Archive for March, 2008
Users to Online Ad Industry: Leave Us Alone!
Monday, March 31st, 2008TNS Global and TrustE jointly released a study today demonstrating that the majority of Web surfers are unhappy with the idea that advertisers will be using their browsing histories to serve targeted ads against. Even when survery repondents were given a scenario wherein no PII information was disclosed, most (54 percent) didn’t approve of the […]
Toxic Buzzword of the Week: “Alternative Media”
Thursday, March 27th, 2008One of the great ironies of the number-driven online ad biz is that nobody can agree on the numbers. How much click fraud is there? Nobody can agree. How much must marketers spend to achieve a given goal? Well - it depends. Is Google being affected by a secular economic downturn? Who knows (even Google’s […]
Ridiculous Statement of the Week: Jill Whelan on SEOs Committing Crimes Against Clients
Thursday, March 27th, 2008SearchEngineLand.com’s Jill Whelan won our “Ridiculous Statement of the Week” award when she wrote the following absurd nugget in a rambling defense of the SEM industry’s complete failure to propose and implement meaningful codes of conduct for SEOers:
“One would think the threat of jail time or a court-ordered breach of contract settlement would be deterrent […]
Amazing Marketing News: SEO Isn’t Quite Dead (Yet)!
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008I made the mistake of opening my e-mail this morning to read an article by Sarah Holoubek entitled “The Return of SEO.” While it wasn’t the worst example of pro-SEO boosterism that I’ve seen, it contained enough misunderstandings about the objective health of the SEO industry to warrant a response.
Ms. Houlebek (quoting the SEMPO 2007 […]
Old Media is Revolting (and New Media is Disgusting)
Monday, March 24th, 2008Who put the librarians and the statisticians in charge of advertising? Who said that publishers funding expensive content should be forced to supply this same content to low-balling ad networks that commodify their premium inventory? Well, nobody — and it seems that the big publishers are finally lining up behind an approach that will take […]
Search Within Search: More Costs For Those Paying Google’s Bills
Monday, March 24th, 2008The New York Times’ Saul Hansell wrote a good article on Google’s “Search Within Search,” a new (and largely unwelcome) feature which invites users to inspect information on Google SERPs instead of burrowing into the target site itself. The result is that users will spend more time on Google and at the same time be […]
Hal Riney R.I.P.
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008Hal Riney, one of America’s great ad men, has passed on. Riney’s career was long and illustrious, and he created many memorable campaigns (including Gallo’s Bartles & James), but his work for Ronald Reagan is certainly the best remembered, particularly for two 1984 campaign spots (”Morning in America” and “The Bear;” see below). Some might […]
Online Ad Targeting: Doomed and Not to Be Mourned
Friday, March 21st, 2008As reported in the New York Times, New York assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky has introduced a bill to outlaw certain online ad targeting practices, including the sharing of data between 3rd parties, without affirmative consent from the targeted users.
After the Times story ran, Brodsky’s phone began ringing continuously, as panicky online marketers began calling […]
SES NY: Is the Search Party Over?
Thursday, March 20th, 2008I spent a few hours at SES NY this week but had to leave because it was so damned depressing. Floor traffic was down, there was plenty of unrented exhibition space, and even the vendors seemed tired, bored, and irritable. I don’t know what’s ailing SES, but it’s clear that there are too many search-related […]
Toxic Buzzword of the Week: “Socialommerce”
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008In a March 20th SearchEngineWatch.com column, a fellow named Eric Qualman has coined what has to be one of the worst industry buzzwords in many years. “Socialommerce.” I read Qualman’s article and he almost makes some sense, because recommendations do count for a lot when it comes to purchasing certain types of goods. But his […]