September 29, 2009

Microsoft Windows 7 House Party: Public Relations Disaster or Video Marketing Triumph?

If you create something so bad that it goes viral, is it a public relations disaster or a video marketing triumph?

That's the question that journalists and bloggers are asking after watching HostingYourParty, which tells you how to host a Microsoft Windows 7 House Party.

Microsoft is putting a Tupperware-style twist on the upcoming Windows 7 rollout -- launching a new initiative to encourage thousands of employees, partners and technology enthusiasts to throw parties in their homes and communities to demonstrate and help spread the word about its new operating system.

People accepted as official launch party hosts will get their own copy of Windows 7 Ultimate Edition, and a chance to win a computer. But unlike the Tupperware model, there will be no literal selling. These parties are more about generating word-of-mouth buzz.

To promote this idea, Microsoft has uploaded a video to YouTube. Some journalists and bloggers think it is a public relations disaster.

Cindy Perman of CNBC writes, "You just knew that once they put the Microsoft geeks in charge of the "party," that it wouldn't be a 10-kegger and before long, we'd all be putting lampshades over our heads."

Ian Douglas, a tech blogger for the Daily Telegraph in London, writes, "I'm beginning to think that no one involved with Microsoft's advertising has ever left the house or spoken to a real person."

And James Lileks of The Bleat writes, "If Microsoft had been put in charge of marketing sex, the human race would have ended long ago, because no one would be caught dead doing something that uncool."

Now, you may be tempted to watch this 6-minute, 14-second video yourself -- to jump to your own conclusion. But, I warn you -- only serious geeks like me will watch beyond the first minute.

HostingYourParty

Now, if Microsoft really wanted to show people how to hold a Windows 7 Launch Party, they might have created a remix of the 1950s educational video below about what, in fact, makes a "good" party.

1950 - What Makes a Good Party

Not all of the reaction to Microsoft's Windows 7 House Party has been negative. Some of it can be charitably described as "mixed."

David Meerman Scott of Web Ink Now, asks, "Is this Microsoft Windows 7 House Party thing real? Or is it an incredibly wonderful and clever spoof on a 50s educational video that is so well done as to have fooled most observers who seem to think it is legit?"

Janice L. Brown of The Fussy Marketer also asks, "Hmm, if something goes viral because it's so bad, does that still count as achieving the marketing goals?"

Nevertheless, Lieutenant Columbo, if he were blogging these days, would ask just one more thing: "Why did Microsoft disable ratings and adding comments on HostingYourParty?"

Is this something you'd do if you were hoping for a video marketing triumph?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)

September 2, 2009

Google Cash Scam Artists vs. White Knight SEO Campaign

During SES San Jose 2009, I heard about plans to launch a White Knight SEO campaign to fight the legion of Google Cash Scam artists. If you want some background on the effort, read Jonah Stein's post "Using SEO for Good - Introducting White Knight SEO."

As Stein explains, the group aims to protect users from spam blogs (splogs), Made for AdSense (MFA) sites, and other Google Cash Scam artists by "dominating organic search results with consumer protection information. We hope that we can place advisory content to take over the top 10 results in Google for searches related to common scams and online fraud with a particular focus on areas which are using adwords & adsense to snare victims."

The White Knight SEO campaign's first target is "Google Cash" and related terms. And it has already started generating posts.

One of the earliest that I've found is "Alert - Google Cash Scam," which was posted August 19, 2009, by David Rodnitsky of PPC Associates. Rodnitsky says, "Move over flogs, now there's something meatier! Introducing, um, fnews - fake news! I got a full-screen pop up today from the 'Los Angeles Tribunes' with the headline 'Breaking: Google is Hiring at Home Workers. Pay $373 Dollars a Day (or more).'"

On August 21, Jonathan Hochman, the founder of Hochman Consultants, joined the White Knight SEO campaign when he posted, "Google Turns Blind Eye to Scam Ads." According to Hochman, "Unless you live under a rock, you've no doubt seen those 'Google Cash business opportunity' ads from entities like Google Money Tree and Google Treasure Chest. They seem to be everywhere."

And earlier today, Stein re-doubled his efforts by posting "Google's Cash Cow - Scam Advertising & Profits." Stein writes, "By now, you have gotten at least one email inviting you to make easy money by placing links on Google. These scams go by names like 'The Google Cash System' or 'Easy Google Cash'. The bottom line is pretty simple, these offers are scams and they are designed to take advantage of the most vulnerable people in our society, the unemployed, the opportunity seekers and the naive."

It's still early days, but it will be worth watching the White Knight SEO campaign against the Google Cash Scam artists. If you search for "Google cash" in Google, the #1 organic listing is the question in Google's Web Search Help, "Is Google Cash a legitimate service?"

But the eye goes to the #4 organic listing, which is a YouTube video entitled "Google Cash Scam." You can also watch the 4-minute, 12-second video by Sean Kells of the ReviewAroo.com blog below.

Who knows, maybe there are already enough warning signs around for even the most naive searcher. On the other hand, it never hurts to ensure that the warnings are even more explicit. Stay tuned. This story has legs.

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 5:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

July 30, 2008

SEW Experts: What's Wrong With Being Cuil?

Cuil may be a good search engine...someday. But launching it as a "Google-killer" was a mistake. In today's Searching for Meaning column, "What's Wrong With Being Cuil?," Kevin Ryan outlines two lessons to learn from this: First, make sure it works before you launch it. Second, make sure you can live up to your claims or you'll suffer the consequences.

» Full story

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

February 10, 2008

AOL Yahoo Talk Merger - Microsoft Rebuked

Yahoo merges with AOL, saves Time Warner and re-Bewkes Microsoft. That's a best case scenario for Yahoo from investment bank advisers at Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers. The i-banks are advising Yahoo on mergers with media and technology firms that might snatch Yang & Co. from the jaws of Microsoft. On Sunday, Siobhan Kennedy and Suzy Jagger of The Times Online (UK) broke the story AOL may emerge as Yahoo's exit strategy from the Microsoft $45 billion (give or take a billion) bid.

An AOL merger leads the pack of deals Yahoo and its i-bank M&A advisers are pursuing. Not long ago Yahoo failed to close a deal for AOL. Now the pressure from Yahoo shareholders won't let up until a Microsoft bid (sweetened or unsweetened) is accepted - or an AOL-sized deal is done. Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes would be the big winner.

Google has long been discussed as Yahoo's outsourced search partner (again). The surprise? The House of Mouse has emerged as a possible home for Yahooligans. (The revenge of Terry Semel?)

If you can't bring Hollywood to Yahoo, then move the Yahoo to Hollywood. Any Yahoo tie-up would likely put Disney CEO Bob Iger in the driver's seat, not a bad thing for Yahoo's beleaguered shareholders.

Would an AOL merger somehow increase the value of Yahoo's stock by more than 60 percent? (Microsoft premium: 62 percent) Not likely. Yahoo shareholders have long been asking - to no avail - for a plan to boost YHOO by 25 percent from its 52 week low. So far the Microsoft bid has been the only (un)plan that did.

I mentioned the AOL scenario last Friday morning on a conference call with Oppenheimer senior analyst Sandeep Aggarwal and Oppenheimer's Media & Internet and Enterprise Software teams.

Kevin Lee of Didit joined us on the call, along with Jaideep Singh, CEO of vertical search engine Spock.com and Seth Barnes, senior manager for Edmunds.com, a leading consumer automotive site.

To listen to a replay, the dial-in number is (888) 266-2081 or (703) 925-2533. Replay dates are now thru 2/22/2008 23:59 EST.

Whether the Yahoo AOL portal-saurus merger would work is moot.

Now it's One Deal, One Day.

All this week: Yahoo! on Woot!.

Posted by Kevin Heisler at 11:43 PM | Permalink

January 29, 2008

Measuring PR in cold, hard cash

If you haven't read Mike Grehan's ClickZ article, "Search and the changing face of public relations," read it now. Among the many pithy and insightful comments within his article is this one: "I think traditional PR firms may be on their way out." Go, read it now. This will be on the mid-term exam.

When you're done reading that, read Sally Falkow's post in the Search Engine Watch Blog, entitled, "Search not understood and used in PR campaigns." Do we begin to see a trend yet?

Now, go back and read my article in Search Engine Watch, entitled, "Blogs Are the New Trade Press." Yep, the experts agree. "The world of public relations has changed dramatically over the past five to 10 years – or, at least it should have."

But it often seems like the folks over in PR didn't get the memo.

Well, they're not the only ones who didn't notice that the world was changing. On March 27, 2007, The Project for Excellence in Journalism noted in The State of the News Media 2007, "The press is no longer gatekeeper over what the public knows. Journalists have reacted relatively slowly. They are only now beginning to re-imagine their role. Their companies failed to see 'search' as a kind of journalism."

And many (but not all) people failed to see "blogging" as a kind of journalism. Or, at least some percentage of blogging. As the Pew Internet & American Life Project reported on July 19, 2006, in a report entitled, "Bloggers: A portrait of the internet's new storytellers, "34% of bloggers consider their blog a form of journalism" and "56% of bloggers spend extra time trying to verify facts they want to include in a post."

Now, that's a couple of paradigm shifts at the same time. So, don't blame your public relations people if they didn't connect the dots.

Who do I blame? Well, it's the Chief Marketing Officer in some companies or the Vice President of Marketing in others who is responsible for measuring the results of various elements of the marketing mix. And if the CMO or VP of Marketing is still content with a getting a stack of press clippings at the end of each month, can you blame his or her PR people from thinking that they've done their job?

Okay, so counting press clips has been a bogus PR metric for more than 20 years. I've told the story in "Measuring PR in Cold, Hard Cash" of my first month as Director of Corporate Communications at Lotus Development Corp. -- way, way back in 1986.

After my first month on the job, I took a very thick book of about 700 magazine and newspaper clippings that we'd received, walked down the hall to CEO Jim Manzi's office, and casually dropped it on his desk. Manzi took a quick look and said, "Jarboe, if I could deposit these in a bank, I'd know what they were worth. But, until you can measure the impact of PR in cold, hard cash, don't waste my time with these so-called reports."

And, I have to admit, Manzi was right.

So, what are the right PR metrics?

In MarketingSherpa's Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2008, you'll find more than half a dozen, including: -- Press mentions, -- Blog mentions, -- Ranking of a press release in news search engines, -- Click through rate (CTR) from links in a press release, -- Rise in site traffic around launch, and -- Track leads from click through conversion.

That's the memo that most CMOs and Marketing VPs haven't received. They can measure public relations in both PR outputs and business outcomes. And they had better get the memo before the CEO does.

And, trust me on this: When the big boss starts asking for "real" measures of success, then the traditional PR people will start learning about SEO, blogs and web analytics.

One last note: There are other PR people who know how to do this. Sally Falkow is one. Lee Odden, the founder of TopRankResults.com, is another. And Katie Paine, my predecessor at Lotus, is a third. She writes The Measurement Standard Blog.

She and I both started looking for ways to measure PR in cold, hard cash -- before search, blogs, and web analytics -- but after the big boss started asking for "real" measures of success.

See the trend?

Posted by Greg Jarboe at 7:01 AM | Permalink

September 17, 2007

Cybersquatting defined for search marketers

Intellectual property and ecommerce attorney David Adler discusses the legal definition of cybersquatting, and the legal remedies for search marketers.

Alder explains that cybersquatting can fall into a trademark infringement issue when a competitor purchases a domain that includes the trademark in domain, or even just similar enough to be confusing to the intended audience (whereas people will mistake the domain to be from the trademark owner).

Much cybersquatting revolves around what Adler explains as a "bad faith" intent. Evidence of bad faith includes the following:

1. Registration of the domain name in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that you have engaged in a pattern of such conduct;

2. Registration of the domain name primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or…

3. Use of a domain name intentionally to attract, for commercial gain, Internet users to a web site or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of a web site or location or of a product or service on a web site or location.

Some unscrupulous search spammers have attempted to subvert the search engine's own guidelines against using competitor trademarks in their search ads copy, by instead including it in the domain, appearing right below.

Posted by Grant Crowell at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 5, 2007

NBC Dateline Tries To Infiltrate Hacker Convention

NBC's Dateline attempt to infiltrate DefCon in Las Vegas this weekend has been discovered by the convention organisers.

"Defcon staff and security were informed that NBC Dateline was sending five people with undercover cameras to film attendees. According to Priest, a member of the Defcon security team, the reporters would try to get hackers to admit to crimes on camera and then confront Defcon's founder Jeff Moss about running a convention that facilitates criminal activities," TG Daily reported.

"Determined to find the reporters, Defcon attendees have created an informal game called “Spot the Dateline” which is modeled after the “Spot the Fed” game, a staple of Defcon conventions. In Spot the Fed, attendees can win T-Shirts for spotting federal agents and bringing them up to the podium," TG noted.

Posted by Frank Watson at 7:48 AM | Permalink

April 6, 2007

Is Google's Armstrong Promoting Search Spam?

Kate Kaye at ClickZ uncovers an interesting connection between Google's VP of Ad Sales Tim Armstrong and potential search spam. In "Bottom Slurping for Google Juice," Kaye points out that Associated Content, a content production house theoretically aimed at creating a marketplace for aspiring writers, seems to be responsible for creating some made-for-AdSense type of content.

The "content producers" are taught to write keyword-heavy content, and they're paid according to the amount of traffic their creations will drive. Surprise, surprise -- Associated employs an algorithm that estimates the number of unique visitors that will be driven to that content in coming months, and pays writers upfront accordingly.

A few examples from an Associated Content customer that Kaye looked at were very low-quality, keyword-stuffed pages, though she admits those pages are not necessarily products of AC writers. Even if those specific examples are not, the argument remains as to whether the service is about creating quality content or adding keywords to a page to better target ads, such as those sold by Google.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:57 PM | Permalink

June 13, 2006

Click-Fraud Bot Network Shut Down

A network of 50,000 remote-controlled zombie computers, which were programmed to automatically click ads, has been shut down, brag Panda Software and RSA Security. Panda says the central server sending instructions to the zombies, which were infected with the Clickbot.A virus, has been taken offline as a result of the two companies' work.

The companies' story reflects an example of what's going on in a lot of dark little corners of the Web. Fraudsters set up a number of Web sites, sign up to be affilates of legit contextual ad networks (Panda didn't name names), and then set the bots to work clicking away while they pocket the revenue-share proceeds.

Luis Corrons, head of PandaLabs, says: "Botnets are part of the cyber-crime business model, as they are normally hired or sold to third parties to carry out malicious actions such as sending spam, stealing confidential data or installing other types of malware. This particular case represents a variant of that model, as it seems that bot authors are obtaining financial benefits directly, swindling companies that pay for each click. The fact that companies pay a certain amount of money for each click on their ads, combined with the number of bots involved in the swindle, gives an idea of the huge proportions of this fraud."

Posted by Pamela Parker at 3:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ben Edelman Calls Out "Banner Farms," Pins Hula Direct to the Mat

Ben Edelman's latest report is yet another valuable analysis of how spyware applications defraud both Internet users and advertisers. This time he pins Hula Direct to the mat. Hula operates a load of crappy Web sites whose traffic comes primarily from spyware apps. These sites consist of almost nothing but ads, ads that are served through low quality – and, one must assume, blind -- ad networks. Not only that, but the ads automatically reload, racking up fees but not value for the advertiser.

The list of blue-chip advertisers who should be embarrassed to appear in Hula's network includes Vonage, Verizon Wireless, Universal Studios, the Weather Channel and Circuit City.

I could explain further, but it's best if you just go and read it.

Remember, as much as we'd like to eviscerate companies like Hula Direct and the spyware players that feed them traffic, this is all about advertiser laziness and indifference.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 31, 2006

"Believe" Brand Suicide in Scotland?

I'm just back from Scotland on vacation and can't help but note a brand story that came up again and again during my visit. Mars' Mars Bar -- popular enough in Scotland to have spawned the renowned deep fried Mars Bar -- has rebranded as "Believe" in the UK for the 2006 World Cup season. Mostly, the change is aimed at fueling hopes for England's bid for the championship, in a year in which they're thought to have a chance. (See Web site here.) But the "Believe" bars are being marketed in Scotland, too, where the favorite pastime is rooting for England's opponent. (Scotland failed to qualify for the World Cup.) Again and again, I heard people express outrage at the slight. Most said they'd stopped buying the candy in protest. One shopkeeper said he'd been trying to stock bars without the "Believe" branding. T-shirts with a send-up of the controversy, reading "Believe? Ma Arse" are reportedly selling like crazy.

Yes, England is a much bigger market, but why rebrand in such a way as to alienate Scotland (and Wales and Northern Ireland)? And knowing the Scots, they're certain to hold a grudge well beyond when the candy changes back to its previous name.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 17, 2006

Search?Navigation Term of the Day: Wow

After scouring my bank's Web site for information about purchasing foreign currency, I gave up and called.

The lady at the branch couldn't have been nicer. After providing the information I requested, she suggested I could have found it on the site. I explained I couldn't -- that's why I'd called.

"You mean you didn't visit the 'Wow Answer Guide?'" she replied.

Well, no. Because even after she told me about it, it took some effort to find the lone, undifferentiated text link among many on the bank's home page. I've been a client for years. Never knew it was there. You don't see the question mark graphic until you've landed on the page -- which turns out to be plain, old fashioned site search.

You're supposed to grok all that from "Wow! Answer Guide?"

My search term was "foreign currency." I would have settled for "search this site," "other services" or something omnibus. But Wow! Answer Guide? That stretches all notions of usability, keyword navigation, interface and design.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 12, 2006

Behold! A Press Release

Can we borrow a carbon dating kit from someone out there? We want to verify this "press release" -- that was mailed to ClickZ HQ -- really does date from the 21st century.

At least they're getting a mention.

That's the point, right?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 4, 2006

Why I've Never Been To A Class Reunion

I've never been to a class reunion. From the looks of things, I'm never going to go to one, either.

A former classmate e-mailed to asking if I'm attending our reunion in June. I had no clue there was one, but I'm considering it. Today, I clicked over to the college's extensive Web site to register.

But I can't.

The instructions:

"Please sign in using your current last name and your ID number, as printed on your registration materials' mailing label. (Your 9-digit ID number will start with either A00 or 999.)"

Sorry, guys. If I got something in the mail, I ignored it (you mail way to much). When my friend told me about this, she provided no user ID. When I called the alumni office for help, I landed in voice mail. No support's offered on the site (even though I'm a registered user and logged in to the site).

You want me to pay to attend the reunion (though I can't learn what the cost is before getting over that registration barrier). No doubt you want me to write a check to the college, too.

So why make registration insurmountable?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 1:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 27, 2006

NBC Demonstrates Passion for IE

So NBC has just announced Passions Vendetta, a narrative unfolding over 24 clickable 2-minute online videos that will appear over 12 weeks. Maybelline and Garnier are sponsors.

The whole thing was created by Avant Interactive to promote the soap "Passions."

Let us know if it's any good, wouldja? Cause we've had-it-up-to-here with promotional sites that do nothing but demand we run IE 5.5 on Windows. Because we're not going to. You can't make us.

A straw poll of the ClickZ ed team, however, was unanimous: anyone watching daytime dramas is probably still using Explorer. So it's probably a demographic thing.

Still, why's NBC (not to mention its advertisers) taking that risk?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 24, 2006

Ad/Content Compatibility

Clicked on a link in a BusinessWeek.com e-mail newsletter this morning, and landed in the publication's video center. Was pleased to see a message telling me the content was free, and brought to me by the sponsor. A pre-roll ad for Microsoft ran. So far, so good.

But then, right when I was getting all geared up for my content, I got a blue screen that said "The story you've selected is unavailable in this format. Please use Internet Explorer on Windows to view the clip." Now, I know Microsoft was the sponsor, but this is ridiculous. Publishers, if you've got technical limitations like this, tell the user up front. Don't wait until after the advertising to disappoint. There's always the risk of it reflecting badly on your sponsor.

UPDATE: Later in my experience on the site, I clicked to go to a story and started reading. Then, suddenly, the page refreshed and I was watching an interstitial ad (for FedEx). Needless to say, I took advantage of the "skip this ad" link. It's one thing to be served an ad before you start reading the content, but to be interrupted? That's just not cool.

Posted by Pamela Parker at 12:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 9, 2006

Jersey Lawmaker: Let's Squelch What Makes Web Debate Great

First, they play favorites with the smoking ban, now this. My home-state's lawmakers can be an entertaining bunch, till I remember I pay their salaries. So, the latest stupid bill to be proposed in Jersey comes to us from Assemblyman Peter Biondi, a Republican from Somerset.

According to a Star Ledger story on NJ.com, "Biondi's bill would require Internet service providers and interactive services such as NJ.com to publish, or at least solicit, the legal names and addresses of persons who post 'written messages on a public forum Web site.' Services failing to disclose identities of anyone 'who posts false or defamatory information' could be sued for damages and legal costs."

Hmmm…and all this time I thought Republicans were the only ones guarding against our freedom from excessive government intervention; at least, that's what all those FIRST NAME or PHONY NAME only callers on conservative talk radio keep tellin' me (yeah, I actually listen to that pap).

Needless to say, the Web freedom crew is up-in-arms over this one, even though it's too silly to be enacted. Even Biondi's backing off it now. Chief among Biondi's detractors is non other than Buzzmachine's Jeff Jarvis, who seems to be taking credit for Biondi's bill backlash against naughty forum posts. He, afterall, helped create the online media powerhouse that is NJ.com (and its affiliates across the country*), and, its well-populated forums. Writes Jarvis, "I am damned proud to have started the forums that caused New Jersey Assemblyman Peter Biondi to propose the stupidest legislation in memory (well, at least since Raritan, NJ, tried to outlaw cursing)."

Obviously, disregarding the freedom of speech and privacy implications, there would be so much logistical red-tape involved in actually enforcing such a law, it'd be a waste to spend any more time on. But, I'm sure that won't stop 'em….

*Shameless plug: My husband does graphic design work for Advance Internet.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 11:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 8, 2006

Is Google Getting Sloppy, or Sly?

Last week, Google was rushing to "clarify" statements by its CFO that revenue growth levels could not be sustained, which sent its stock price for a brief tumble.

This week, the company was forced to file a disclosure to the SEC as a result of comments left in CEO Eric Schmidt's March 2 Analyst Day slides.

A few points of interest mentioned in the notes: * Plans to expand ad offerings to include print, radio, TV, and direct mail * Developing a branding product for large online advertisers and for offline advertisers of all sizes * Expanding AdWords from clicks to conversions (e.g., Landing Page Optimization, Google Analytics integration) * Some product-related tidbits

The comments that led to the SEC filing revealed that Google, at one point in time, had projected its ad sales to grow from $6 billion "this year" to $9.5 billion "next year," and that AdSense margins would be "squeezed in 2006 and beyond."

In the SEC filing, Google said the notes were not part of the analyst day presentation, but were somehow left over from an internal presentation early in the fourth quarter of 2005, and should be ignored.

"These notes were not created for financial planning purposes, and should not be regarded as financial guidance. Consistent with past practice, Google is not providing revenue guidance. In addition, the statement with respect to AdSense margins does not reflect Google’s current expectations," it says.

So does anyone really believe this was a slip-up, or could this be a way for Google to unofficially, yet definitively, provide guidance, which it has made a policy not to do?

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 7, 2006

Something Else the RIAA Doesn't 'Get': Podcasts

Fausto Fernos and his partner produce Feast of Fools. It's the top-ranked gay podcast on iTunes where it also ranks as one of the top-20 all-time comedy podcasts. "Fools" was also among the first podcasts with a major media corporate sponsor.

Fausto got in touch after reading an older column on the RIAA suing its customers -- and destroying pop music's branding proposition in the process. What he rightly points out is that the RIAA is closing the door on a major marketing opportunity -- while opening it wide for their rivals.

"We loathe and fear being sued by the RIAA so we completely avoid mentioning or playing any of their clients music on our program," fumes Fausto, "We feature 100% independent musicians on our show, who are greatful for the exposure because it actually helps to sell their music on the iTunes Music Store. We never play the entire track and actualy profit from selling the music (we make 5% commision on all iTunes clickthroughs from our site.)

According to Fausto, Feast of Fools reaches tens of thousands of listeners worldwide, including an audience that's unreachable through conventional media due to geographic distance. "We have listeners in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, as well as in the United States and Canada," he says.

Oh, and that major corporate sponsor? HBO -- part of the same media conglomerate that once-upon-a-time owned Warner Music.

Go figure.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

February 10, 2006

New Yorker Forums a Den of Spam

This is strange. The New Yorker's official forums contain about two spam posts for every legitimate one. The folks at CondeNet should be more careful with this most illustrious media brand. (via gothamist)

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 30, 2006

But does it sell cars?

Land Rover North America is out with a new marketing effort that aims to show off what the vehicle can do. The centerpiece of the campaign, a TV spot, was filmed in a network of aqueducts underneath the city of Tokyo. The director was Jordan Scott, daughter of the famed Ridley. Sounds pretty cool.

So what do they do online? They are taking viewers "behind the scenes" of the commercial shoot, including documentary footage, still photos and interviews with the crew. (Though I wasn't able to verify this because landroverusa.com, where the content is supposed to be housed, isn't showcasing it at the moment.)

"In today's world of technologically-advanced TV production, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine what's real and what's computer-generated in advertising, so we're providing behind-the-scenes information and footage on our website. Here the viewers will come to understand that what they are seeing is completely real and not a dramatization," said Sally Eastwood, vice president, marketing, Land Rover North America.

Fine, if you're looking to sell a movie or looking to attract advertising geeks. But will it sell Land Rovers?

Posted by Pamela Parker at 7:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 26, 2006

IAB - The "Unknown Authority"

We know -- stuff happens.

But should the Interactive Advertising Bureau really greet their Web site visitors with "Unable to identify if www.iab.net is a trusted site"?

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

January 9, 2006

It's Not Spam When I Send It

Florida's attorney general is under fire for sending out unsolicited campaigning e-mails for his candidacy for governor. Attorney general, Charlie Crist, was an integral player in getting an anti-spam law passed last year in the state of Florida. Under the law, offenders are subject to fines of up to $500 for every e-mail sent.

Now running for governor, someone on the Crist campaign is responsible for sending e-mails to promote the candidacy and solicit campaign donations. Recipients have reportedly attempted to unsubscribe without success.

A spokeswoman for the gubernatorial campaign, Vivian Myrtetus, told a Florida paper, "This is not spam. This is truthful, it's straight forward. We're honest. To be spam it has to be, under Florida law, defined as being deceptive."

I'm so glad she was sure to add the qualifier, "under Florida law," because the definition the rest of us follow has a few more rules than perceived truthfulness and honesty.

Posted by Enid Burns at 4:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 19, 2005

DMA's $5 Do-Not-Mail List

This has enraged me for years: the DMA charges consumers $5.00 to register online for its little-publicized do-not-snail-mail list (MPS).

Mailing your regrets to the DMA is free, however. What, some charity organization does all that data entry for them? Unlikely. They're just trying to make it more difficult to get off those lists.

My memory was jogged by a program on NPR this weekend on the staggering costs of junk mail -- not just environmental and financial, but also in terms of time wasted. One stat I recall from the show is the average American spends 8 months of their life opening and dealing with junk mail.

Want off for the New Year? Pony up $5 here, or part with a stamp and mail your deets to:

Mail Preference Service Direct Marketing Association PO Box 643 Carmel, NY 10512

There's a mail-in registration form on the page cited above.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

December 12, 2005

Chitika faces criticism from publishers

Chitika, a new contextual ad network that launched in May, has come under fire from publishers in its network -- mostly bloggers -- who once sang its praises.

Their eMiniMalls ads had been gaining steam among bloggers, with many reports of Chitika's ads performing better than AdSense on some sites. But once Chitika began auditing its results in October, revenues began dropping -- by anywhere from 15 percent to as much as 90 percent, according to reports on blogs like JenSense and ThreadWatch.

And if that was not enough of a problem for publishers, Chitika is also being criticized for not telling publishers of the drastic drops until early December, so most publishers ended up keeping the lower-performing ads on their site for over a month before they knew the extent of the reductions caused by the audits.

So it seems there are at least two lessons to be learned from this: 1. Transparency is good. Hiding things is bad. 2. Don't mess with bloggers. When they get mad, they tell people, and some of them know a whole lot of people.

Posted by Kevin Newcomb at 3:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 16, 2005

A Painful New Ad Unit

AdBrite is offering a page takeover unit called "Intermission" that it hopes "makes more money for publishers, and gives more exposure to advertisers." Can't argue it'll succeed on both counts, at least in the short term. The ad essentially redirects users to an advertiser's Web site (example), which they must click through to get the content they really wanted.

The appeal for AdBrite is clear. High CPMs and no production required. It also happens to be over-the-top intrusive.

More: Jim Kukral at ReveNews voices concern, and AdBrite CEO Philip Kaplan replies in the comments.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

November 3, 2005

Now That's A Crappy Ad

So I'm in NYTimes.com's arts section and....Yuck! No! Not this!

The display ad, a BOB, is screaming in caps, "ARE YOU TAKING LAXATIVES BECAUSE OF YOUR CANCER PAIN MEDICATION." There's a toll-free number. The graphic is horrible, brown, sphincter-like.

I wince and in the name of research, click. The ad spawns a new window...the Times' homepage. It appears to be from Glaxo.

Make it go away, Mr. Niesenholtz. Please, make it go away.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 4:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 24, 2005

Your Job vs. The Algorithm

Our inimitable columnist Sean Carton found what may be the best-ever example of Web marketing gone horribly, horribly wrong.

He shared it with bOING bOING, then immediately regretted not saving it for his column.

This gem can't go unseen -- take a look at this page, auto-generated, clip art and all, to capture people searching Google about phobias.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 13, 2005

Is Anything Legal In Utah?

Sometimes you have to wonder if Utah is still legal in Utah. Between new child-protection legislation, the state's legacy of nonsensical anti-spyware and anti-spam legislation, you gotta wonder.

We're working on a story today about yet another dumb Utah law intended to protect children from porn. The end result (as is way too often the case in that state) is to protect the citizenry against the Internet -- pretty much all of it.

Posted by Rebecca Lieb at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

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