Google's fortune tellers herald the golden age of display advertising

By Mike Shields

The online display market will be a $50 billion business. Half of online ads will feature video, and 75 percent will contain some sort of social element. And the majority of banner ads will be delivered to mobile devices over PCs.
  Those were just some of the seven bold predictions about display advertising for the year 2015 made by Google executives during the final keynote session of the 2010 IAB Mixx conference on Tuesday in New York, part of Advertising Week. Neal Mohan (left), Google's vp of product management, and Barry Salzman (right), the company's managing director for media and platforms, took attendees through a future where banners—to use their words—will be both smart and sexy.
  "The static ad banner will become a thing of the past," said Salzman. "The golden age of display is right before us."

  To prove their point, the pair demonstrated some of the capabilities of banner ads that Google will soon make available to advertisers. For example, at one point, the pair showcased an oversized banner ad that featured live footage of their address on a 10-second delay. Another futuristic display unit showed a live Twitter stream from the event.
  Such rich media ads—which essentially can house the same amount of content and visual imagery as the average Web site—will make up half the display ads in 2015, up from just 6 percent today, the two executives said.

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Published on September 29, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (22)
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For all the excitement, mobile marketing is still more tomorrow than today

By Brian Morrissey

Agency executives are of two minds when it comes to mobile. On the one hand, they see a potentially huge market. On the other, it's one that's still quite small. Tuesday's Mobile Ad Summit in New York, part of Advertising Week, attracted several top agency chiefs, including IPG CEO Michael Roth. And the message was that mobile is a big part of the marketing world's future, even if it isn't a big part of the bottom line today.
  Reuben Hendell, CEO of IPG digital shop MRM, said his agency is formalizing its mobile practice as the MRM Mobile Net. All together, mobile is now 10 percent of MRM's revenue, he said. Matt Seiler, global CEO of fellow IPG agency Universal McCann, said mobile hasn't become as big of a business for UM, estimating that it accounts for less than 5 percent of revenue. "It's a great platform that we look forward to doing something with, but we're not there yet," Seiler said. Roth is bullish on mobile for the same reason Willie Sutton was fond of banks: It's where the money is—or will be. He cited a study that found one-third of people would prefer to give up sex for a year than their mobile phone. "That will give you an idea of how important [mobile] is," Roth said.
  On the creative side, apps and location-based services provide yet another way to reach customers with marketing that is less interruptive and more of a service. Scott Prindle, executive creative technology director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, said he believes mobile has the potential to act as "the glue" for campaigns, connecting the digital and physical worlds. In some cases, advertising ideas begin in mobile. CP+B's recent work for the carrot industry includes a mobile application that's a video-game controlled by the crunching sound of biting baby carrots. (See the trailer above.) The game ended up influencing a TV spot.

Published on September 28, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (11)
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Mark Cuban tells media people they could learn a little something from drug dealers

By Steve McClellan

An Advertising Week session on Wednesday focusing on the future of media, produced by Mediapost and moderated by Wired editor Chris Anderson, quickly evolved (or devolved) into a battle of the quipsters. Digital impresario Mark Cuban (shown here) got things rolling as he made his case that media companies that give away their content for free will be losers in the long run. Offer a sample to hook consumers, and then upgrade them to subscriber status, he argued, adding that it's technique that "drug dealers have been using for years."
  Asked later in the session why he thought live sporting events and venues would remain viable as a new generation of home-entertainment devices offer better-quality viewing experiences—without the hassle and expense of attending in person—Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks, replied that sports venues offer an outlet to "scream and yell and jump up and down. You can't do that anywhere else." Without missing a beat, Rob Norman, CEO at WPP's GroupM Interaction responded, "Obviously you've never been to one of our budget meetings."

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Published on September 23, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0)
Filed under Prognosticators