Category: Ad Agency
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Why Don’t Marketers Target People with Money to Spend?
You would think that marketers would want to target the people with disposable income that can most easily afford your products. Instead of constantly targeted the people in society that hold more than 60% of all wealth, there remains an obsession with going after the youngest group of consumers. That…
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More than 1,000 Advertisers Have Now Joined the Facebook Boycott
More than a thousand advertisers have now stopped spending on Facebook. Those behind the efforts say Facebook hasn’t made a commitment to changing anything. Jonathon Greenblatt with the Anti-Defamation League, along with leaders of other civil rights groups (NAACP, Color of Change, Free Press), organized the Stop Hate for Profit…
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More than 200 Advertisers Join Facebook Ad Boycott
Facebook’s facing a revolt among advertisers. Where will it end up and will it have a real impact? The campaign is asking businesses to stop advertising on Facebook in July to send a message. “We are asking all businesses to stand in solidarity with our most deeply held American values…
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Splitting the Digital Pie: An Open Letter to the AdTech
BPA Worldwide is a not-for-profit organization that provides independent audits of audience claims for media publishers and media buyers. Today, they’re taking on the programmatic ad tech establishment along with a number of partner companies. The group is writing an open letter to the digital advertising agencies and asking for…
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Advertising During Crisis Times: What You Do Now Will Impact Your Business Long-Term
You may not be thinking about advertising right now, but it may be smart to give it some thought. What you do today, can impact your business for the long-term
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IAB: TV Ads Are Still the Best for Generating Awareness
When the TVB (Television Bureau of Advertising) puts out a study that says TV ads are the best marketing solution for businesses, some critics say the results are skewed because it’s a TV-focused organization. If that happens in the future, you can now point to the survey done by the…
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In-House Ad Agencies Are Growing Dramatically
The number of companies that have started in-house advertising agencies – rather than use an outside ad firm for everything – has grown dramatically in the past five years. The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) released a survey that reported 78% of marketers are using some form of an in-house…
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“Facebook doesn’t operate with real-world metrics”
GroupM is the world’s largest advertising company. So when it speaks out on industry issues, people pay attention. Robin O’Neill is the Managing Director of Digital Trading for GroupM and had some harsh words for Facebook in an article in Digiday. For a company that will take in an estimated…
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Major Advertisers Shifting Dollars from Digital to TV
JP Morgan Chase is retreating on its digital ad placements. Instead, they will take dollars and move them back to television. That’s big news in advertising circle. The company has a $5 billion marketing budget. Perhaps it’s the logical outcome for the company that reduced their digital reach by more…
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In Programmatic Advertising, Timing is Everything
The best marketing campaigns deliver the exact right message, at the exact right time, to the exact right consumer. If it’s the wrong message, or even the right message, delivered at the wrong time, it won’t work. Timing is critical to the success of your marketing. Advertising can be a…
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Who should solve the problem of advertisements placed against fake news?
It seems a safe bet to say that it’s an advertising agency issue to avoid placement on questionable websites. Or a tech solution from the programmatic companies to avoid placing ads on ad networks that rely on fake news websites. That’s not how U.S. marketers feel, though, according to a…
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Winners and losers in a rapidly consolidating digital advertising market
Good News for digital ad sellers: Digital Advertising is expected to finish the year with a year-to-year growth rate of 11.5% in 2017 and grow again in 2018 by 11.3%. That information comes from GroupM/WPP, the world’s largest buyer of advertising. Magna (IPG Mediabrands) pegs 2018 digital growth at 13%.…
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A Closer Look: Facebook over-estimates reach by dramatic numbers
Maybe you saw the headline: Facebook claims it reaches more people in the U.S. than actually live in the U.S. It’s pretty startling when you realize, according to a report from the Video Advertising Bureau, that Facebook claims to reach 39 million U.S. adults age 18-24… when there are only…
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Can 2 second video views actually drive sales?
P & G – acknowledged as the world’s largest advertiser – says their data reveals the following about digital video ads: The average ad is viewed for 1.7 seconds. Remember, that’s the AVERAGE Only 20% of all ads are viewed for 2 seconds That means that 80% of all ads…
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My first book has been re-released as a free download on Amazon
My first book – “Weapons of Mass Distinction” – has been re-released and is available as a free download on Amazon. Get it here.
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Do you trust audience measurement data?
Trying to accurately measure audience against a plethora of cable, satellite, over-the-top, mobile, tablets, Roku, AppleTV, and on and on is no doubt a difficult task. To date, it hasn’t happened. Everyone in the research sphere will tell you they can estimate based on algorithms and assumptions – but nobody…
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Just how prevalent is social media for small businesses?
Just how prevalent is social media for small businesses? It’s fair to say it’s nearly universal. Nearly 87% of small business owners say they use Facebook for marketing, according to a new survey from G2 Crowd via eMarketer. So, how’s it going for them? There are mixed results here. 38%…
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Can 2 second video views really be effective at driving sales?
P & G – acknowledged as the world’s largest advertiser – says their data reveals the following about digital video ads: The average ad is viewed for 1.7 seconds. Remember, that’s the AVERAGE Only 20% of all ads are viewed for 2 seconds That means that 80% of all ads…
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Facebook: Tracking your in-store visits and serving ads?
When ads target you on-line from where you’ve gone in the real world If clicking on a website once and having its ads stalk you wherever you go on-line wasn’t enough, now there’s real world targeting. Go to a physical store and they’ll re-target you online. Now Facebook appears to…
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Programmatic ad buying continues to rise, but is it really an efficient way to buy advertising?
I’ve written a lot about Programmatic Advertising over the past four years because of the rise in usage among media buyers. While recognizing the efficiency, I’ve also cautioned against eliminating the direct buy of premium websites from name publishers. There’s no arguing that more people are using programmatic – machine-driven…
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What drives ROI in advertising? Creative and Reach
Nielsen, the ratings folks, unveiled a study of 500 advertising campaigns which tracked ROI against sales and media usage. Nielsen – Driving ROI in media 47% Creative 22% Reach 15% Brand 9% Targeting 5% Recency 2% Context
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If Programmatic Ad Buying is the future, why are advertisers not buying it?
We’ve heard so much about “Programmatic Ad Buying” in the past two years, it’s almost become a joke around our place. Everybody tells us it’s coming and we’d better be ready. If you’ve ever bought a self-serve Google ad or a Facebook ad, that’s really the kind of thing we…
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World’s largest advertiser cuts $140m in digital ads and grows sales
The world’s largest advertiser – Procter & Gamble- has been vocal about concerns over where its online ads are running and who’s clicking on them made a startling announcement at the end of July. After spending a third of its ad budget last year online – and watching sales diminish…
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Ad Copy that sizzles and sells
GUEST POST: Adrian Posner, Posner Marketing A successful marketing plan relies heavily on the pulling-power of advertising copy. Writing results-oriented ad copy is difficult. There is no magic formula to write perfect ad copy. So how is any writer supposed to pen a piece of advertising copy that sizzles and…
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In today’s media world, you need to be a Multi-Platform Seller
If you needed more proof on why you need to be a Multi-Platform Seller (MPS) to be successful in advertising today, look no further than Borell’s Annual Survey of Local Advertisers. It’s no longer traditional media or digital, it’s a mix of both. 74% want a package that works. 74%…
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Mixing GPS location data with advertising
The privacy folks are about to have a whole lot of new things to worry about. We’ve all been cyber-stalked by ads following us around the internet. Publishers put a pixel, in most cases, on their website that tie into their ad network buys. This allows them to track where…
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Is the advertiser boycott of YouTube over?
Money talks. Most of the advertisers boycotting YouTube are back in the advertising tent, according to Digiday. MediaRadar said General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, AT&T, Verizon, and Walmart have ads running on YouTube right now. Major brands pulled their ads from YouTube after worries about brand security and where their…
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Despite a year warning, publishers and ad creators aren’t ready for Flash ad end dates
The Interactive Advertising Bureau advocated for an end to Flash video ads by July 2017. Instead, it wants advertisers to use HTML5. Google jumped into the fray by stopping accepting Flash ads as of April and announcing an end to grandfathered Flash ads this July. So, with two months to…
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Disconnect between what ad agencies think and what real people do
What percentage of average people in the U.S. watch video content on their TV set (versus other devices)? 250 advertising executives were asked that question. They said 25%. Umm. The number is actually 82%. Research Now did the study on behalf of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB). They surveyed 250…
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Heavyweight advertisers join the Google/YouTube boycott
The boycott Google movement may be gaining some ground. Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman reports that AT&T has now announced it will pull all display ads from Google properties. This comes on the heels of some of the U.K.’s biggest advertisers, including the government and The Guardian newspaper, pulled its ads…
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With growing advertiser complaints, Facebook agrees to third-party measurement
With rising unhappiness among advertisers and ad agencies with Facebook’s measurements and its resistance to third-party verification (see list below), Facebook blinked. It now says it will commit to an outside audit to verify data accuracy. “We are committing to an audit by the Media Rating Council (MRC) to verify…
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World’s largest advertiser tells digital agencies to fix the problems or else
The largest advertiser in the US (and the world), Procter & Gamble, just shook up the digital advertising industry. “The days of giving digital a pass are over,” said Marc Pritchard, Chief Brand Officer at P&G, at the IAB Annual Leadership meeting. He’s mandating new requirements for digital agencies and…
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Facebook hit with another lawsuit over misrepresenting video ad metrics
You may not have heard of the high-tech company, Quirky, which filed for bankruptcy and then starting selling off its assets in 2015. You may, however, have heard of Wink, a home automation hub. Quirky was an early innovator and high flier in the home automation business, but it couldn’t…
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Advertising groups say online “opt-in” rules violate First Amendment
Is advertising protected speech? And can internet companies use your personal information in advertising without your permission? These answer to these questions seems to be yes if you agree with the advertising trade associations that are asking the FCC to change its opt-in privacy rules for online service providers.
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Facebook ads are “far less viewable” than expected
Ever since Facebook admitted it had problems with key measurements, advertisers and agencies have been looking more closely at the metrics and what they mean. What they’re seeing is not that great. Drew Heuning is the director of digital ad buying for Omnicom, one of the world’s four largest ad…
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Twitter now admits flawed video ad counts, some off by 35%
Bad metrics have many advertisers worried about whether they’ve been spending their dollars smartly on-line. Facebook’s multiple admissions that the numbers were wrong hasn’t done anything to assuage the worry. Now it’s Twitter’s turn in the barrel. Twitter admits it incorrectly measured video ads running on Android devices. The measurements…
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Biggest ad fraud in history? Hackers stealing $3-$5 million dollars a day using video ads
White Ops security researchers have exposed the most profitable and advanced ad fraud operation ever seen by the industry. Dubbed “The Methbot Operation” after references to “meth” in the code of the bot itself, a group of operators has siphoned off as much as $180 million from major U.S. media…
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Big advertising agencies under investigation by Department of Justice
The investigation into price fixing at major ad agencies just got bigger with the number of agencies publicly announcing they have been contacted by the Department of Justice. Three of WPP’s subsidiaries have received subpoenas from the Justice Department relating to antitrust claims. By revenue, WPP is the world’s largest…
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A complete overhaul of digital ad units
Deciding which size ad to run on the internet can be confusing. 300 x 250, 728 x 90, 468 x 60… does size matter more than placement? It’s especially difficult in the mobile space and, quite frankly, the industry standards haven’t kept up with the way people are consuming content…
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Digital marketing needs dramatic improvement
Almost three-quarters of marketers surveyed say they are unhappy with the state of online advertising. 73% of brand marketers and media agency executives say the consumer experience with digital marketing needs to be improved. The report is from the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) that’s bullish on digital media. In its…
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Google loses accreditation for viewable impressions
You may have never heard of the Media Rating Council (MRC). It was established in the 1960’s as part of US Congressional hearing on accuracy of audience research. The MRC’s mission is to make sure the audience measurements being used by media are valid, reliable and effective. So when the…
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Digital advertising is under fire right now
Yes, digital advertising is under fire right now. I know some of my friends that work at traditional media and legacy media companies are enjoying it a bit right now and maybe even piling on. But what we’re seeing isn’t so much a problem with digital advertising as it is…
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Facebook has been providing inflated video metrics for the past two years
Facebook has now publicly apologized for overstating video metrics for more than two years. That’s nice. But not not so nice if you’re one of the people that’s been relying on those metrics to place advertising buys on the social media platform. Overestimated by 60%-80% One of the world’s largest…
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Fake websites & bots generated $1.5 million a month for one Florida fraudster
A Florida company was generating $1.5 million dollars a month in online ads using fake websites, according to Ad Age. It wasn’t all that hard. They set up websites and then listed them as places to advertise in automated ad-buying markets, including some of the industry’s biggest names. Then, they hit…
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Questions to ask before picking an agency to handle your PPC search campaigns
Winning the game at search takes work. And money. And experience. Finding someone you can trust to help guide you to make the right decisions along the way is critical. Many businesses realize great results from a PPC (pay-per-click) search campaign… or suffer if they’re either not playing the game or choose…
