This article made the rounds on Friday (ClickZ). The thrust of this Kevin Newcomb piece is that the paid search auction model is flawed and inefficient for less sophisticated marketers: "We want to educate advertisers about the fact that in…
Here's an interesting discussion in MediaPost (reg. req'd) about the tension between "programmed" (read: scheduled) TV and the emerging model of "on-demand" TV (whether online or off). The theme: consumers still want programmed TV. Implied in this discussion is the…
I've already written too much about Google in a single 24 hour period. But what the heck . . . Google has further personalized its news site by offering "recommendations" to those who are signed in. Here's how it works:…
Here's a rebranding case study—call measurement firm DCCI changing its name to telmetrics—that appeared in Ken Clark's YPTalk blog/newsletter. Call tracking will become more important and more central to integrated online-offline campaigns in the very near future. Call tracking will…
Now this isn't PPCall, it's call connection (eStara). . . but this DMNews piece offers a case study of sorts on how Chrysler is having success connecting potential purchasers to local dealers: ...80 percent of calls generated through the click-to-call…
Here's a broad ClickZ article about media fragmentation, consumer control and video coming to local. These are all themes of the upcoming Drilling Down event. Also eMarketer compiles data from Tacoda-sponsored research showing that behavioral targeting beats contextual. The data…
An interesting piece in today's New York Times about HD radio. Better described as "digital radio", the technology allows broadcasters to fit three additional channels in the space now occupied by just one. A digital signal also allows for much…
WiMax is coming to Wisconsin (and then beyond). Some form of broadband will likely cover almost 100 percent of the U.S. within 3 to 5 years. Why? Because there are many competitors seeking to provide that access. That's also why…
What started out as an act of resistance toward the Bush Administration's effort to obtain porn-related search data, has now turned into something of a PR coup for Google. I don't think this was a calculated move but there's a…
Striking Verizon Information Services workers in upstate New York found an interesting way to express their displeasure at the pace and manner of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. You can read about it here. The two sides have…
Verizon Information Services was out of the gate quickly with a press release touting its usage share leadership position in Manhattan, Washington, DC, the Bronx and Brooklyn, citing data from the Yellow Pages Market Reporter, a new syndicated usage service…
There's a new consumer paradigm emerging, one in which users have almost total control over the media they consume and how, when and where they consume it. How advertisers respond to that new disruptive consumer behavior model and the increasing…
That may be premature and a bit of a stretch, but the San Francisco-based live music and community site has quietly generated a solid business and extremely loyal following without funding and totally under the radar. Founded about eight years…
Yesterday it was revealed that AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo! complied with Justice Department subpoenas to turn over search data. Google has made a very high profile statement that it will not. Here's more coverage of the issue in the NY…
In the context of discussing some high level personnel exiting Yahoo! for various startups, the Search Engine Watch blog identifies a new (to me) local directory/search site in the UK, Touch Local. Touch Local allows users to search locally and…
I've really come to apprecitate Fridays as a slower news day. But here's a fun local story that originally appeared in the New York Post. Yahoo! personals and Starbucks are reportedly hooking up to provide $10 Starbucks gift cards to…
Here's new data from Keynote. Briefly, here are some general and local highlights: For the fourth consecutive wave of the Keynote study, Google topped the Keynote Customer Experience Rankings, an aggregate ranking of leading search engines based on an analysis…
NetImperative reports, among other things, that Microsoft will be seeking (at some undetermined point) to add video ads to PPC. As ContactAtOnce! has already shown, you can put dynamic ads and pop-ups behind a PPC campaign. Why couldn't one also…
Forget the ROKR. Apple's trademark applications suggest a mobile phone/iPod hybrid. Why do we care about this? Because an iPod phone that also permitted Internet access (as one would expect it to) could be the breakthrough device that would unlock…
That's according to a study by Yahoo! Search Marketing covered in MediaPost (reg. req'd) and by Search Engine Journal. This study of VoIP awareness/research by consumers, though not yet a mainstream consumer category, shows that search is used early in…
