Nov/090
Image Space Media Newsletter: November 2009
Welcome to Image Space Media's newsletter for November 2009.
As usual, we want to provide news about our services and answers to some frequently asked questions.
We genuinely appreciate your participation in Image Space Media's technology in beta, and for your feedback. Your input helps us identify what areas we need to improve upon. With your help and feedback we've been steadily working to improve our technology. If you have any comments or questions please send them to info@imagespacemedia.com.
in this issue:
- why the name change?
- what's a taxonomy engine?
- better ads and higher payouts
- publishers of the week
- giving thanks
Nov/090
Publisher of the Week: Tic Tac Toe Hockey
This week, Image Space Media would like to recognize Tic Tac Toe Hockey as Publisher of the Week. This site is a hockey fan's mecca; loaded with HUGE NHL action shots and blurbs. Updated several times per week, Tic Tac Toe will keep you in tune with what's going on in the NHL and provide awesome action shots, quite literally.
Check out Tic Tac Toe Hockey today!
Nov/090
Targeting the Real Mom
In a recent report on the new female consumer, Advertising Age and advertising agency JWT identified the differences between the Supermom of a decade ago and the Real Mom today -- and what those differences suggest for advertisers and marketers.
The report, "The Rise of the Real Mom," finds that women today no longer strive to be the "Supermom" who somehow finds a balance between a successful career, perfect children, and stress-free home life. Instead, mothers today are practical and grounded in reality: "real moms understand that tradeoffs are implicit in motherhood; they don't see things as black and white." And, importantly, today's women have interests beyond being caretakers and nurturers.
Capitalizing on this new understanding of the real mom could be very lucrative for producers, given that women control 73 percent of household spending, or $4.3 trillion. The authors of the report suggest that marketers should make mothers feel in control and able to delegate tasks to others so they can focus on their unique interests. Be sure to check out the report -- it's an interesting and informative lesson on the changing interests and needs of one of advertisers' most important demographics.
Nov/090
Publisher of the Week: Kathika Travel
This week, Image Space Media would like to recognize Kathika Travel as Publisher of the Week. The site offers travel tips, how to find the best deals, and information on popular destinations. There is a 'Travel Photo of the Day', with a write-up explaining where the picture takes place and some information about the area.
Under the tab 'Most Popular Travel Posts' are archived posts, which include information on topics such as, "Hotels Under $100 Per Night", "Tips for Surviving Plane Travel", and "Helpful iPhone Travel Apps." The site is simple to navigate through, provides helpful information, and is updated regularly.
Click here to check out Kathika Travel!
Nov/090
Burberry: Art of the Trench
It's no surprise that luxury brands have been struggling this year. Economic malaise has shunned high-end spending and have greatly benefited discount retailers like Target. Luxury labels have been looking for ways to reinvent themselves to appeal to younger consumers and have sought exposure in numerous ways with mixed results.
Luxury brands have struggled to utilize the web where sites for knock-offs and deep discounts abound. Upholding the integrity of their brands is of utmost importance to keep their aging consumer base.
All eyes are on Burberry who has just launched Art of the Trench, a gallery of street photography of people wearing the iconic Burberry trench. They enlisted fashion photographers to begin the project and have invited the public to submit their own photos. The execution of the site is beautiful and has lead to a lot of buzz. It will be interesting to see how Burberry will ride this wave and if other luxury brands will follow suit.
Nov/090
Online Advertising Rebounds
Source: Erick Schonfeld
Online advertising bounced back a bit in the third quarter of 2009, after declining in the first two quarters of the year. The online advertising revenues of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL rose 1.2% to roughly $8 billion for the quarter. These four companies account for an enormous proportion of online advertising, so looking at these four companies gives a good representation of the overall industry. However, Google was the only company to report a rise in revenues in the third quarter. The other three had slight decreases in revenue. While it is still early to assume that the worst is behind us, this definitely gives hope that the online advertising industry might be stabilizing.
Nov/090
The Next Frontier of Online Advertising
Source: unwiredview.com
As has been extensively covered this week by online media sources (see: the New York Times and Advertising Age, for starters), Google is set to acquire the mobile advertising company AdMob for $750 million in stock. According to Jon Fortt for CNNMoney.com, this deal represents a sign of the times. The mobile-display advertising sector is now the advertising market that seems most poised to grow, and with this deal, Google has positioned itself as the current leader.
Fortt, however, is skeptical of mobile advertising's potential. Although the popularity and ubiquitousness of smart phones is undeniable, spending on mobile advertising market was only $416 million in 2009 -- which is nothing compared to the close to $24 billion spent on online advertising overall in 2009.
Fortt is also skeptical of the smart phone user's likelihood to put up with mobile ads. He writes, "If you think online display ads are at best an annoyance on a 30-inch monitor, what about a three-inch screen? Ignoring ads on a PC is easy enough; on something I pay $60 or $80 a month for (especially if serving up the mobile ads slow my wireless network even more) ignoring the ads will be the default mode."
It remains to be seen whether Google can successfully develop a mobile advertising service with the acquisition of AdMob. In my estimation, and Fortt's as well, the difficulty of creating a mobile-display ad that doesn't completely turn off users is a significant hurdle that Google and other competitors must face.
Read the rest of Fortt's article here and let us know what you think of mobile advertising in the comments!
Nov/090
Publisher of the Week: Post Your Food
This week, Image Space Media would like to recognize Postyourfood.com as Publisher of the Week. At Postyourfood, you can post pictures of your meals or rate others.
Using PYF is quick and easy, with no registration required! Simply upload a picture of your meal, title it, tag it, and select a related category. If you don't have an image to upload, you can browse through other pictures (which are categorized by breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, desserts, and bizarre foods.) You can rate each image you see by clicking a 'disgusted' or 'happy' emoticon.
Visit Postyourfood.com today!
Nov/090
ad:tech New York
This year's ad:tech New York expo was hosted at the Javits Center, and Image Space Media was there to partake in all the action (and free schwag!) With over 250 exhibitors, ad:tech is the largest gathering of online marketers and where "brands, agencies, publishers and service providers come together to share, network, and do business.". The expo was held here in New York City on November 4th & 5th, but if you missed the NYC show, it is also held yearly in: Sydney, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Chicago, Tokyo, London, Shanghi, and Beijing.
Many companies were very creative in making their booths, and were giving out all sorts of schwag like notebooks, pens, condoms, stickers, breathalyzers (I tested mine out later that night), and candy. Convert2Media had a bar with Amstel light on tap, Design Back Office was offering free logo designs, and Facebook gave out a code for free trial ads.
After all the fun at the expo, there were after parties all over town. Some of our team hit up the Roosevelt Hotel and the Providence Hotel to celebrate a successful day.
Overall, the expo was very interesting (thanks to the free beer and schwag) and the Image Space Media team gained a lot of valuable knowledge (along with sore feet.)
Nov/090
Publisher of the Week: Sunday Picks
This week, the Image Space Media team would like to recognize Sunday Picks as Publisher of the Week. "Sunday Picks provides all the essential information that every die-hard NFL fan needs. Fantasy Football updates, hot/cold start predictions, injury reports, and game predictions, Sunday Picks has it all. This is the blog bible for all NFL Fans." Updated almost daily, Sunday Picks will keep you on top of your game, literally.