculation that the company’s image is to be revamped without him. The cartoon butler will not completely disappear, but it will be somehow kept hidden in order to increase people curiosity to find out what happend to it. A strange idea, I’m not sure how much people will care of a cartoon… The new Ask.com web site has also a fresher “look & feel”, and it’s designed to compete against Google… Good luck

File under: ask jeeves, butler, cartoon, google

The ads that will affect your life

on July 23, 2003 by Martina Comments

Google will provide target advertising and web search to Weather.com. The news is reported in a press release on Biz Yahoo!. I’m always astonished by reading the high-sounding declarations that usually come with these business deals, and Weather.com makes no exception by saying through Joe Fiveash, senior vice president of Product and Business Development:

“Weather.com wants to present our users with information that is the most relevant to them. By adding Google’s search services, we make finding information about any topic just as easy as finding out how the weather will affect your life.”

Wow, these guys are soooo nice to users, they really care about them and their life… Please, don’t forget business is… business, not charity!

File under: ads, deals, google, weather.com

Self-service for contextual advertising

on June 19, 2003 by Martina Comments

In the Search Engine War, Google makes a move announcing AdSense, a new self-service program for publishers to serve up its contextual advertising. The opinion of Susan Wojcicki, director of products at Google is quoted by Brian Morrisey on IAR:

We think that this program, can fundamentally change the economics of content creation. It will allow content creators to focus on creating the content and not on selling ads.”

File under: contextual advertising, google

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