CoolAdzine for Marketers

Facebook Set to Introduce Major Ad Play - Advertising Age - Digital - click to read entire article

From the article:

Facebook has an enormous database of people's demographics, relationships, likes and dislikes -- all offered up voluntarily -- which can be used for targeted advertising on and off the site.

The invitation to ad agencies in NYC was carved into a lucite brick:

You are invited to a discussion with Mark Zuckerberg and the Facebook executive team as we unveil a new way of advertising online.

Facebook cannot wait to give up your profile, your social network, your preferences and your on-site behaviors to the highest bidder. We knew it was coming, but do they have to be so blatant about it? Just to be safe, I have stopped most feeds, uninstalled all applications and made changes to my profile. This is not fun any more.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

True Stories from the Front Lines

According to a recent industry article in Advertising Age, marketers are being challenged now more than ever to come up with truly innovative new products. Yet, a recent survey showed only 12 percent of marketers consider recently launched products as being differentiated.

AMA Webcast : Marketing Innovators: True Stories from the Front Lines

Thursday, November 8, 2007 10:00 am Pacific Daylight Time (GMT -07:00, San Francisco)

Learn what leading companies are doing to foster innovation
Hear success stories and examples of innovation in action
Discover what you need to do to have innovation imbedded in your company's DNA
Understand how companies are using new ways to gather consumer insight to fuel their innovation process

Presenters:

Russ Rubin, SVP, Global Accounts, MarketTools and former Senior Director of Consumer Insights, International, General Mills
Barbara Hagen, Senior Director of Customer Research and Development, Best Buy, Inc.
Bob Bruce, Chief of Research, MarketTools
Barry Curewitz, Managing Partner, WHOLE-BRAIN Brand Expansion
Marla Chupack, Moderator, American Marketing Association

(Click here to read more about presenters)

Free! --) Registration required.

These free webinars are a great opportunity to learn new skills and to network. They are not the most high-tech event, which is surprising when you think of the association putting these on. However you will learn from experts and usually you receive a free whitepaper or a copy of the presentation. Do not forget to register. You should download the software before the webcast starts in case of problems.

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Take Your Profile When You Leave

With all the very real concern about privacy and exactly what social networking may do with the information in your profile, you may find the information in this article helpful.

MatchKey is a service to make personal preferences and behavioral data secure and transportable using a desktop application. Your interactions with movies, music and blogs on member sites builds a profile that exposes tastes and preferences without disclosing personal information.

The MatchKey system is attribute based, focusing on blog postings, video, movies, and music CDs. There are 72 attributes. Your interactions will personalize your web-based experience on member sites.

In the beginning, this will probably appear as a discovery or recommendation widget on a website or blog. If you interact with the content of that widget you acquire recommendations.

MediaPost Publications - I'll Take My Profile To Go - 10/26/2007-click to read complete article

From the article:

. . . visual representation of your personal preferences. . . It knows a lot about what you like but nothing about who you are; we exclude all personally identifiable information for the key, so what it gives you as a user is something you can take around and share. . . it asks if you want to share your profile.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Search Engine Optimization and You

Many sites specializing in search engine marketing were hit hard by the latest Google update. Page ranks dropped and it seems all the rules have changed. Allinanchor is a blog from the folks who developed AIMpromote, the customer relationship management software (crm). Written by professional marketers, allinanchor.com has information on analytics, blog marketing, brand management, lead generation and site design. I was interested in what they are recommending, as far as search engine optimization, to improve the AIMpromote site ranking.

Do you have questions? Visit Allinanchor.com, sponsor of this post, today.

Monday, October 22, 2007

Spending With a Purpose

The big spenders this election are not just the presidential candidates. Special interest groups have spent $6+ million on television advertising so far this year on state and local ballot measures, according to TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group (CMAG).

With 17 Democratic and Republican candidates running for president, CMAG predicts that more than $800 million will be spent on TV ads in the battle for the White House.

"Next year, spurred on by the largest outlay for political campaign advertising in US history, total media ad spending will shoot past the $300 billion barrier for the first time," said David Hallerman of eMarketer.

eMarketer predicts that the presidential elections will help online ad spending growth increase from 18.9% in 2007 to 22.1% in 2008, also according to eMarketer.

If I ruled the world: We would spend the money on insuring the children in the USA, making good on our promises to other countries like Darfur, and put a billion or so toward the deficit.

The candidates would write a position paper outlining exactly what they believe, their plan of action if elected and any skeletons they may have hiding. These position papers would be published in nationwide newspapers and be read into the congressional record.

Anyone with a history of public service could run for president; better yet, they could win.

Reruns and Reality Shows

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) voted to authorize a strike against the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. The WGA West and WGA East may strike any time after their current contract expires on October 31.

What is it all about? Residual income paid to writers. The guild wants a pay hike for content distributed over the Internet or on other new media, such as video-enabled cellphones.

More information, read complete article here: Big turnout gives WGA strike authorization

This is bad news for fans of late-night talk shows, daytime soaps and, eventually, all TV shows.
The last strike was in 1988 and lasted five months. So, with the new season just started, we may already look forward to reruns or more reality shows.

Blog Village Fall Fest : October 29, 2007

Submit to Blog Carnival here

Blog Village Quarterly Carnival
Fall Fest
October 29, 2007

Fall Fest, The Blog Village Quarterly Carnival, will be held on Advertising for Success blog on Monday, October 29, 2007. Select your best Halloween or Fall post and submit it today. Do it now, so you do not forget . . .

~~Deadline for entries is Friday, October 26, 2007. For entries after that date, mail directly to Success at CoolAdz dot com.~~ Deadline is extended to Sunday, October 28.

Share your Halloween posts about easiest homemade costumes, funniest Halloween trick ever, best homemade treats, spooky stories, haunted houses-- you name it. Write about family activities that you do instead of trick or treating.

If you do not celebrate Halloween, then share your favorite thoughts about Fall. Fall color, Fall traditions, Fall crafts, family reunions, harvest recipes and handmade gifts.

Links for more information on Blog Village

| Join Blog Village here | View Blog Village Blog here |

Friday, October 19, 2007

Too Much Stuff!

Have you been to a hobby shop lately? I had not ventured into one since I needed some artificial flowers to make a wedding arrangement, must have been 12 years ago. I went into a hobby shop today looking for some calligraphy pens and could not believe how everything had changed! There was furniture, mirrors, candy, costumes and pretty much anything you could want, but I had to ask about the pens because I could not find them!

Christmas is Coming

Buy.com has a limited edition offering of the PS3 system includes a playstation 3 system with 80 gigabyte hard drive, wireless controller, power cord and all the cables you need. You will receive the game MotorStorm with purchase. If you use Google checkout, you will only pay $489.99 with free shipping. You will also receive five free Blu-Ray movies by mail. Act quickly and get a jump on your Christmas shopping. This is a sponsored post.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Industry Experts Blog Hot Topics in Online Marketing

The International Association of Online Communicators (IAOC) has just begun the Fall 2007 season of the popular educational blog show, "This Week on IAOCblog.com." The program is free and open for PR, marketing and online communications professionals, educators and students, as well as anyone interested in discussing hot topics and trends in Internet marketing communications.

The Fall season kicked off September 24 with guest blogger Peter A. Gloor of MIT's Sloan School of Management, who blogged about analyzing workplace communications. The season continues Oct 15 with computer communications expert Dave Taylor answering that menacing question: Is it okay to get paid to blog?

The blog show features a different guest blogger each week. Guests are renowned professionals, educators and authors in the field of online communication.

Here is the Fall lineup:

October 15-19, 2007
GUEST: Dave Taylor, Blogsmart, Ask Dave Taylor
TOPIC: Is It Okay to Get Paid to Blog?

October 22-26, 2007
GUEST: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business
TOPIC: Should CEOs Blog?

October 29-November 2, 2007
GUEST: Dianna Huff, Marcom Writer Blog
TOPIC: Writing Search Engine Friendly Copy

November 5-9, 2007
GUEST: Lois Kelly, Foghound
TOPIC: Conversational Marketing: Mood over Matter?

November 13-16, 2007
(Nov. 12 is Veteran's Day)
GUEST: Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert
TOPIC: Blogger's Code of Ethics: News or Ruse?

"This Week on IAOCblog.com" takes place at http://www.iaocblog.com.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Whack Rupert Murdoch

Local media used to be run by local owners. Robert Murdoch now controls a national broadcast network, two cable news channels and a national newspaper. Murdoch has shown that he is willing to sacrifice accuracy and balance in service of his own political and business agenda.

Play the game and then take action to Stop Big Media.

Trucks all over the highway

On Friday October 12, there was a semi truck accident involving 31 trucks and one passenger vehicle on both sides of Interstate 5, right outside Clarita, California.

The northbound lanes were reopened early Monday morning, but the southbound truck lanes, which include the tunnel where the crash occurred will remain closed for several months, according to the California Department of Transportation.

I grew up in Houston and lived in Dallas, so I am no novice when it comes to freeway driving, but I will never forget the first time I drove in LA. They had these metered ramps with traffic lights. When the light turns green, you just floor it and go, even if there is no space. And there is never any space. Never.

Then I was on the freeway and had to drive 70+ mph in bumper to bumper traffic. I kept trying to leave space between my car and the car in front; but, someone always cut in and sent me a finger wave. I quickly learned to use the surface streets whenever possible. I think it saved my life, more than once.

Monday, October 15, 2007

One Place of Wonder I Would Miss

Laguna Madre
Mother Lagoon

Shallow, salty and teeming with life, the Laguna Madre stretches more than 200 miles from southern Texas into northern Mexico, sheltered between barrier islands and the mainland. The Laguna Madre covers 609 square miles of estuarine and coastal marine systems.

The Laguna Madre is one of the five saltiest bodies of water on Earth. Without freshwater inflows from rivers, the salt content of the lower Laguna Madre is high, from 35 to 45 parts per 1000 of water. This saltiness is intensified by heat and the shallow water depth, ranging from 2.5 to 5 feet.

Meadows of seagrass thrive in the lower Laguna Madre, providing a nurturing home for young finfish, shrimp and shellfish. Having established an exclusive dependence on seagrass, more than 75 percent of the world population of redhead ducks winters in the Laguna Madre, which also provides wintering habitat for the endangered piping plover.

Endangered sea turtles share the beaches and coastal mainland with two magnificent wildcats: ocelot and jaguarundi.

Only 80 ocelots remain in Texas; 35 of them live at the Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge.

Ever see a dolphin smile?

Why it Matters

The Laguna Madre (Mother Lagoon) relies heavily on freshwater inflows from the rivers of Texas. Not everyone thinks we should just let water flow to this natural hatchery for young finfish, shrimp and shellfish. Sentiments include . . .

Who cares if there are no more shorebirds, wintering whooping cranes or ducks?
So what if we lose the last Ripley's turtles, native ocelots and jaguarundi?
Why should we care that millions of birds migrate through Laguna Madre to shelter?

We should care and care deeply. Please show your support today for the Mother Lagooon of Texas.

This post is in support of Blog Action Day 10/15/2007

How Can You Help?
Join or donate to the San Marcos River Foundation,
who is leading the fight to keep fresh water flowing
to the lagunas, bays and bayous.
Use PayPal on their secure website.

Friday, October 12, 2007

Can You Hear Me Now?

I stumbled upon a unique site today, Powerful Signal. This is an entire website devoted to improving cell phone reception. Now, I have seen the cell phone booster on TV for $29.95 (but wait, there is more...), but this is an entire site to help you improve your cell phone's performance.

We love to travel, but more often than not, our cell phone does not work in our RV nor does it work in most of the campgrounds. Powerful signal, sponsor of this post, has cellular amplifiers, boosters and antennas to improve cell phone signal strength and quality, producing better cellular coverage for both your cell phone and AirCard or data card for your computer. If you can get a good signal, you can access the Internet through your cell phone and a modem.

If you travel or live in a part of the country that has scattered coverage, you may want to visit Powerful Signal.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Passionista? Influential Internet Persuader

According to a recent Yahoo! and MediaVest study, "Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers," these influencers are passionate about their interests and spend a lot of time online keeping informed.

Targeting Word-of-Mouth Influencers - eMarketer - read entire article

From the article:

More than one-half of consumers said they would try a brand they had not considered if it were associated with their passion, versus 41% of typical users. About one-half said their opinion of the brand would be more favorable if associated with their passion, versus 34% of typical users.

More than four in 10 respondents said their opinions of brands that sponsored events related to their passions were more positive, compared with three in 10 typical users.

The number of consumers whose advice is sought, trusted and acted upon by consumers is increasing.

eMarketer predicts there will be 34.4 million of these influential US Internet users in 2011, up from 26.8 million in 2007.

This is dedicated to my Passionista friend: Chase

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

One issue. One day. Thousands of voices.

What would happen if every blog published posts discussing the same issue, on the same day? On October 15, 2007, bloggers around the world will unite to write a blog post about the environment.

Blog Action Day is about participation.

Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day.
Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity.
Promote Blog Action Day around the world.

One issue. One day. Thousands of voices. Do not forget!

Thoughts.com : Blogging Community

Thoughts.com, a free online blogging community, is where you may write posts, upload photographs and video clips; read and comment on the news; communicate via the forums, email and instant messaging systems. The best part is that you have unlimited bandwidth!

There is a news section where you can get the top news stories, the most popular news, the ever-present political news, the latest in sports, updates on business, book reviews and lifestyle news, and news of the latest games and technology. There is even a section called Oddly Enough that has weird news stories. Also, check out the think tank through which you can submit ideas for improving the Thoughts.com experience.

Thoughts.com has a user-rating system that allows other members to rate your submissions, whether they be blog posts, photographs, pod casts or video clips. All your ratings are then averaged to give you an overall score. If you have 4.0 or more score, you may post to the community blog sections, the most visible part of the site.

Refer a friend to Thoughts.com that becomes an active member and receive one entry into the monthly contest. Each month, one member receives a free 6-month subscription to Netflix.

This year, Thoughts.com, sponsor of this post, will take the top-5 bloggers on an all expense paid trip to Las Vegas.

Visit Thoughts.com, start your Blog and share your thoughts with others in this worldwide blogging community.

Monday, October 8, 2007

Prison Marketing by Martha Stewart

Click here to view all the video highlights from the Fourth Annual Advertising Week.

Video Highlights From Advertising Week - Advertising Age - News - view complete article

This is a hoot and a half! God love Martha Stewart. They sent her to prison, but she came out making more money than before.

MARTHA STEWART REFLECTS ON BUSINESS IMPACT OF PRISON TIME

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Looking back on the impact of her trial and prison time on her company's operations, Martha Stewart told an Advertising Week session on Thursday that "its no fun to be building so rapidly and beautifully and then have a halt to that growth." She referred to her court battle and five months in the federal prison at Alderson, W.Va., as "the legal chaos" that "affected my company when it really should have only affected me."

Opportunity Knocking at Your Door?

Last week, I wrote about Donald Trump's new book and Trump University. Click here to view that post here if you wish. Evidently, I am on the Trump mailing list, for I receive an email about once a day.

The emails contain good information, so I thought I would share it with my readers. There are free resources on site and we all know that one thing Mr. Trump knows how to do is make money. So, if making money is important to you . . . check out the links below.

The Trump Blog offers you insights and opinions from Donald Trump and the faculty of Trump University:
www.donaldtrump.trumpuniversity.com

Your personalized Trump Advisor helps you select just the right course:
http://www.trumpuniversity.com/

Trump 360 gives you a window on the most important information you need:
www.trumpuniversity.com/learn/trump360.cfm

Success Stories updates you on how your fellow students are doing:
www.trumpuniversity.com/learn/successstories.cfm

The latest discussion boards offer free advice, just for the asking, 24 hours a day:
www.trumpuniversity.com/discuss/index.cfm

The updated course catalog lists all your options:
www.trumpuniversity.com/learn/index.cfm

Choose from the tremendous variety of free material, along with fantastic audio programs, online courses, master classes, and much more.

And as a special thanks to you, own Donald Trump's personal audio course How to Build a Fortune for only $24.95.

Take a look. If there's anything you need that we don't have, I will personally see to it that we get it for you.

Get ready to win!

To your success,

Michael Sexton

President
Trump University

P.S. We value your opinion and feedback on Trump University. What we do is all about your success, and I want to make sure we're getting it right.

I Truly Feel for Bittany and Her Children

4 comments:

They took Brittany's kids away from her, at least for awhile, and have given custody to Kevin Federline. I worry about those kids. They should be placed with foster parents until one or both of their parents can pass a drug and alcohol screen.

Brittany appears to be going crazy, and I think she probably deserves it. She has two young children, a bad rapper for an ex-husband, a stage mother and even her lawyer quit. I hope that someone who loves her puts her in a good drug rehabilitation program, like Cliff Side Malibu, sponsor of this post. I also hope that someone takes those kids and loves them before they wind up as casualties.

Because Nice Matters

A really nice woman named Elizabeth from Table4Five has awarded me the:

Nice Matters Award

I am going to pass this on to a few folks who have been nice to me like:

Sandy of Writing in Faith for always has time to stop by and leave a comment to uplift my spirits.

Kuanyin from Blog Blond (and many, many more) for encouraging my efforts in starting an environmental blog.

Sue of My Life in the Urban Zoo for always taking the time to visit and comment on BYBS.

There are so many more people that have been kind to me, but these above are the only ones nice enough not to kill me if I tag them. LOL

Sunday, October 7, 2007

Deception is a sub-field of Computer Science

MediaPost Publications - Who Do You Trust? - 10/05/2007 - click to read the entire article

This article is an interview with Lina Zhou, associate professor, Department of Information Systems, University of Maryland Baltimore County,

From the article:

On some level, deception writ large and small is one of the chief behaviors that consumers exercise in cyberspace, whether it is in Second Life, on social networks, or even in massively-multiplayer online games . . . in some online games, it is acceptable for a player to win or to gain advantages by deception, which does not violate our moral standards.

We have found in our previous research that the patterns of behavioral cues to deception in online communication are different from those in offline communication. For example, deceivers tend to say more, rather than less, in online communication.

So, if the avatar looks a little too unreal, and the chat just keeps on coming, beware of deception. We will soon have all the problems of real life in virtual space. Isn't that SPECIAL?

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Carnival of the Blogging Chicks

There will be a carnival of the blogging chicks tomorrow, October 7. Please visit the metablog of the Blogging Chicks and visit the carnival. There are usually truly awesome posts from some wonderful women bloggers.

If you are a woman (sorry, guys) and would like to join the Blogging Chicks, click here and follow the instructions.

Friday, October 5, 2007

Money Laundering in a Virtual World

4 comments:

Symantec Warns Against Virtual Worlds Money Laundering and Other Threats (PDF)

Symantec's 12th Internet Security Threat Report covers, among other things, the rising risks associated with virtual worlds and MMOGs.

Relevant to users is the rise in malicious code designed to steal user information:

In the first six months of 2007, five percent of the top 50 malicious code samples reported to Symantec attempted to steal account information for online games. This demonstrates that there is likely considerable financial gain to be made from online gaming accounts, so that attackers are deploying these threats in substantial numbers.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Darfur Troubling to Ad Execs

Oscar-winner and Darfur activist, Mira Sorvino, hoped there would be more involvement from advertising campaigns in representing the problem of the genocide in Darfur. Sorvino, also a goodwill ambassador for Amnesty International, was part of a panel discussion where she explained that among advertising, other media outlets need to get involved.

During Advertising Week, held in New York from Sept. 24-28, Sorvino called upon marketing professionals to reach out through the media to help end the ethnic killing in Sudan’s Darfur region. Sorvino hopes to get the word out by going right to the message experts, the ad community, she wants them to look upon the long-suffering populace there as a client, and design powerful campaigns to help them.

Problems?

Graphic images from the hell that is Darfur could create a problem for advertising companies.

Sensationalism is another dilemma for these companies. If they come off too sensationalist with international crises, they will lose credibility in the field.

So, on one hand, we have 400,000 dead and dying against the sensibilities of advertising companies and their reputation.

Maybe we can take the pictures of the famine victims and Photoshop them so they look healthier. Then we can airbrush food, water and medical supplies into the barren refuge camps. All we will need is an uplifting theme song from Disney and we can make a movie.

This makes me ill . . .

Billboards . . . Advertising or Eye Sore?