Display Advertising

Digital video is, to put it mildly, a very hot topic in the online and mobile advertising industry. Recently, moves by digital video companies have placed them in direct competition with television. Let me explain. Companies like Hulu and Netflix have created a model to view content previously reserved for larger screens, be they television or theater. YouTube, the largest video viewing service, recently broke their service into channels with original content. Two different models, both...

Everyone wants to figure out what effect the digital landscape is going to have on the mammoth $70B television advertising spend that occurs yearly. Already, we've seen display advertising video ad nets, like Videology, TubeMogul and Adap.TV begin to buy remnant inventory through the Real-Time Bidding (RTB) process, out of exchanges and Demand Side Platforms (DSPs). While each of their business models is different, this is a drop in the bucket compared to the total television/video inventory...Re...

There is no denying the fact that the internet has changed the shopping process for consumers as they're influenced by online search, display advertising, social media and online reviews to more easily make buying decisions about the brands, companies and products they want to purchase. This has always been the case in the automotive world; people often went to the library to pick up an issue of Consumer Reports to check out what kind of car they should buy before schlepping to multiple...Read...

I noticed much more enthusiasm at the industry preview and press week, which was held during the North American International Auto Show. I went to multiple events where forced optimism from the previous couple of years was replaced with genuine excitement and positivity. On Thursday, January 12, I finally walked the show floor. The cars look great this year, but that isn't why I went. I had a subversive motive for walking the floor this year. I wanted to see how each OEM ranked in their NAIAS...R...

For online display advertising of all types, 2011 was a banner (no pun intended) year. This segment (which includes rich media, banner ads, online video and sponsorship) was expected to grow to 37% of the market, according to the Internet Advertising Bureau's mid year Internet Advertising Revenue Report. Then in Q3, the industry saw a spike of 22% overall. So, online advertising is strong. Consumers are taking advantage of the interactive media access points that are availed to them through...Rea...

Once again, we're coming up on the end of the year - that time between Thanksgiving and New Year Year's Eve when everyone seems to be making their predictions about what's going to be hot or next in the coming year. Digital marketers are no different and one of my favorite publications, Mashable, has released a video of '5 Key Digital Media and Advertising Trends for 2012.'  Usually I hate to say I told you so, but if you haven't been heeding the contents of this blog then, "I told you so,...

Hopefully you've heard, if you're a marketer or manager of any brand, that Google+ just launched business pages. Originally, pages were sent out to beta testers who sent invites to friends and business associates to allow the Google branded social network to grow organically.There were NO businesses allowed, from the inception. A few months and about 20 million personal page signups later, Google opened up Google+ to businesses, and the digital marketing world couldn't be more abuzz with...Read...

Audience data has become increasingly important in digital marketing, including online display, video, mobile and social media. Data allows advertisers, agencies and web publishers to optimize ad delivery, evaluate campaign results, improve site selection and retarget ads to other sites. Data also enhances the value of media to marketers by delivering their advertising message to better-qualified prospects.With the growing reliance on audience data for online advertising, many questions are...Rea...

Throughout September, I had the privilege to lead Day 2 of the Polk Automotive Connections Summit 2011, titled, "Connecting Brands and Audiences across Multiple Channels." The conference was well attended and so far, feedback has been very positive. Despite the diverse audience in three different locations (Long Beach, CA, Southfield, MI and Park Ridge, NJ), I observed several recurring themes about the challenges we are facing in today's automotive digital marketing landscape.

1. Technology is...

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About six months ago, we at Polk decided to do a conference to tout the virtues of multi-channel marketing in the automotive space. This idea eventually materialized into what is now known as Polk Automotive Connections. Day 2, the digital marketing focused portion, was chocked full of excellent content with digital advertisers from all channels and strata of the industry.  The day started off with Polk discussing the trends in digital marketing and automotive market size. Then, Collective Media ...

Before we go any further, I have to say this made me LOL (Laugh out Loud for you tech squares) with an embarrassing level of computer nerd in my throat. I don't care, though. It's awesome. LUMA Partners and the keeper of the ad ecosystem scroll, Terence Kawaja, have done it again. AdTechopoly is supposedly the brainchild of a Twitter conversation between Kawaja (@tkawaja) and Brian Morrissey of DIGIDAY (@bmorrissey).Anything that helps 'ad' a little humor, if no additional insight, into the...

Since two-thirds of smartphone and tablet owners use them while watching TV, then "take a picture of your tv" sounds like a reasonable request - potentially even an ingenious one. The process of moving eyeballs across channels to engage, entrust, and eventually encapsulate a target market in the funnel of communication could very well be the direction that digital marketing is headed. In fact the majority of tech users, at all stages of life, indicate multiple screens as complimentary...

I figured it would happen sooner rather than later, so I say 'finally.' Search is converging with a larger data ecosystem to strengthen both text and display advertising for advertisers and digital marketers. There isn't a whole lot of detail yet, but according to my sources, Google has code named a service "DDP" that is using their rich Google Audience Network click data with their Adwords data to serve targeted non-contextual site specific text ads.I'm assuming their running this through...Read...

In-Vehicle Infotainment (IVI) holds the promise of integrating all things navigable, sociable and mobile...able into a vehicle. The possibilities hold great promise. Acceptance and demand for manufacturers to make cars with embedded systems has grown with an increase in technology acceptance, and now the connected consumer is expecting a connected car. Chrysler's UConnect, Ford's Sync, and BMW's iDrive are all great examples of systems that OEMs have installed to make the driving experience...

One of the greatest things about online advertising is its measurability, right? Where else can a marketer get so much data to assess campaign success? After all, there are impressions, click-throughs, view-throughs, page views, time spent, and many more data points from which to derive unique formulae for determining ad effectiveness. But blessings can also be curses, and sometimes the abundance of data points can create analysis paralysis. How are marketers supposed to know which metrics...Read...

In case you missed it, Google's Droid Operating System (OS) is dominating smartphone sales. The open Software Development Kit (SDK) and digital marketing platforms allow developers to go wild making cool apps, while hardware brands can tweak the software for differentiation between phones, creating continuity and customization in one base OS. More importantly, advertisers have found that working with the Google technology is easier and potentially more lucrative, since we learned last year...

Even though still in its formative years, online advertisers have gone through multiple data sources to reach the proper audiences with their messages. Search advertising used keywords; display advertising has used context, click (behavioral) data, publisher data and the ever popular retargeting data to reach online audiences most efficiently. Polk, along with our partner DataLogix, thought, "why don't we use industry leading consumer data and analytics to reach the right audiences"?Well,...

Tracking automotive advertising costs for ROI and lead conversion performance is a new requirement for OEMs, agencies and dealers. Many aspects of digital marketing create accountability and transparency for advertisers and the activities tied to campaigns. In addition to Pay-Per-Click (PPC), Cost-Per-Click (CPC) and lead costs, the industry is now able to merge online and offline vehicle purchase activity for an actual cost per sale.Tying together digital targeting, messaging, lead scoring...Rea...

I was with my family this weekend at the Irvine Spectrum, a popular open-door shopping and entertainment center in Orange County, California. I happened to stumble upon the Ford Fiesta Lounge display, and of course couldn't help but inspect every inch of it, especially given my prior experience in experiential marketing at Mazda North American Operations. As expected, the display was professional, and every aspect truly aimed at reaching that young and trendy customer Ford is seeking with the......

I have to admit, I have recently become fascinated by the opportunities retargeting represents. If you're not familiar with it, retargeting is the process by which an advertiser can make your display ads (re)appear to a web surfer that has visited your online location but failed to make a purchase decision. For instance, if I visit the Reebok website and surf around - without leaving my info or making a purchase - then decide I want to read a blog, I might end up seeing a retargeted Reebok ad...