Apple iPhone 4 FaceTime Video Call Ad

Making a old technology new again, emotional and personal too, that's what Apple does best!!

AdAge Article: Memo to Steve Jobs

An interesting article: "Memo to Steve Jobs: the IAd Is No Miracle Worker" by Kathryn Koegel

Nice piece! but might be not-so-nice piece for Steve admirers!

NIKE Football - Write the Future

This might be the best ad ever!

Brilliant Speed Test!

Digital vs. Physical Speed.

Brilliant Oscar-Nominated Short 'Logorama'

At this year's Oscar, there was an animated filmed called Logorama, written and directed by H5 / Francois Alaux, Hervé de Crecy and Ludovic Houplain. Logorama takes place in a world full of corporate and brand logos (in which roughly 2,500 appear), and it follows a few different stories that all intertwine with one another. This short is bloody brilliant, and it'll blow your brains out!

Featuring Michelin as the cops and Ronald McDonald as the villain, among many other "characters" as bystanders. It also has the tiniest details that truly make this film a work of art.

6 Lies You've Been Told About Ad Networks - by Michael Estrin

My colleague sent me this article earlier this week and I found it intriguing. Here're the highlights of this article:

• Ad networks aren't dying - the unique and value-driven will survive
• Common to popular belief, ad networks work with premium sites and often have access to the first impression during non-peak hours
• Ad networks can create channel conflict - but not all of them

Here's the article itself:

Sifting through blanket criticisms

Mention ad networks to someone who doesn't work for an ad network, and you're bound to get an earful -- and chances are most of it won't be positive. Publishers, many of whom use ad networks, often bash the business model because it doesn't generate enough revenue to support quality content. But the low prices for advertisers aren't always met with high praise.

Media buyers, nearly all of whom use ad networks on a regular basis, frequently give mixed reports. On the one hand, many media buyers say ad networks represent a great way to make a targeted ad buy across a lot of sites without going over budget. But those same media buyers often criticize ad networks for a lack of transparency, and in some cases they point to specific instances in which a campaign ended up on the entirely wrong site with disastrous results.

But criticizing ad networks en masse is about as useful as saying you don't like weather -- any weather. In other words, blanket criticisms of ad networks just don't make much sense.

As with any vendor, due diligence is critical. There simply is no substitute. But given the wide-ranging criticisms leveled at ad networks, we wanted to give the industry a chance to rebut some of the more common "lies" as they see them. Here's what some ad networks told us they regularly hear, and here's what they had to say about those complaints.

Lie 1

Ad networks are dying.

Remember a few years ago when everyone, myself included, predicted the great ad network shakeout? You know, that was back when people said things like, "Only a small handful of ad networks will survive because..."

Well, that didn't happen. And since then, those who are continuing with that narrative have adjusted the message. While no specific date has been set, the rap on ad networks these days is that they're dying, not a certain, immediate death, but a death nonetheless. Which means that if you rely on ad networks for your media buying, you better find a new strategy -- ASAP.

Well, not exactly, according to Seevast CEO Jaan Janes.

"Sure, the ad networks that have no standards and 'cookie-cutter' networks will be the dying breed," Janes says. "Those networks that are built on solid partnerships and offer results-driven technology for its advertisers and premium publishers will prevail. The ad network must offer unique selling points and a differentiation in the marketplace. The network must leverage consumer data and insights to satisfy advertisers' goals and objectives. The network must use targeting to drive a proven higher revenue return than the competition. They must do all of these things and more to be an essential part of the media buying/planning process to survive."

Lie 2

Only a few ad networks matter.

There are probably several hundred ad networks out there. Nobody really knows how many for sure. But one thing you often hear people say is that only the top few really matter. But that's simply not true, says Kaley Dobson, marketing manager for LookSmart.

"It's true, there are a lot of ad networks out there, and not all of them are going to flourish this year, or even five years from now, but even inevitable ad network consolidation will still leave us with more than a handful of ad networks," Dobson says. "Want proof? Look at the search advertising industry. Search networks thrive because many savvy search marketers choose to complement their existing campaigns on larger engines like Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft with supplemental campaigns on ad networks in order to expand their reach and increase their ROI. Many marketers don't want to be limited to a one-stop-shop advertising channel, and multiple ad networks provide them with the power of choice."

Lie 3

Ad networks only sell junk.

Want to buy inventory on a top-tier premium site? You won't be able to do it through an ad network.

That's the conventional wisdom out there -- that ad networks can only deliver inventory that lesser sites were unable to sell themselves. But nothing could be further from the truth, according to Jim Waltz, president of Traffic Marketplace.

"Almost every publisher in the comScore 500 works with top ad networks," Waltz says. And, he points out, ad networks often have access to the first impression on a premium site during non-peak hours.

Lie 4

Ad network traffic is unreliable.

Ad networks are no strangers to stories about dubious traffic. It simply comes with the territory. And in the early days, traffic horror stories seemed almost commonplace. But those stories usually aren't accurate -- at least not as applied to the industry as a whole, says Steve O'Brien, VP of marketing at Click Forensics.

According to O'Brien, many of those stories stem from a perception that ad networks buy and sell traffic amongst themselves, which often results in a very murky picture for their clients. But that shell game -- which might benefit a handful of shady ad networks in the short-run -- isn't standard across the industry, says O'Brien, who adds that, "Most credible ad networks have internal quality standards and controls to filter/block poor traffic from advertisers. Ad networks hate underperforming traffic almost as much as advertisers do!"

Lie 5

Transparency is unavailable.

One of the earliest knocks on ad networks was that they didn't offer transparency to their clients. Naturally, this criticism was compounded by the fact that there were -- and still are -- a number of so-called "blind" ad networks. While the terms vary a little, the general idea is that buyers won't know exactly where their ads will end up. But when speaking about ad networks in general, Andy Smith, VP of Marchex, says the industry, driven by media buyer demand, has gone a long way toward improving transparency.

"When working with ad networks, advertisers and agencies have become increasingly more focused on transparency and ROI," Smith says. "[Many ad networks] offer site-specific targeting for advertisers and agencies, giving them full transparency into the placement of their ads. With full transparency down to the page level, brand advertisers can protect their brand image by controlling the placement of their ads while only paying when a consumer clicks on their advertisement."

Lie 6

Ad networks create channel conflict.

File this one under the heading of "sometimes." In a nutshell, there's a school of thought that says ad networks create a conflict in a given channel because they undercut the price of the inventory. That is, advertisers often decline to buy directly from the publisher when they know they can hold off and pick up the same inventory for less by working with an ad network. While that might be true in some instances, it isn't true for at least one type of ad network, says Ben Cohen, director of sales for the ZEDO Ad Network.

Here's why: "Some ad networks sell only behavioral and DMA targeting," Cohen says. "They don't sell sites, so advertisers can't buy impressions from a site -- at any price"

In other words, ad networks that sell based on technology innovations like behavioral or geo-targeting aren't really selling an impression that can be bought elsewhere because the advertiser didn't buy an impression from a specific site -- they bought a user at a specific site (or sites) based on a predetermined set of criteria.

Conclusion

Ad networks -- like the weather -- are an inescapable reality, and just as there are all kinds of weather, there are all kinds of ad networks. Heaping complaints on ad networks for existing might be fun cocktail conversation, but in practice, those statements don't get you very far.

Even more worrisome is the possibility that many of those complaints might only be valid as to a specific ad network, but inaccurate as to the rest of the industry. That might be bad news for the ad networks, but it might also be bad news for those in digital who shy away from them because of bad information. After all, if you're steering clear of a particular type of resource because you've bought into some bad information, there's a distinct possibility that you're missing an opportunity.

HKSevens - The Fun Is Back! Campaign

Speaking of utilizing social media and viral videos, Cathay Pacific is on top of it again this year by re-introducing their video competition which ran last year as well. Here's their promo video on YouTube:

Not only they're "involving" the audiences both online and on-the-spot (in HK Stadium), they're utilizing Facebook and Twitter to allow on-the-spot audiences to tweet match results and special happenings. This is truly integrated.

If you wanna get a kick out of the event and hopefully win yourself air tickets, be sure submit your video on their site - http://www.cathaypacifichost.com/HKSevens/

Tribal Fusion Sees Online Video In A New Way

By: Adaline Lau, Hong Kong

Published: http://www.marketing-interactive.com/news/17932

Hong Kong - Digital ad network Tribal Fusion has introduced a new model for online video to ensure advertisers only pay when a user launches or views the content.

Andrew Wong, business director for Tribal Fusion Greater China, said pricing model for most video ad formats are usually based on cost per impression but Tribal Fusion's cost per play model aims to incentivise advertisers to sign up as they can calculate the effectiveness.

"Every dollar they spend, they engage the user," he added.

According to a November 2009 Eyeblaster report, online video advertising spending is projected to quadruple in the next four years.

In the past four years, video impressions have grown tenfold, growing 60% faster than rich media impressions.

While video advertising is set to be a growing trend, Wong said he's not seeing a lot of online video advertising in Greater China.

He said marketers are not fully utilising the technology to engage audiences online and some video ads are simply the placement of TVCs in online spaces.

Wong added there is a lot of potential to grow online video advertising here.

Pawan Goyal, managing director, Asia & Middle East for Tribal Fusion added if you see current video advertising solutions they are around pre-roll or post-roll advertising.

He said there are several problems with this format as brand advertisers are not comfortable showing their video ads on user generated videos and quality video inventory is very scarce.

"In these formats user is forced to see the advertising even if he is not interested. There is no interaction and pretty much like watching ad on TV," he said.

Goyal said full engagement video allow teaser ads to be shown in standard ad units where inventory is not an issue and advertiser' videos are shown only on high quality and brand safe content pages.

He said complete video ads are initiated only when the user is interested and advertisers can provide multiple options to users to engage and drive them to different landing pages or show them different video ads, which will increase the level of targeting and engagement compared to TVCs.

The full engagement video solution is available in key Asia Pacific markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, India, Philippines and Dubai.

Clients that have signed up include Nokia, Proton and Singapore Youth Olympics.

AdAge on Apple vs. Google

Ad Age dissected where exactly the two giants of Silicon Valley compete.

Apple vs. Google

Apple

Handset:

iPhone

Launch date: June 29, 2007
First-month sales: 600,000**
Tagline: "There's an app for that"
Price: iPhone 3GS $199-$299; iPhone 3G $99
Sold: Online and in Apple and AT&T retail locations
The effect: The iPhone, with 42 million units sold worldwide since its launch, has undoubtedly accelerated smartphone adoption in the U.S. What's more, it's created an entirely new content economy with apps. Incidentally, the iPhone is great for Google -- with more consumers on the web using their phones, that's more eyeballs for Google's search ads. Right now, Google search and maps are default on iPhones. For Apple, the iPhone is a direct extension of the company's existing product business of computers, laptops and iPods.

Mobile Operating System:

iPhone OS

U.S. Smartphone market share: 25%***
Distribution: The iPhone OS runs on iPhones and iPod Touchs worldwide and will soon be on Apple's new iPad. The iPhone OS is only second in U.S. smartphone market share to Research in Motion, which makes BlackBerry.
Number of apps: More than 140,000
Number of app downloads: More than 3 billion
Developers: More than 120,000

Mobile Ad Network:

Quattro Wireless

Price tag: $275 million
Gross revenue for 2009: $20 million*
Market share: 7%*
Leadership: Quattro CEO Andy Miller is now VP-mobile advertising for Apple, reporting directly to Steve Jobs.
Market position: Quattro specializes in rich media and brand mobile ads. Generally, Quattro ads demand a higher cost-per-click on more sophisticated publishers, like on a media company's app.

Quattro marks Apple's first foray into advertising. Why would it want to get into the service business? To keep the developers that create the apps that sell iPhones happy. "Apple can now provide 360-degree services for its developers," said Nihal Mehta, CEO of local-search and networking app Buzzd. "Developers have an easy way to serve ads and monetize their apps without having to maintain relationships with ad networks."

Web Browser:

Safari

Browser Market Share: 4.53%****
Distribution: Safari comes pre-installed on all Apple devices, from Macs to iPhones. It can also be downloaded for Windows machines. Before Apple launched Safari in 2003, Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape were the pre-loaded web browsers on Apple machines. Safari curbed Apple's dependence on Microsoft for web browsing.

Google

Handset:

Nexus One

Launch date: Jan. 5, 2010
First-month sales: 80,000**
Launch tagline: "Web meets phone"
Price: $179.99 with T-Mobile 2-year contract; $529.99 for unlocked phone
Sold: Only online

Sales of Google's first-ever handset have been slow, and might be a symptom of Nexus's online-only marketing and distribution strategy. Verizon's Droid, the first Google-branded handset, sold 535,000 handsets in its first month.**

The effect: With Nexus One, Google is trying to diversify its business beyond search, a paradigm of the wired web that may be rendered obsolete if apps become the primary discovery tool on phones. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said the mobile web is his company's best opportunity for growth. A Google handset is seen as a way to up appeal and adoption of Android, as well as a way to destabilize Apple's leadership in mobile.

Mobile Operating System:

Android

U.S. smartphone market share: 5%***
Distribution: Android has the smallest U.S. smartphone penetration, but the strongest growth in the last quarter of 2009; it's now on more than 12 devices in 26 countries with 32 carriers in 19 different languages. It's free and open-source, which means anyone can take Android and add code or download it to create a mobile device without restrictions. Android is Google's strategy for getting a toehold on lots of phones in lots of places.
Number of apps: more than 20,000
Number of downloads: Not disclosed
Number of developers: "Thousands," according to a Google spokeswoman.

Mobile Ad Network:

AdMob

Price tag: $750 million in stock
Gross revenue for 2009: $31 million*
Market share: 11%*
Leadership: AdMob CEO Omar Hamoui founded the company while in the MBA program at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Market position: AbMob is one of the biggest players in mobile advertising; it has more inventory and a self-service, high-volume model that would dovetail nicely with Google's AdSense. "AdMob was born to be acquired by Google," said one mobile-ad executive. Initially, AdMob built its business on cost-per-click campaigns, but has since expanded to premium CPM for brand ads.

The Federal Trade Commission is still reviewing the acquisition. The deal, with its exorbitant price tag -- triple what industry bankers and execs had projected -- makes Google the mobile-ad leader with 21% mobile search market share.*

Web Browser:

Chrome

Browser market share: 5.22%****; 40 million active users in September 2009

Google launched Chrome in late 2008 to make browsing faster, the idea being that it would help internet users search more and, presumably, click Google ads more. Google is in conversations with various PC manufacturers to get Chrome pre-installed on machines; some Sony computers already ship with Chrome.

*According to market research firm IDC.
**Sales data projected by app analytics firm Flurry.
***Market Share data is according to ComScore.
****According to Net Applications, January 2010.

Andes Beer: Teletransporter - Brilliant!

Brilliant commercial!

Many beer brands speak to men in a shared tone showing to them that they really understand their needs. Yet, up to know, all intentions where express by a message without and action plan. Andes, the leader beer in the Andina Region of Argentina, presents: Andes Beer: Teletransporter – a revolutionary invention capable of doing something almost impossible: men can now go to a bar and share an Andes beer with friends without having any problems with their girlfriends. Andes Teletransporter Booths have been installed at the main bars of Mendoza, Argentina. Einstein mentioned that teletransportation was impossible since objects could not conduct faster than light. Einstein was wrong!

Legal Notice: Teleportation does not cause any physical non psychological damages. It helps and encourages long lasting couples and friendships. To lie is a sin, teleport is not!

Advertising Agency: Del Campo Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi, Argentina
Chief Creative Directors: Maxi Itzkoff, Mariano Serkin
Creative Director: Javier Campopiano
Copywriter: Patricio del Sante
Art Director: Carlos Muller
Designers: Bruno Tortolano, Juan Pedro Porcaro
Agency Producers: Adrian Aspani, Camilo Rojas, Patricio Martinez
Account Director: María Lorena Pascual
Account Executive: Jaime Vidal
Booth designers: AD Productions
Production Company: Primo
Directors: Nico y Martin
Executive Producer: Carolina Cordini
Photography Director: Leandro Fillol
Post-Production Service Company: Cinecolor
Audio Post-Production: Supercharango
Responsible for Client: Ricardo Fernandez, Pablo Firpo, Eduardo Palacios, Martín Cao