Recently in Technology Category

iAd Is No iFad: Study Finds Agencies Most Interested In Apple's Mobile Platform
by Joe Mandese, Wednesday July 14, 2010

Asked what capabilities their clients are most interested in developing, a third of agency executives surveyed recently by media-buying processing systems provider Strata said mobile advertising, and an overwhelming majority of those respondents cited Apple's new iAds. Details of the study, part of a regular series of periodic surveys of its agency clients, will be released soon, but in a preview given to Online Media Daily, Strata President-CEO John Shelton said the percentage of agency executives citing mobile advertising as their clients' top interest has more than doubled from 16% last spring.

While not necessarily representative of the entire advertising industry, the findings are significant, because Strata, which is owned by Comcast Corp., tends to service a diverse array of geographically dispersed smaller and regional agencies that comprise the heartland of Madison Avenue, and are not necessarily the kind of bleeding edge shops likely to push the next shiny object to come on the media scene.

"We have a pool of just under 1,000 agencies across country," Shelton explained. "They tend to be more regional agencies, and some national ones. We kind of like the regional ones, because they tend to be all U.S. and tend to give us a more on-the-ground view. These guys tend to be much more hands-on, and they tend to float up and down with their clients based on what their clients are buying now."

While that agency base likely represents more of the "long tail" of the advertising business, Shelton noted many of them represent "huge clients" such as Walmart, Geico and Progressive.

He said the speed with which they've embraced mobile, and especially Apple's new advertising platform, was surprising.

Asked which mobile device or platform their clients are most interested in, Shelton said 87% cited the iPhone, while less than 50% cited the BlackBerry of Android systems.

"The iPhone has 50% higher interest than any other phone out there, even though BlackBerry has more phones out there," Shelton noted, adding that agencies don't seem to be interested in "coverage" as much as, "they're interested in being associated with the iPhone."

Shelton said the response likely reflects an overall interest in Apple's mobile advertising operating system, including the iPad, iTouch and iPhone devices, and said the interest was likely influenced by all the attention surrounding Apple's launch of the iPad, the iAds advertising system, and its new iPhone.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

MTV Networks Acquires Social Express, Forays Into Social Gaming
by Gavin O'Malley Thursday July 8, 2010

Hoping to refresh Nickelodeon Digital's offerings, MTV Networks on Thursday agreed to buy games developer Social Express. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to MTV, the acquisition marks its first entry into the popular social gaming space.

Per the deal, MTV Networks will develop social games based on original IP, as well as shows and characters from MTV, Nickelodeon and its other brands, with the first games expected to be introduced in the third quarter of the year.

MTV Networks also expected to leverage Social Express to launch a publishing platform for independent game developers.

Social Express will be integrated into Nickelodeon Digital, with Social Express co-founder and CEO Tony Espinoza overseeing social gaming strategy and development as vice president and general manager of social gaming for MTV Networks' Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group.

Neil Souza, co-founder of Social Express and FoulPlay Media, will be vice president of technology, social games.

Both will report to Dave Williams, senior vice president and general manager of games, Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, who reports to Stephen Youngwood, executive vice president for Digital, Nickelodeon /MTVN Kids & Family Group.

"They are set to be a key part of our growth strategy," Youngwood said regarding Social Express and MTV's broader gaming strategy. In May, MTV Networks game sites attracted more than 22 million unique visitors and ranked as the number one destination in the online gaming category.

MTV Networks game sites include AddictingGames.com, Shockwave.com, Nick.com Games, Nick.com Arcade, Neopets, GameTrailers, and Xfire.

The acquisition of Social Express is the latest gaming initiative for the Nickelodeon Kids & Family Group, which has also launched AddictingGames on the iPhone with the AG iNetwork and introduced a virtual goods platform to the site in the past year.

Based in San Francisco, Social Express's veteran management team boasts former executives and developers from Apple, AOL, Yahoo and Zynga.

Casual games are serious business these days. For one, they are believed to be largely responsible for continued traffic gains at Facebook. Over the past year, traffic to the social network increased 185% compared to the same week last year. As a result, Facebook surpassed Google in terms of overall traffic for the week ending March 13, according to Hitwise.

Perhaps in response, Google in April announced the acquisition of an Israeli startup named Labpixies, which develops casual games for both the Web and mobile devices. Terms of the deal were not released, but an Israeli news source reported that Google paid $25 million for the company.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com

Got Milk? Campaign Goes IPad, SMS
by Karlene Lukovitz, Tuesday July 6, 2010

The iconic, 15-year-old "Got Milk?"/milk-mustachioed celebrity campaign is moving with the times by using new digital channels and their interactive/rich media capabilities.

The campaign's two most recent celebrity marketing efforts are appearing as print ads, as usual. But in addition, one interactive version (featuring St. Louis Cardinals star player Albert Pujols) is being featured in Sports Illustrated's new iPad edition, and the other (featuring Lauren Conrad of TV shows "The Hills" and "Laguna Beach") is available via text messaging.

"Continuing to make the 'Got Milk?' campaign stimulating and exciting has always been an important goal for us, and the advent of various new media channels has challenged us to think differently about how to connect with our various consumer groups most effectively," sums up Vivien Godfrey, CEO of the Milk Processor Education Program (MilkPEP), which manages the multifaceted marketing program for its milk-processor sponsors.

The new digitally based efforts cost-effectively make use of opportunities to film new Got Milk? (a/k/a "Milk Mustache") campaign stars while they're being shot for print ads, explains Sal Taibi, partner/general manager of Deutsch Inc., who has led the agency's management of the integrated campaign since its inception.

The Pujols iPad ad version -- which placed MilkPEP among the first round of advertisers in SI's first iPad issue (released June 24), along with AT&T, Sprint, Lexus, Toyota, Nissan, Gatorade and others -- offers, for example, video of the baseball star explaining the reasons that he makes milk part of his training nutrition regimen.

Prior to the iPad's launch, MilkPEP had been working with Pujols to star in a "Got Milk?" print ad as part of its outreach to young males/ male teens (the campaign regularly encompasses various ads targeted to specific audience segments, including moms with growing kids, as well as young/teen males and females, and Hispanic market segments), Godfrey tells Marketing Daily. As a regular SI print advertiser, the debut of the iPad device and SI's plan to launch its iPad edition happened to present a "great" opportunity to achieve "richer, deeper engagement" with the target audience, she says.

Meanwhile, text messaging is enabling MilkPEP to offer female teens access to an exclusive video of Conrad (by snapping a photo of the ad with their smartphones and texting to get immediate video access in return). Again, the video drives home the milk-is-cool message, with the actress/fashion designer explaining why milk is a favorite beverage.

As usual, MilkPEP is running the celebrity print ads in numerous vehicles (the Pujols ad is appearing in ESPN Magazine, Boy's Life, Rolling Stone, gaming titles and comics among others, while the Conrad ad first appeared in USA Today and is also appearing in People, Girl's Life, Rolling Stone and several key teen magazines).

In addition, the availability of the iPad/text messaging interactive media efforts are being promoted via online advertising on a variety of sites heavily trafficked by teens, including Facebook and MyYearbook.com, plus sites specifically geared to male teens and female teens. (MilkPEP also has five of its own sites, each dedicated to serving a different milk-marketing target audience.)

MilkPEP/Deutsch won't try to go back and use previous Got Milk? print ad celebs for new digital/rich media efforts (in part for practical, contractual reasons), says Godfrey. However, she and Taibi report that new creative underway and developed going forward will definitely incorporate the interactive/rich-media capabilities and seek to use what is learned from these initial efforts to expand and hone the campaign's effectiveness at reaching/engaging consumers via new channels/formats.

For more information visit www.mediapost.com