Boyle’s Stop-Start Ten Commandments

Ten ways the ad industry needs to transform, according to JWT’s Sean Boyle

Editor’s Note: JWT’s Global Planning Director, Sean Boyle, was the bad-boy beau of the ball at the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s) “Transforming Advertising” conference in San Francisco last week. With wit and an Irish gift-o’-the gab, Boyle presented his “The Stop-Start Ten Commandments”—five things agencies need to stop doing and five things they need to start doing. It made the room so pregnant with nervous laughter—because only the truth is funny—that we asked him to write an excerpt for us. Listen up, creatives and agencies.

1. Start Telling the Truth
To each other.  To our clients.  About our brands.

2. Stop the Bloody Politics
Because we’re an industry run by bankers, it is the conniving crowd pleasers rather than the cream that tend to rise to the top. A general rule: in most agencies, those with vision who “get-it” are bullied and undermined at every turn by those with no vision, who don’t.

3. Start Having Fun Again
We used to be the envy of the salary-man. Why have we let it become so serious and dull?  The greatest work ever done in our industry, has always come from places where people like each other and enjoy—really enjoy—playing (and partying) together as a team.

(more…)

4A’s Conference Round-Up

The Yahoo! Advertising blog’s got you covered

This week, your indefatigable Yahoo! Advertising correspondents went on a field trip to the 4A’s “Transformation 2010” conference in San Francisco. (Those 4A’s stand for the American Association of Advertising Agencies.) While there, we did old the meet and greet, tweeted, and posted to Facebook our take-aways from some the smartest minds in the advertising world. We even did a little live blogging and took some video, too. (Lookin’ good, Carol!)

Below is a round-up of some the most interesting sessions, in case you couldn’t be there in person.

How Social Media Has Transformed the Communications Landscape
Who: Arianna Huffington, Co-Founder and Editor in Chief, The Huffington Post
What: Huffington spoke with considerable humor about how the Internet in general and social media in particular have changed the way people interact with media content. “We”—meaning users as well as media outlets—“are consuming news, sharing news, developing news. We are all part of that story,” she noted. Online readership is up 34 million in the past few years, while newspaper viewership is down 7 million. The key for understanding and engaging the online medium for publishers and advertisers is  “transparency and authenticity.” At the 4A’s conference, she mentioned what she calls the “four E’s:” engagement, energy, empathy, enthusiasm, enrichment. These are the real drivers of audience behavior online.
So What?: The shift in attention to online presents a huge opportunity for advertisers and marketers because the most engaged consumers are the most loyal consumers. Notable quote: “If Carol Bartz is outspoken, what does it make me, a demure shrinking violet?” Probably not, Ms. Huffington.

More on this session via AdAge.

(more…)

Happy Birthday, Sweet 15

Yahoo! invites its 600 million worldwide users to join the celebration

Not that long ago, Jerry Yang was known as the Stanford grad student who ran a great website about sumo wrestling. He and his lab partner David Filo even named their computers after two Hawaii-born sumo champions: Akebono and Konishiki, respectively. Those PCs were where the duo kept the giant, expanding, categorized, and—in a leap beyond what others were doing—searchable list of useful web links.

Fifteen years ago today, that hobby was incorporated as Yahoo!, supposedly from their self-deprecating backronym, “Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle.”

(more…)

Science, Art and Scale

Carol Bartz: What Yahoo! offers advertisers

Yahoo! can bring advertisers a combination of strengths that no one else can, Yahoo! CEO  Carol Bartz said in a keynote speech at the 4A’s Transformation 2010 conference today, because only Yahoo! offers them three things: science, art and scale.

Carol, speaking to the advertising industry group in San Francisco, said, “We want Yahoo! to be the partner you turn to for answers and solutions, and most importantly—when you want results.” By providing science, art and scale, Yahoo can help advertisers and agencies master online advertising.

Science
“Science is incredibly important,” Carol said. “Without it, we’re all flying blind.” She said it’s even more important because the Internet is moving so fast that it’s creating chaos for advertisers. In order to help advertisers sort through that information, Yahoo! can advertisers better insights, better data, and better targeting. “This means less wasted impressions and a better ability to reach your audience,” Carol said. (more…)

Talk About A-Plus

Yahoo! at San Francisco’s 4A conference

Did you ever see the 1950 classic “All About Eve?” In it, Bette Davis plies the classic line, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”

Well Sunday, Feb. 28 begins the 4A Conference at the Union Square Hilton in San Francisco. At this fab confab, advertising’s best will appear and show off their newest and most fabulous wares. It promises to be a bumpy but fantastic conference, one full of surprises.

As the 4A the website says, it’s a chance for advertisers and agencies to “Collaborate with and ask questions of one another. Listen to leaders who have first-hand experience in transforming their own businesses to meet the emerging needs of a new era. Be a part of the bigger picture, the solutions to the time-consuming age-old questions of monetization and evolution.” That sounds pretty good. We can’t wait.

Here’s the up-shot on the Yahoo! down-low:

Sunday, Feb. 28

• 6:00  to 7 P.M: Opening Night Reception Sponsored by Yahoo! — Cityscape Room, Hilton

Monday, March 1

• 10 A.M: Carol Bartz, Transforming Yahoo! — Continental Ballroom, 2nd Floor
  Noon to 7 P.M: Yahoo! Transformation Lounge — Free custom lattes and live storyboard artist, lobby level
• 5:30 to 7 P.M: Cocktails in 4A’s Transformation Lounge (which includes  a special Yahoo! space)
  7 P.M to 10 P.M: Dinner in Continental Ballroom sponsored by Microsoft

Tuesday, March 2

• 8 A.M. to 6 P.M Yahoo! Transformation Lounge Open — Free Custom lattes and live storyboard artist

Can’t be there? No problem. We will be, live blogging the events, tweeting and posting to the Yahoo! Advertising Facebook page.

—The Team

Yahoos at SMX West

Attending the SMX confab in Santa Clara next week? Check out our line-up of speakers and panelists

It’s no secret that we Yahoos are big fans of Danny Sullivan—the smooth jazz of SEO—and his Search Marketing Expo conference series. Next week, March 2 to 4, SMX West convenes at the Santa Clara Convention Center in (where else?) Santa Clara, Calif. Come check out what Danny has to say, and all the tips and trick that can help you be a better search marketer.

Of course, Yahoo! will be present at booth 216. We’ll also be giving away coffee in Yahoo!-branded mugs, as well as other fun tchotchkes, at our own coffee cart. We’ve also got a fabulous line-up of Yahoo! speakers to answer your questions about such hot-button topics as the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance. 

(more…)

Knowledge Is Power

Publishers and advertisers ask: who owns online data?

Advertisers can learn more about their audience when their message is online than anywhere else, information gathered can be used to target relevant ads to the most relevant audience.

But gathering the data also raises questions, such as the one addressed earlier this week at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) annual conference Ecosystem 2.0 when four industry leaders asked, “Who owns the data?”

The panel, which included representatives from publishers, advertisers, and agencies, noted that publishers worry that sharing information with advertising platforms will weaken the bond they have with their audience. Yet they also realize that targeted advertising creates a better environment for their content.

After plenty of spirited discourse, a consensus emerged that the industry should work together to proactively address issues of trust, especially among advertisers and publishers but also with consumers.

Part of the problem, the panel determined, is with the mindset that data can be “owned” by anyone. Instead, everyone involved should work to protect and respect data so that it can be used in agreed-upon, mutually beneficial ways.

Ramsey McGrory

Yahoo!’s Ramsey McGrory, Vice President of U.S. Partnerships, said the industry had plenty of reason for optimism. “This is a great marketplace,” he pointed out. “The power of advertising is good. Let’s not lose sight of the benefits of bringing marketers into the conversation.”

Bob Liodice, Association of National Advertisers President and CEO moderated the session that also included: Jeff Hirsch, President and Chief Executive Officer, AudienceScience; Walker Jacobs, Senior Vice President, Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Ad Sales, Turner Broadcasting System; and John Montgomery, Chief Operating Officer, North America, GroupM Interaction.

Read more about how Yahoo! is shaping the future revenue model for digital media on Mediapost and Ad Exchanger.

Yahoolympics scores 17.5 million fans

Yahoo! attracts largest online Olympic audience, Feb. 8 to 14

Whether it’s figure skating, freestyle skiing , snowboarding, hockey, or this year’s big game, curling, Winter Olympics fans are turning online in record numbers.  And Yahoo!—the single most visited site for the Winter Olympics—is winning the gold in terms of unique visitors.

Yahoo’s Olympics site attracted 9.3 million unique visitors from February 8 to 14, according to comScore. That’s the largest online Olympics audience for the period, which included the Opening Ceremony and the first three days of competition, while Yahoo! Sports attracted more than 17.5 million unique visitors. Yahoo’s Olympics site surpassed both NBC’s Olympics site (6.5 million unique visitors) and ESPN (8.4 million unique visitors) during the same period.

“The Olympics are one of those events that people aren’t willing to wait until prime yime to find out what happened,”  says Kyle Laughlin,  Head of Yahoo! Sports and Games.  “The team did a fantastic job putting a plan in place to deliver the right content at the right time for our users.”

(more…)

Catch the Revenue Wave

Ecosystem 2.0 conference explores profiting from interactivity

All the big names in online advertising are surfing to Southern California for Ecosystem 2.0, which this year is focused on the theme of “Revenue: The Next Wave.” The annual conference brings together the smartest and most influential of online advertising’s kahunas, so naturally Yahoo! will be there hanging ten when it kicks off on Sunday, Feb. 21.

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), the event’s main sponsor, says the focus will be on figuring out how to deliver on the profit potential promised by interactivity.

Award-winning event
We’re particularly proud that Yahoo! is receiving the award for “Most Innovative” interactive media sales organization. Seth Dallaire, Yahoo! Vice President of Mid-Market Sales, will accept the honor on behalf of everyone at Yahoo! whose hard work combined inventive ideas about content, advertising solutions and data usage to create new, long-lasting revenue streams for its advertiser and publishing partners.

(more…)

140 Conf Meetup @ Yahoo!

 The Twitterazzi talk sharing and caring on the real-time Internet

Social media lets people connect in new ways, and that means more ways to “share and care on the real-time Internet.” That was the theme of the 140 Character Conference’s L.A. Meetup, where Yahoo! hosted more than 200 enthusiastic tweeters at our Burbank offices.

A joint venture between Yahoo!, the 140 Character Conference’s Jeff Pulver (@jeffpulver), Make It Work’s Eric Greenspan (@ericgreenspan), the meetup brought some of the top tweeters together to talk about using social media to build businesses and communities. 

Greespan MC’d the proceedings, employing his signature wit and humor, getting laughs throughout the evening. Pulver kicked off the list of speakers, discussing how as a kid he used ham radio to overcome his childhood loneliness, reaching out to other ham enthusiasts across the globe—an effort that required an FCC license and a lot of expensive, specialized equipment. With social media today, however, Pulver notes it’s possible to reach out across the same gulf with nothing more than a PC and a phone jack, no license required.

“When you start to reach out and connect with people your feel their presence no matter where they are” says Pulver. “There’s a soul behind the voice.”

Pulver then set the stage for the evening’s charitable theme by relating an anecdote about how Twitter helped him get help in moving boxes of gear from one place to another. He put an APB out on Twitter and six strangers showed up to help with his move. “If you ask for a favor properly, you can get just about anything,” he says. “If you are willing to let your guard down, amazing things can happen.”

The evening’s speakers included:

(more…)