Technology and free speech; Yahoo’s behavioral targeting patent; your brand butler, optimize display with search, and more
Exporting values “As companies such as Google, Facebook and Twitter push their technologies around the world,” writes the San Francisco Chronicle’s Benny Evangelista. “Recent events show that they’re not just exporting the latest in online tools, but a basic tenet of the American way of life—freedom of speech.”
Behavioral ads raking in the dough
According to a recent survey by the Network Advertising Initiative, says Forbes’ Laurie Burkitt, behaviorally targeted ads have a conversion rate of 6.8 percent, compared to 2.8 percent for the non-targeted ads. “Behavioral targeting may keep advertisers front and center with their target audiences,” says Burkitt. “It may also keep some publishers in business.”
Yahoo! wins patent for behavioral ad targeting Speaking of behavioral targeting, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office recently issued a patent to Yahoo! for “optimization of targeted advertisements based on user profile information.” Read the actual patent here. Yahoo!: Putting the science in “science, art and scale.”
“Finding early adopters isn’t at issue,” writes Rich. “It’s understanding the role they play and how they are to be approached. Getting it wrong can cost companies revenue. But getting it right can propel a product or brand to the front of the pack.”
So who are these early adopters and how can you reach them while avoiding the mistakes that turn them off? Read the paper and find out.
By the way, if you haven’t already done so, join the Yahoo! Advertising Group on LinkedIn. You can find this article as well as a plethora of other informative pieces, and join in an engaging conversation.
— The Team
(Geek tattoos image by Francis Storr via Flickr, CC 2.0)
Challenging times call for strong leadership, and that’s why Carol Bartz was given the helm at Yahoo! a little over a year ago. Carol is, more than anything, a transformational leader. Prior to Yahoo!, she served as CEO of Autodesk, where she successfully navigated the rocks and shoals on the highly competitive sea that is computer automated design—making a hard job look easy. In the video below, Carol outlines Yahoo’s transformation initiative and says, “When you think about online advertising, the first place you think to come is Yahoo!.”
A Mobile Marketer interview with Yahoo! Mobile’s David Katz
“Yahoo’s mobile initiatives encompass the mobile Web, paid and ad-supported applications, as well as mobile search” writes Mobile Marketer’s Dan Butcher. “The company is especially bullish about the prospects for mobile advertising for this year and beyond.”
Darn right we are. Butcher goes on to interview David Katz, Vice President of North America at Yahoo! Mobile.
“For a long time we’ve been saying next year is the year of mobile advertising, but this year we’re saying last year was it, 2009 was the breakout year,” said Katz in the interview. “What’s next is getting much more creative about mobile-specific advertising experiences.”
Happy birthday to advertising’s authoritative journal
Wow. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that advertising itself is 80 years old—though of course it’s as old as the ancient Egyptians—let alone advertising journalism. But today, Advertising Age, the grande dame of advertising trade publications, celebrated its 80th birthday.
The octogenarian offers three basic lessons that it has learned over the past eight decades:
“There is never a bad time to launch a great product or company.”
“Failure is a cost of business.”
”The best marketers, media firms and agencies boast an outstanding ability to reinvent themselves and lead their changing markets decade after decade.”
Got that last one, agencies?
There has been a lot of ink (and pixels) spilled over the supposed death of print. But Ad Age, which is both in print and online, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. We at Yahoo! Advertising salute the hard-working publishers, editors and writers of Ad Age, who do yeoman’s work in the industry every single day.
Quaker Oats gets new life online with Yahoo! Advertising
How do you get across the idea that a century-old brand is even more relevant today than it was 100 years ago, and to an online audience? Quaker Oats worked with Yahoo! to reach consumers with that message, and found that online exposure led to better awareness—and more intent to buy—offline.
The Challenge Almost everyone has heard of Quaker Oats. It’s one of the most venerable food brands in the United States, having registered its first trademark in 1877. But while Quaker Oats’ “Old Quaker” logo and its iconic oats canisters are easily recognizable symbols (in fact, according to the company, they have about 100 percent household recall), the brand wasn’t always seen as having relevance in today’s culture. “People tended to think of Quaker Oats as their mom’s brand, and we wanted to change that,” says Janice Tennant, Sr. Marketing Manager, Quaker Equity at PepsiCo, Quaker Oats’ parent company. That’s why Quaker hired the firm, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to create its “Go Humans Go” integrated campaign, designed to show the nutritional value of the Quaker oat to today’s audience and to create new relevance and customer loyalty for the brand. Yahoo! partnered with OMD Worldwide to execute the digital campaign.
The Solution
Quaker and Yahoo! ran a U.S.-targeted campaign across the Yahoo! homepage. The floating ad featured an animated and interactive champion flying a jet pack, fueled by Quaker Oats canisters, across the page. The campaign ran for two half-days, a week apart. To help track the campaign results, Yahoo! partnered with media measurement specialist The Nielsen Company.
Lessons on “being the brand” from Playboy’s Hugh Hefner
[EDITOR’S NOTE: Author and consultant Susan Gunelius’ new book,Building Brand Value the Playboy Way, explores how Hugh Hefner became the ultimate embodiment of the Playboy brand. In this brief article, she writes about some of the lessons Hefner can teach today’s brand champions.]
There is perhaps no other brand in the world which has been so closely aligned with a single person as Playboy has been with Hugh Hefner for over half a century. And there is no arguing the influence that a visible brand champion who truly lives and breathes a brand can have on the success (or failure) of that brand.
Hugh Hefner, Steve Jobs, J.K. Rowling, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey—these names are synonymous with the brands they champion and guard, and their ongoing influence has helped make brands like Playboy, Apple, and Harry Potter become household names around the world. Loyal bands of brand-advocate customers evangelize and support the brands they love to anyone who will listen regardless of whether those people actually want to listen.
Being the brand the Hefner way
Whether you love the Playboy brand, hate the Playboy brand, or are completely indifferent to it, the story of Hugh Hefner—with his air of suave sophistication that pushed the limits of social mores—as the ultimate brand champion is one that all marketers can learn from. Playboy and Hugh Hefner are one and the same in many ways.
Three tips for transforming your agency for today’s technology
In this article, Megan Pagliuca, Senior Director of Professional Services of Yahoo!’s Right Media, writes about how agencies need to get with the data-driven technology program in order to compete in the days ahead. (And, at this point, we are talking days, not months or years. Seriously.)
Data-driven buying should be an integral component of every agency’s media plan, but using a technology platform as a central media trading arm is only the first step in designing a data-driven strategy. It is important to take a holistic approach and leverage all of the components of a technology platform, such as real-time analytics, buying, and market feedback. There are three core areas where innovation is essential for any agency to be successful: the development of new skill sets, the evolution of existing processes and the evolution of organizational silos.
In case you missed the CTIA 2010 conference and our announcement of the new Yahoo! Search-a-Sketch app, here’s an on-the-spot video of the demo, taken by conference-goer, zdnetsam. Showing how it works is our own Ariel Siedman, Director of Product, Mobile Search.
Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz talks up the “art” part of “science, art and scale”
You may have read about Carol Bartz’ keynote at the 4A’s conference in which she introduces the concept of “science, and scale,” or SAS. In this video, Carol—our steely willed leader—focuses on the second letter of that acronym, saying that the way to engage users is create ads that feel as if there are part of the total, immersive content experience.
Exporting values
In “
“Yahoo’s mobile initiatives encompass the mobile Web, paid and ad-supported applications, as well as mobile search” writes Mobile Marketer’s Dan Butcher. “The company is especially bullish about the prospects for mobile advertising for this year and beyond.”
Wow. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that advertising itself is 80 years old—though of course it’s as old as the 
How do you get across the idea that a century-old brand is even more relevant today than it was 100 years ago, and to an online audience? Quaker Oats worked with Yahoo! to reach consumers with that message, and found that online exposure led to better awareness—and more intent to buy—offline.
There is perhaps no other brand in the world which has been so closely aligned with a single person as Playboy has been with Hugh Hefner for over half a century. And there is no arguing the influence that a visible brand champion who truly lives and breathes a brand can have on the success (or failure) of that brand. 
Data-driven buying should be an integral component of every agency’s media plan, but using a technology platform as a central media trading arm is only the first step in designing a data-driven strategy. It is important to take a holistic approach and leverage all of the components of a technology platform, such as real-time analytics, buying, and market feedback. There are three core areas where innovation is essential for any agency to be successful: the development of new skill sets, the evolution of existing processes and the evolution of organizational silos.
