Lawyers: Even Microsoft Confused Over Vista Ad Agency Strategy
November 27, 2007
A Microsoft product manager could not correctly explain what “Vista Capable” means, according to recent filings in a lawsuit that claims the company cheated customers with a pre-release Vista campaign last year.
If Microsoft doesn’t know what their Advertising Agency is doing, then that review can’t happen fast enough.
Vista is a downgrade according to a recent C|Net report. It’s hard to spin this one.
read more | digg story
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Microsoft’s Advertising Agency review has new line item
November 27, 2007
We caught wind that Microsoft’s search for an Ad Agency has another line item in the request.
To spin this report from C|Net
New tests have revealed that Windows XP with the beta
Service Pack 3 has twice the performance of Vista,
even with its long-awaited Service Pack 1.
Full Story
This is not a joke, our sources have stated that this was actually noted as one of the requirements.
The source will NOT go on record. He stated that he will go on record to deny that this was even mentioned should it be discovered that this was leaked to the press.
Our belief however that no Ad Agency on earth could spin that report in a positive light.
How could a Public Relations firm spin this? “You pay out the wazoo in hardware requirements and performance to have the honour of owning one of our 6 versions of insane licensing agreements of Vista that is a step backwards for your productivity”
You can’t spin that.. you can’t even try.
Our understanding is that the advertising budget is set at roughly $300 million dollars.
Part of that $300 million will be to say that Vista is an upgrade and not a downgrade from XP.
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Web Publishers taking a hit using Google Adsense
November 27, 2007
In the recent flight from the US dollar as it collapses many web publishers that use Google Adsense have been taking a hit, a big hit. Wired Magazine has some recent news regarding it.
That being stated, it’s not all ‘downhill’ due to the nature of our business, IE: we are not doing print, we are doing InterActive, we have seen a dramatic up tick in inquiries from overseas.
Potential clients have been trying to seek lower cost US services for European ventures. This is not just in our industry, it’s a maco economic issue. But for our industry in focus, it’s a pretty rapid increase.
For SEO, you don’t need to be located in the same area. It’s not like we are doing print media.
Interesting times ahead for the InterActive Marketing business. Industry insiders are considering this a massive win against traditional print media firms as they are in a position to offer their services worldwide from a single location as compared to the older Advertising Agency model where they need to physically be at least in the same country.
We understand that many of the larger firms hedged against this by opening remote offices, but that nullifies the advantage, as the local employees in that firm get paid in local currency. In short, it turns them into a local firm, erasing any dollar exchange rank advantages they would of acquired should they had been located in the US only.
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New Ad Agency Adrenalina lands Heineken
November 26, 2007
Adrenalina a new advertising agency that literally isn’t even filed yet with trademarks or anything lands Heineken.
The story is noteworthy because Heineken has a large media spend.
If that doesn’t arouse a serious case of startup envy, it gets better. Just as the ad executives began gearing up to work with their one major client, some big-name agencies, including acquisitive Toronto ad conglomerate MDC Partners, best known for being “the place where great talent lives,” started making overtures in hopes of either partnering with Adrenalina to go after Hispanic business or to acquire it outright, said Manuel Wernicky, principal of Adrenalina.
Another version of this story
This is hot stuff, as we have been pitching for a while now, smaller firms tend to attract the better talent.
In the Advertising world, you have 4 sets of individuals… 4 sets of pitches… and this oddball.
The big agency pitch:
1 - We are the biggest so we are best.
The small agency pitch:
2 - We are the smallest, so we are the most creative.
The Interactive firm pitch:
3 - We make sites in flash, so they are cool to look at.
The SEO firm pitch:
4 - We make sure your sites are NOT in flash, so people can find them to say if they are cool or not.
Then we have this…
5 - We speak Spanish… so if you want Spanish speaking customers… you better choose us.
Cool beans.
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Ad Agency addiction to flash
November 23, 2007
Not only are Ad Agencies addicted to flash, they are trying to spread the disease.
It’s fascinating to watch this in action. Honda’s Online Advertising Agency of Record is begging to find individuals that can code in Flash in London. Nevermind the stuff isn’t spiderable… or that it will never rank in the search engines… they just want it…
Wow. Talk about an addiction.
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CNN / Money debates investing in Advertising Agencies
November 21, 2007
CNN / Money posted a story regarding the Advertising Agency space due to the fact that we are entering a recession.
Banc of America Securities analyst Joe Arns said in a recent note that housing market woes haven’t yet hit advertising spending, but he sees that changing.
Based on his firm’s own survey of the nation’s largest advertisers, comprising 43 percent of spending, he lowered his estimate for 2008 U.S. marketing spending growth to 3.9 percent from 4.6 percent. Arns says a recession would prompt a further downward revision. Spending grew by 5.4 percent in 2007, the firm estimates.
He recently downgraded Omnicom Group Inc. to “Sell” and Interpublic Group of Cos. to “Neutral” from “Buy.”
It’s worth it to know that the closer to a recession we have been getting, the higher our growth rate has been. Mostly because our services tend to generate a far higher ROI along with lower expenditures than the traditional route.
Meaning that many CMO’s have been viewing our services (search engine optimization) as a ‘less expensive way’ to maintain a marketing campaign while saving money. The neat thing is we have a feeling that even when the economy rebounds.. they might not jump back into bed with the traditional firms as fast as they left them. After all, we saved them from losing their shirts during a recession. That’s not something you just want to throw away.
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AT&T picks up Advertising Firm Ingenio
November 21, 2007
Under the deal, Ingenio will lets advertisers place pay-per-call ads online, on mobile phones and in print. The service lets marketers pay for these ad services based on if a visitor actually clicks through or not.
Ingenio issues phone numbers to advertisers and then tracks calls for billing and reporting purposes.
Sort of like Pay Per Click for the phone industry.
What raises eyebrows is that this isn’t the first purchase in the space, AOL bought Third Screen Media. Google has showcased a new ad-based mobile calling plan.
In short, all the big players are moving into this space.
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Leaked - Mack Trucks New Breed Titan the new flagship model in Australia
November 21, 2007
Attached is the PDF filled with photos of the new 2009 Mack Trucks Titan
EDIT -
FYI — it’s not leaked this was a well published event.. sorry about the mislead.
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William Shatner and Mr. T show up in World of Warcraft Advertising
November 21, 2007
We don’t know what to think of it, if we should laugh or cry. William Shatner get’s denied to play a role in the new upcoming Star Trek Movie by J. J Abrams. So he shows up in TV commercials… he got typecast not as Capitan Kirk, but rather as the joker that does funny commercials IE: priceline.com and now World of Warcraft.
We don’t know if he is cast as a loser that can’t hold a steady job.. or someone that endorses “geeky” products?
Interesting to say the least.
Mr. T is generally filed under a ‘Chuck Norris’ level of acting… a comical 1980′s and early 1990′s type ‘tough guy’ that people laugh at today. IE: Chuck Norris Facts “Chuck Norris doesn’t sleep, he waits” and other comical statements.
Shatner, that guy however is in a league of his own.. when it comes down to the traditional ‘we dress up wearing a phaser and Vulcan ears for Star Trek Conventions’ fans rejecting him.. it raises questions on his validity as an actor that lends support and not disgust for a product.
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Is Dell Going to add Craplets to Ubuntu Machines?
November 20, 2007
We heard a nasty rumor that might need some sunlight. Either to cancel or allow for lack of a better phrase.
Our sources (an Ad Agency that represents one of the larger craplet adopters) have stated that Dell is “actively considering” putting desktop shortcuts to Ebay and other firms on new Ubuntu Linux installs from Dell as well as pre-installed “craplets” for Linux. The rumor went as far as one of the traditional craplets advertisers were actively porting Ubuntu versions of the Windows programs. IE: AOL for Ubuntu .. Earthlink… etc etc…
From what we were told, Dell get’s paid for each install of a craplet from a provider. This makes sense overall from an Advertiser standpoint but pretty much pisses off many of the end users. We don’t know how well this will fly, again if true, from Linux users.
We have not had the chance to confirm this, but it’s worth noting that we really would like others to comment here so we have an idea if there is any truth to this.
This is the part that bugs us the most, a direct quote from an Ad Agency that represents one of the larger ‘craplet’ makers.
“Many of Dell Ubuntu users are advanced Linux users.. they don’t fit into our model, however on the lower end machines, those appear to be people trying to save $50, so they opt for Ubuntu rather than Vista.. these people are not technical… and they are our target market.. exactly our target market’.
For what it’s worth, he are said that going after Walmart’s sub-200 dollar computer as well running an Ubuntu variant.
Welcome to the craplet world Linux.
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