Adobe Partners With Yahoo for Ad-Supported PDFs

Looking for love

Adobe is exploring the placement of ads in PDF files, enlisting Yahoo to help figure out how best to orchestrate it, reports the BBC.

The company hopes working with Yahoo will help determine whether there is a market. As part of the test program, Yahoo will place contextual text ads in a sidebar off to the side of the document.

Revenue will be split between Adobe, Yahoo and the publisher.Right now a limited number of publishers are taking part in the test. Advertisers are not notified when their ads appear in PDFs.

Why So Little Relevance?

Why So Little Relevance?
By Dave Morgan


I've written about this topic before, but it keeps coming up -- I heard it a lot during Advertising Week -- so I thought that I should address it again. We all know that online advertising has the capacity to do extraordinary things when it comes to delivering highly addressable and measured advertising. Many of us well remember the DoubleClick trade campaigns in the late '90s about delivering "the right ad to the right person at the right time." The ability of our industry to deliver highly targeted advertising has advanced significantly since those days. Now we have sophisticated search targeting, contextual targeting, behavioral targeting, and e-commerce recommendation engines.

How is it then, many ask, when you go to most Web pages, you get the same old ads that you see everywhere, and you rarely see ads that are truly relevant to you? Conversely, how many times have you browsed to a Web page and exclaimed, "Wow. Those are really great ads!" It happens with television and magazines a whole lot more than it happens on the Web. Only on search results pages do most folks find a whole lot of relevance in ads as a regular part of the experience. Although such ads may not evoke exclamations of "Great ads!" they generally lead to a favorable action for marketers, since they are highly relevant to the user at that moment.

Why is that? Why don't we find more relevant ads online more often, in more places? It is certainly not a matter of technology. We now have ad delivery technologies that can do with ads just about anything that you could imagine.

In my opinion, it isn't the lack of ability to deliver a relevant ad that is holding us back; rather, it is the lack of relevant ads to deliver. We just don't have creative enough arrows in the quiver. We don't have enough different ads with enough unique and differentiating elements that can communicate specific relevant messages to consumers. What can be done? Lots, I believe.

 

Scale. We need more scaled platforms. More scale in the ad delivery platforms, and more coordination of the messages being delivered to the consumers at each point of contact, means a much greater ability to manage relevance at the browser level.


 

Creative Focus. We need much, much more focus on creative. We have seen some taking the lead in this space like Alan Schulman of imc2, but we need many more. We need agencies and advertisers to push harder to create dynamic advertising units that can be segmented to consumers to communicate more relevant messages. Creatives need to focus more and more on building relevance with their messages.


 

Dynamic Creative Technologies. We need more and better technologies to manage better and more sophisticated creatives. Yahoo's SmartAds is a good step. We need more.


 

Restraint. We need publishers, advertisers, agencies and ad networks to show much more restraint in their senseless bombardment of consumers with irrelevant ads. One of the best ways to show consumers that we can deliver more relevance is to stop delivering so much irrelevance. Fewer, more relevant ads; that should be our mantra.

Custom Targeting With Tribal Fusion Service

Written on
August 29th 2007


Tribal Fusion, an ad network under Exponential Interactive has announced the launch of Dynamic Ads. Dynamic Ads gives advertisers the ability to create customized messages using one creative to target users based on behavior, location, demographic and other profiling components.

The company has reported an increase of up to 80% in conversion rates for some campaigns due to this refined model. The goal of Dynamic Ads is to streamline the customization process in a sort of one-stop-shop structure for marketers looking to create the most relevant ads for their consumers. Using Dynamic Ads, marketers are able to customize landing page links depending on the offer.

Exponential’s vice president of strategic marketing, Alistair Goodman remarked on the unique quality of the program Tribal Fusion is providing, “I’m not aware of others that are providing such robust targeting capabilities with this level of message customization. Dynamic Ads enables advertisers to instantly create communication with much greater relevancy and efficiency.”

Dynamic Ads has only been offered to a few partners, but with the positive results Tribal Fusion is planning on extending the service to more of its clients.
Tags: ad serving, dynamic ads, exponential interactive and Tribal Fusion

YouTube Users Respond Schizophrenically to New Ads

A number of YouTube users have spoken out with their frustration and disappointment over the ads now appearing on their videos, reports ComputerWorld.

Some respondents have voiced their opinions in the comments on the blog post announcing the appearance of the ads. One person made a video wherein he shared his opinion.

Reasons cited by those against the ads range from a lack of creativity to the loss of control the uploaders now have. At least a few people did point out that YouTube hosts their videos for free but it still has to pay for the server space, so ads aren't all that bad.

Across the pond, tolerance was more forthcoming. Conchango's latest New Media Landscapes study found users are happy to deal with advertising as long as they get free content along with it. And one in five are prepared to pay for premium content if they must, with a strong preference for video-based content because it is faster to absorb than text.

Integrated SEM,SEO,Adserving + data to increase targeting and optimization across our ecosystem

This is an interesting trend and direction in the market. Moving towards integrated data that feeds intelligence back and forth from SEO,SEM etc to ad campaigns running on and offline. As a future part of our ecosystem it would be very beneficial to have our different systems and solutions passing data back and forth to enhance the clients campaigns and media performance from advario to SEM, SEO to Advaliant. Since they are all sitting on the same platform this can be done and would be EXTREMELY powerful and unique. The ultimate targeting and optimization!!! Food and product for thought and future development as an ecosystem module/function.

Range Online Launches 'Next-Gen' Search Reporting/Modeling Tool

by Tameka Kee, Tuesday, Aug 21, 2007 6:00 AM ET

RANGE ONLINE MEDIA, A FORT Worth, TX-based search and digital marketing company, has launched the second generation of its Strategic Results System (SRS)--a reporting and measurement platform that merges data from paid and natural search efforts, feeds and other emerging media, as well as third-party analytics and ad servers like Bluestreak. Clients like Cole Haan, Toshiba and The Container Store can use the SRS tool to evaluate their digital marketing campaigns, with analysis ranging from keyword-specific paid and organic search details to cross-vertical reports on campaign performance trends and search activity seasonality. The ability to incorporate data from third parties like Google and Eyeblaster was integral to Range's upgrade of SRS. According to Misty Locke, Range's co-founder and president, "SRS' ability to merge data from any source that a client is working with means that we can better help them gauge the health of their business as a whole. They get a clearer view with fewer reports to look at." The scalability also allows Range to pair online campaign data with off-line strategy info. "From email campaigns, to TV spots, clients can plug in data from wherever they're running media and see how all the channels are working together," said Locke. "The data also lends itself to creative testing." While Range clients have direct access to the SRS data warehouse, the software is seen as a complement--not a replacement--for human insight. "With massive amounts of data, you need automation for speed and efficiency, but not without human insight to make business decisions," said Locke. "Our clients want more than a black box solution, because there's no technology that can effectively analyze the customer intent that underlies SEM, SEO, and overall market trends." Tameka Kee can be reached at tameka@mediapost.com

Textwise.com Semantic ad targeting

http://www.textwise.com/semanticSignatures.html is a very interesting page with interesting info. Espcially when you scroll over the images on the left hand side that show data regarding the difference between "contextual targeting" and their "semantic signature matching". Interesting use of the word DNA in reference to content and ads. Similar to our use of

"Dynamic triangulation = particles (behavior,context,tags,keywords,attention data etc) = digital DNA = content/user/ad = relevance targeting "

for the new version of advario to be released going into adtech NYC. Below is some further info from their site.

Semantic SignaturesSM are TextWise's patented contextual targeting technology. They innovate beyond simple keyword-based or category-based models currently used in so-called "contextual advertising" and deliver a new level of context-driven advertisment matching. MEET YOUR PERFECT MATCH, EVERY TIME, AUTOMATICALLY Semantic SignaturesSM is the only contextual advertising solution with: Precision that outperforms our competitors to obtain significantly higher ad-to-web page relevancy Speed/Scalability powering real-time placement Automation to support a dynamic environment Universal Appeal going beyond the English language to capture the global market Semantic SignaturesSM capture meaning through concepts, not keywords — including multiple meanings and topics within a single document. As a fully automated and real-time contextual targeting system for both advertisments and web pages, they provide a robust, scalable, and easily maintainable solution for advertisers. Request a White Paper

MORE:::Yahoo Debuts Behavior-Based Advertising with SmartAds

What you see is your invention Yahoo has officially unveiled its behavior-targeting SmartAds, reports Search Engine Land. SmartAds combine a variety of factors to deliver a super-relevant ad to the user. Behavioral tracking analyzes the user's location and other information on one side the interface. On the other is the dynamic assembly of material provided by the advertiser. They may upload various backgrounds, text and other individual components. Those components are then assembled on the fly to create endless variations on the same ad that can be targeted to individuals rather than groups. Yahoo is hoping this customization and targeting combination will lift its status as a mere display ad server. The ads were tested on Yahoo Travel and reportedly performed two to three times better than other display ads. Behavioral advertising has become a topic of heated discussion, even as firms like Google, Microsoft and AOL. While some look at it as a gross breach of privacy, others - particularly advertisers - perceive it as a way on improving their services to provide customers with more tailored options. This can be considered a means to improve the online user experience. Behavioral targeting is also expected to be one of the defining characteristics of web 3.0, or the Semantic Web.

Will 'SmartAds' Give Yahoo An Edge In Online Display Advertising?

Existing Assets For B2B SEO »

Aug. 15, 2007 at 9:18am Eastern by Greg Sterling

The Wall Street Journal explores Yahoo's recently debuted "SmartAds" (prior coverage here), which mix behavioral targeting with other forms of targeting and dynamic elements to deliver a reportedly better response to display advertisers. The new ad platform was tested in Yahoo Travel and reportedly performed well (2x to 3x CTRs of normal display ads) and will be rolled out to other areas of the Yahoo site over time.

From the WSJ article:

Using SmartAds, advertisers provide Yahoo with sets of backgrounds, images and text that can be mixed and matched on the fly to create an all but unlimited number of different ads. The approach combines technologies Yahoo developed itself with others it acquired. Bringing together this creative zip with the ability to target users based on interest and location, brings to display advertising the flexibility and direct-response qualities that have fueled the boom in search advertising. Yahoo hopes SmartAds will help it gain ground in the rapidly expanding market for behaviorally targeted ads, which is expected to jump to $1 billion in the U.S. in 2008 from $575 million this year, according to eMarketer.

Yahoo recently consolidated search and display advertising under David Karnstedt, who runs North American ad sales at Yahoo. The company also recently released research showing a lift when search and display ads are used together as part of an online ad campaign.

The "creative assembly platform" described in the article excerpt above is perhaps the most interesting aspect of SmartAds. But behavioral targeting, which is the current rage in online advertising (AOL recently bought Tacoda), is gaining new scrutiny even as its stock is rising. In November, the U.S. US Federal Trade Commission is holding a forum in Washington, DC to address consumer and privacy groups' concerns "raised by the practice of tracking consumers’ activities online to target advertising."

Display Meet Email Ads: Datran Acquires Chintano

Written on

August 8th 2007

Acquiring contextual and behavioral targeting ad network Chintano, Datran Media will be incorporating the site with their existing email based ad network, EO.com.

EO.com was launched this year and was to serve as an email ad network for publishers of newsletters and email lists. These clients can incorporate ads from marketers, but what the firm realized was that there is a demand for site-based display ads. Hence, the acquisition of Chintano.

Chief revenue officer for Datran Media, Sean O’Neal said, “We had been working with Chintano for quite some time to help us explore the display advertising opportunity and the ad network opportunity [and] we had a string synergy with them.”

The company believes that what will ultimately set it apart from its competitors will be the offering of email and display advertising simultaneously. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Tags: ad serving, chintano, datran media, email, eo.com and Web Sites

Multiple Online Ad Placements Impress

JUNE 28, 2007

Converting consumers with multiple impressions.

For online marketers who think that the last ad impression (or click) seen is the most likely to lead to a conversion, a look at the Atlas Institute's "How Overlap Impacts Reach, Frequency and Conversions" study may be in order.

The study, conducted in the first quarter of 2007, found that US consumers were more likely to convert after viewing ads on multiple Web sites, suggesting that conversions should be attributed to a full set of impressions and/or clicks, rather than just the single one that preceded the conversion.

Need data for presentations? eMarketer subscribers can download charts instantly — over 50,000 choices. Learn About an eMarketer Subscription

Two out of three consumers who eventually bought a product or took a responsive action were reached by ads across multiple portal sites before converting.

Nine in 10 consumers who converted were reached by placements other than the last ad seen. Also, 86.1% of ads which led to a responsive action were seen on multiple placements.

A previous Atlas study called "The Combined Impact of Search and Display Advertising" showed that sponsored search and display advertising together provided a 22% higher conversion rate over search alone.

Of course, multiple placements are not right for every campaign, and they are not always easy to make. A June 2006 study by WebAdvantage.net found that 79% of experienced online video ad buyers were very or somewhat concerned about sizing ads for multiple placements.

Learn how marketers are using online video ads. Read the eMarketer Internet Video: Advertising Experiments and Exploding Content report.

Sci-fi projections

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/tech/sci-fi-projections.html


Systems create images on glass, in thin air
March 22, 2007
By Denise Deveau, CBC News

The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project computer-based images onto thin particles of moisture. The airborne film of moisture generated by the device - the black box with the large slot pictured in the foreground - captures the light from the projector to allow the images to take shape. Shown here, the laptop in the background is running a video of a woman on a cellphone, while the Heliodisplay simultaneously turns it into an image that appears to be floating in thin air. The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project computer-based images onto thin particles of moisture. The airborne film of moisture generated by the device — the black box with the large slot pictured in the foreground — captures the light from the projector to allow the images to take shape. Shown here, the laptop in the background is running a video of a woman on a cellphone, while the Heliodisplay simultaneously turns it into an image that appears to be floating in thin air.

Free floating images in thin air that you can move with your hands, windows that morph into touchscreen displays for passersby — welcome to the new world of projection applications that are literally opening up a new window to the world.

Next generation presentation technologies are now delivering a bona fide interactive experience on anything from solid glass to airborne vapour. And all it takes is a projection system, some cool presentation software, a set of infrared sensors and a few complex algorithms to make it happen.

As with a lot of the high-tech "fun stuff" these days, much of the innovation in this area is coming out of Asia, says Chris Synn, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Innotive Inc., a developer of interactive presentation software. Innotive's touch-enabled technology, developed in South Korea, is just one example of the types of systems pushing the boundaries of old and familiar interactive display applications.

With the lightest of touches, users can grab and shuffle images around, zoom in and out to see the minutest of details, or simply wave their hands over an image to make it come alive on screens as large as 100 inches or 254 centimetres. "Instead of a stylus you just use your finger to interact," explained Synn.
Adding a touch of interactivity to screens

Since the interface can work with projection technology, retailers can actually turn an entire display window into a screen — and that, said Synn, is where the wow factor comes into play. "Once people try to interact with it, it's breathtaking. Navigation is so fluid."

Toronto-based media specialist Optiadmedia is heading in this "window to the world" direction with its Window F/X offering, a through-glass storefront multimedia projection technology that was developed in Asia. It all works like a floating screen that can run content of all shapes and sizes on store windows or other clear display formats.

Window F/X combines a rear projection system with a near invisible film that is applied to the window to allow light to be captured to display images. It can be programmed to run any kind of digital content, including animated footage and still images. Optional touchscreen features allow passersby to browse catalogues and surf the internet. Window F/X also has the potential to incorporate audio and Bluetooth wireless capabilities into such things as store-window displays.

The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project any kind of static or moving image, from photographs to movies, without the need for a solid screen. Pictured here, an arrow icon appears suspended in the air in front of a person's hand. The Heliodisplay from IO2 Technologies can project any kind of static or moving image, from photographs to movies, without the need for a solid screen. Pictured here, an arrow icon appears suspended in the air in front of a person's hand.

Optiadmedia partner Michael Dellios is working on new ways to harness this emerging medium, which was launched into the commercial market in the latter part of 2006. "It puts a new spin on the term window shopping. It's starting to be used a lot for event promotion, because it can be used on portable screen — it's very eye catching."

The Nestings Kids junior home store at Eglinton and Avenue Road in Toronto is among the first to explore the Window F/X experience for its display window, said company owner and president Lisa Rosen. The store's new 46 cm by 61cm translucent screen offers rotating images of products, as well as animations — like snowflakes falling or vintage children's shows to catch the interest of passing shoppers.

"It's great because it doesn't interfere with what we're doing with our window displays, and it makes our products more accessible," Rosen said. "It's just a fun way to get attention. As soon as it was up and running at night, we got calls from people saying how great it was."

Rosen hasn't made the leap to an interactive program for the system yet, but that may come, she said. "That's the fun thing about it all. It's a true idea of what window shopping could be in the future."
Images in thin air

A person uses their hand to manipulate the ghostly, floating image of a digital camera, projected by an IO2 Technologies Heliodisplay. The display has optional motion sensors that let people move computer-generated images around with their fingers. A person uses their hand to manipulate the ghostly, floating image of a digital camera, projected by an IO2 Technologies Heliodisplay. The display has optional motion sensors that let people move computer-generated images around with their fingers.

The future has even more interesting possibilities for Chad Dyner, a San Francisco-based developer and founder of IO2 Technologies. He's the creator of Heliodisplay, a projection technology that works with suspended particles of moisture that can create an interactive display experience literally out of thin air.

Heliodisplay projects computer-based images onto thin particles of moisture generated by a particulate emitting device. The moisture film generated by the device captures the light from the projector to allow the images to take shape.

Heliodisplay can project any kind of static or moving images, from photographs to movies. The piece de resistance — or added "wow" factor if you will — is an optional interactive capability that uses motion sensors to let people move images around with their fingers.

So far, commercial applications have included venues such as museums, trade shows and special events, and Dyner is the first to admit that his innovation is still in its developmental stages. Work is still being done to perfect content and image delivery.

"It's not a mainstream product by any means," he said. "But I definitely think it's the future. I believe we'll start to see more ways to have unobtrusive displays and new ways to interact with information. What we use now is from a previous era."

"This type of thing is not just a novelty item," noted Synn. "You can make it interactive. You can update content. It's all free form so you can do so much with it. It's all pretty cool stuff."

The Brave New World of Ad Serving

by Dana Ghavami, Wednesday, Jun 6, 2007 6:00 AM ET
THE AD SERVING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR online advertising has undergone a dramatic transformation in just a few weeks. A relatively transparent public-facing business for the benefit of the entire online ad industry has been bought out by owners which I suspect will put their own interests above those of the industry as a whole.
The Shake Down
Having nearly all the major ad serving companies being acquired is like breaking in to the Central Bank of Media and taking over the tellers. All deposits and withdrawals now go through the new owners. This will not be without consequence.
Coercion
Taking control of the industry ad serving infrastructure is just the beginning. Next might be control of your unsold inventory in return for reduced or cost-free ad serving. Upon seizing the site, an ad exchange marketplace will be built around the notion of maximizing bids for unsold ad space. Down the line, an attempt will be made to buy and sell all ad space in an automated manner.
Once the power of ad serving has been ceded, these brokers of the new millennium will dictate their cut/commission on all digital ad revenue. Isn't this where talks broke down with GoogleTube when they tried to muscle the rules of revenue sharing with the actual producers and copyright holders of the media content?
Data Laundering
Acquisitions of the two largest ad serving companies, DoubleClick and 24/7 RealMedia, gives their new owners access to a treasure trove of vital and competitive data. Imagine GoogleClick owning all of FIM's MySpace data: agency, advertiser, ad impressions served and sold, and dollar amounts of buys. All while FIM is leading the charge with media alliances to counter a GoogleTube monopoly, while its every move is exposed to a direct competitor.
Imagine WPP representing Pepsi and Coke's agency utilizing 24/7 Real Media technology to allocate the sites and buys of a competitive product to WPP's client. Needless to say, it would be very tempting to take a peek or -- even worse -- use the data to your competitive advantage.
Organized Profit
The days of product management and client services in the interest of the customer (either publisher or agency) are over. All features and offerings will be in the interest of the new owner's pocket, no longer the technology platform customer. The concept of customer will vanish into being an element of a vast network.
Big media companies on licensed versions of DoubleClick or RealMedia will be left out in the cold since these products are very likely going to be phased out, given the whole point and value behind these acquisitions is amassing the data for owners to decide how best to profit. The integrity of every ad impression served will also be called into question. Brand publishers will continue to sell their own space via sales reps without a doubt for the next 5+ years.
Is your system serving each impression you sold in your interest or is the ad serving algorithm biased towards picking a campaign that will benefit a big corporate owner? A very concerning and rude awakening of what's behind these multi-billion dollar bets will be on the minds of the major stakeholders of digital advertising revenue.
Protection
Once you've turned over control of your revenue-generating system, you will need to pay for protection. There are plenty of imaginable circumstances and many that will unfold over time. Isn't this what GoogleTube is attempting when they will only provide available content filtering technology to protect partners?
Outcome
Big media will look for independence and offset the endless appetite of these would-be dominant forces in online advertising by using their own or independent ad management technology. Isn't the Checks and Balances system what makes the American democratic system so great? Imagine the inverse: blank check, no balance!