Some Online Marketing Predictions for 2006

Earlier this week, ClickZ's Zach Rogers asked some "big brains" to provide their thoughts on what the next year might hold for online marketing, including creative, RSS, video, search, and mobile. John Rich, Interactive Creative Director at TM, points to greater consumer influence and also foresees "a huge impact" by Flash 8. Dick Costolo, CEO of FeedBurner, sees greater sophistication in the tools for managing and measuring RSS subscriptions and reach; also, he says, look for a breakout campaign using podcasts.

Chris Young, Klipmart CEO, sees a greater shift from TV: "We're going to see a lot of video assets move online." And the in-stream video ad inventory shortage will remain a problem, he tells ClickZ.

John Lustina, Chairman of IntraPromote, says of search: "PPC just keeps getting bigger." But he sees local advertisers taking a little longer to jump in. Trevor Hughes, Executive Director of the ESPC, says third-party relationships, particularly affiliate marketing structures, will grow more risky and come under greater scrutiny.

Regarding email, Epsilon Interactive CEO Al DiGuido says "2006 is going to be the year the top-tier players leverage what they have in their customer databases...kind of a segment-of-one communication, as opposed to geographic or psychographic segmentation."

Nihal Mehta, CEO of ipsh!, says mobile will see campaigns that mix print, online, radio, street marketing, events... Mobile coupons will expand and SMBs will begin using mobile marketing.

Mozilla Planning Firefox Promotions

Mozilla, due to release Firefox 1.5 next week and Firefox 2 next summer, is preparing to use an "open source marketing" drive online to promote the next generation of its web browser, writes Times Online (U.K.). Through a series of 30-second viral videos made by volunteers who enter a film contest, Mozilla is hoping to repeat the success of last year's campaign promoting the launch of Firefox 1.0. Mozilla will also unveil commercial partnerships with about.com and eBay and Skype, according to the report. Firefox 1.5 will probably be released on November 29.

Firefox Launches Ad Contest

Firefox has kicked off the second part of its Firefox Flicks campaign, launching a contest for 30-second spots for the browser by professional, student and aspiring filmmakers that will be considered for a TV campaign, reports ClickZ. Top ads will also win prizes, including a $5,000 gift certificate at B&H Photo, a multi-screen LCD display from 9x Media, and a media center PC from Alienware. The ads will be reviewed by a panel of judges from the film, television and advertising industries. The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of Firefox among mainstream consumers and persuading them to visit getfirefox.com.


Submissions can be live action, animated, Flash-based, or any other style that "brings Firefox to life for the millions of Web users who have yet to discover Firefox and the better Web experience it delivers," according to the creative brief.

Earlier this month, Mozilla launched the firefoxflicks.com site to showcase the first stage of its open source marketing initiative.

Yahoo Offers Look at Offline Effect of Online Spend

By: Christine Blank
Contributing Editor
cblank@dmnews.com

Advertisers constantly seek ways to validate their online marketing spend and compare online campaigns with offline performance. So, search engine marketers welcomed Yahoo's launch Friday of a service to evaluate the offline sales impact of online marketing programs.

Yahoo is working with Marketing Management Analytics Inc., Wilton, CT, to offer its advertisers MMA's offline and online analysis combined with data from Yahoo showing users' exposure to online graphical and search advertising -- for a fee.

"In many ways, online marketing can be more accountable than many offline marketing tactics, but there is still a real need to understand the total sales impact of online and offline programs on a common ROI basis," said John Nardone, chief client officer at MMA.

Determining online-versus-offline ROI also helps marketers validate their online spend, Nardone said.

"For so many of our clients, they have shifted from spending 3 to 4 percent of their budgets on digital to spending 15 to 18 percent," he said. "The level of accountability required and the senior management questions about [online spend] ... are much more intense."

MMA and Yahoo executives would not reveal the price for the service. But Ed See, MMA chief operations officer, said, "The partnership with Yahoo brings this in at a very affordable price point for clients. Clients won't be able to find it on the open market at that price."

Aaron Shear, chief technology officer at SEO Inc., Carlsbad, CA, said his clients likely would use the service, especially some catalogers.

"They have the standard campaigns with mailers and catalogs to send out," he said, "so it is important for them to understand [how they are performing]."

"Especially offline traffic, the more we get to understand traffic is great. We're definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes," said Tim Kauffold, director of business development at OneUpWeb, Lake Leelanau, MI.

"We welcome the ability to have more analysis of ads. Anything that draws to the effectiveness of interactive advertising should be a benefit to anyone in the space," said Noah Elkin, director of industry relations at iCrossing, New York.

The announcement reflects the recognition of search as a growing medium, and how it interacts with other forms of advertising, Elkin said. Still, search marketers view Yahoo's offering as a response to Google's recent offering of free Web analytics -- Google Analytics -- for its advertisers. And they recognize that Yahoo can use the information itself to see which advertising methods are effective for its clients.

"This information is definitely very valuable to them, especially now that their revenues are doing so well," Shear said.

"It seems very much a reaction to the Google offering," Kauffold added.

However, See said MMA offers a different service than Web analytics, focusing instead on offline marketing and how that performs in the overall portfolio spend. The company uses an "econometric" model to determine how all the various online tactics perform, relative to offline, he said.

Car buyers bypass television adverts

Simon Canning

CAR makers may be wasting millions of dollars plunging the bulk of their advertising budgets into television, with a new survey claiming magazines, newspapers and the internet are more valued by car buyers for the information they deliver.

The survey by AC Nielsen for Time Inc tracked key influences on car buyers for the six months in the lead-up to a car purchase, charting which messages were most influential at each stage of the process up to the week of purchase.

With car makers spending an estimated $615 million a year on advertising -- 51 per cent of that on TV -- observers say the implications for the car industry are huge.

The study tracked a multitude of information sources used by consumers as they whittled down the list of cars on their shopping lists, ranging from advice from family and friends, to the influence of brochures, magazine articles and reviews, advertising on TV, newspaper classifieds and visiting motor shows.

Throughout the consideration process, websites remained one of the most relied-upon sources of information, with 68 per cent of survey respondents saying they used website research six months before the purchase of a new car and 65 per cent saying they were still relying on websites one week before purchase.

Over the entire six-month period, advice from relatives and friends was the second biggest influence, followed by the buyer's experience of the brand. In order, other key factors were brochures from dealerships, newspaper classifieds, non-specific car websites, advice from mechanics, advice from work colleagues, magazine advertising and magazine articles.

Television advertising was ranked 16th, with 32 per cent of people saying it was an important influence, behind newspaper advertising in general news sections and newspaper articles.

According to the survey of more than 2500 people, all of whom went on to purchase cars, television was viewed as conveying a strong image of the vehicle and built a desire for customers to seek more information, but failed to deliver details they desired such as price, features and options.

Newspaper classifieds were hailed for their ability to deliver pricing and finance information, while magazine ads ranked highly in portraying an image of the car and giving an overall good impression.

The internet, which has rapidly emerged as the major information source for consumers throughout the purchase process, was seen as an excellent medium for delivering detailed information and pictures.

However, car buyers said manufacturers' websites were poor at conveying the image of the car.

Steve Allen of media analyst Fusion Strategy says that while consumer interest in the internet as a means of choosing a car has surged in the past couple of years, many manufacturers have failed to keep pace with the needs of customers.

"Right now the share (of ad spending) that TV carries is by far the largest, at 51 per cent," Mr Allen says.

"The second biggest is metropolitan press and the third biggest is magazines. But the internet is going to become undoubtedly important. Many manufacturers rushed to the internet 10 years ago and got burned and because of that and the expense of developing sites, most have been a bit cautious."

The survey also found that even a week before buying a car, many consumers were still tossing up between two or three brands.

The "Auto Path to Purchase" study is the largest of its type in the South Pacific region and is based on a similar study now in its 10th year in the US.

source: www.theaustralian.news.com.au

New Year's Resolutions for the Newspaper Industry

In his "Game Plan for Getting Through 2006," Steve Outing explains how newspapers should become "podcast gods" that aren't afraid to "wiki." And with all the money they're going to make from free classifieds, they may even be so bold as to ease up on Web site registration barriers and finally figure out how to publish where the young people are.

By Steve Outing
As another year is nearly upon us, it's time to craft those ritualistic resolutions. Mine will include exercising more, finding better balance between my work and home lives, cutting down on sugar and overall improving my diet, and keeping ever closer watch on media trends.

I think newspaper companies should settle on some New Year's resolutions, too, for 2006 will be a year when serious discipline will be required to make it through and still feel prosperous by the end. So to save you the work of coming up with them all on your own, here are my suggested resolutions.


1. "I will discuss more, talk less."

What's the Internet all about? Is it just another publishing medium for top-down content? Of course not, and 2005 made that abundantly clear. A real opportunity in 2006 will be in supporting the global conversation that is the Internet. It's about allowing groups of people with shared interests to find each other, gab, and play and work with each other.

Think about Rupert Murdoch, who in 2005 purchased the social-networking site MySpace.com, which has around 40 million users with personal pages and is running at about 17 million unique users a month, for $580 million. None of his News Corp. Web sites gets even close to as many monthly uniques as that!

There's opportunity for newspapers to get into this space. How about if in 2006 local newspapers work to figure out how to become the primary social-networking venues for their communities. That would mean giving every user of a newspaper Web site a personal profile page and supporting communication between them. Figure out a way to allow those community users to network with each other based on interests, neighborhood, etc.

This might best be applied at the niche-Web site level, rather than for the core news site. For example, a youth-oriented local-entertainment portal site published by a newspaper would be an ideal venue for MySpace-like personal pages.

(For a hint of what this might look like for a newspaper-run Web site, see Bakotopia and Northwest Voice, two sites of the Bakersfield Californian that are experimenting with giving all of their users a personal presence online. Not only do users benefit from such social networking, but the publisher gets to collect all sorts of useful information about its users' interests and preferences, a la MySpace. That can be mighty useful for targeted-advertising purposes.)

2. "I will dare to wiki."

2005 was the year of the wiki; by now, everyone is familiar with Wikipedia, the open-source encyclopedia that anyone can write for and/or edit. Yet in the newspaper industry, only a handful of wiki experiments have been tried. Let's resolve not to fall further behind Internet culture in 2006, and initiate some significant experiments with wikis.

The industry learned a lot this past year. We now know that citizen-submitted content to a wiki can be as accurate as professionally edited content. A study released in December by the journal Nature discovered that science pages in Wikipedia matched that of Encyclopedia Britannica in terms of number of significant errors. And Wikipedia bests Britannica when it comes to its information being up to date and of much greater breadth.

Many (most?) newspaper editors allow themselves to be freaked out by the wiki concept. Avoid turning to wikis for topics like politics; focus on content that is factual and mostly without competing factions who will war with each other over the content, and then you may have something good.

I'll toss out an example of that: Create a local trails database and allow citizens to post descriptions, photos, maps, and their reviews. You've got yourself a living reference Web site to serve your community. Another: Create a wiki-based site that profiles all schools in your coverage area. Encourage parents, teachers and students to participate.

3. "I will be more interactive."

This is a repeat resolution, because you should have been doing this in years past, of course. So let's resolve in 2006 to get over any lingering fear of public participation online. My concrete resolution for you is to add an open comments thread on top of all content published on your news Web site. That means that for every story you publish, there's an easy way for people to post their feedback, questions, etc. Add this to every article, every photo.

I know that many newspapers are doing this, but it's still surprising how many don't yet (including some newspaper Web sites that I otherwise consider to be progressive). I consider this to be the lowest level of participatory media. If you can't even open up to the public enough to allow an open feedback mechanism, then I'd say you're still at odds with the basic tenets of the Internet.

And yes, I realize that open feedback can be problematic, which is why I recommend a system that does not permit anonymous comments by readers. Make people who want to post a comment to an article register and provide their names and contact information.

4. "I will seek out 'citizen advertisers.'"

The core of newspaper advertising is the sales representative, whether it be selling display ads or recruiting and taking calls for classifieds. But as Google so aptly demonstrates, the real future is in automating the advertising marketplace. I'm not saying to fire all the sales reps. But I do think there's much to be gained by automation used to attract new advertisers to the newspaper brand.

Newspaper Web sites can be and have been used to attract advertisers who previously have had no relationship with the newspaper. Lower ad prices to reach audiences online have opened up the newspaper brand to local merchants who previously found newspaper advertising too expensive, or who only wanted to reach a small segment of the community.

"Citizen-journalism" oriented Web sites represent a particularly good venue for small advertisers. At Morris Communications' Bluffton Today in South Carolina, which combines professional reporting with contributions from community members, the company sees opportunity in targeting ads and will be chasing that, according to Morris Digital VP Steve Yelvington. He hopes to see an expansion of the base of advertisers through low-cost automated ad-placement mechanisms.

Perhaps we can call these small businesses -- the shops in strip malls, the car washes, etc. -- "citizen advertisers," as Yelvington suggests. Just as "citizen journalists" are being encouraged to use a simple Web form to submit their articles and photos for online publication, citizen advertisers can use Web forms to post ads and coupons aimed at specific audience segments. (And they can do this at 3 a.m. if they want to.) Yelvington estimates that well over 60% of businesses in most towns where his company publishes don't yet advertise; automation could lower than number.

5. "I will learn to turn free classifieds into money."

I think that 2006 will be the year when we begin to see a wholesale change begin in the newspaper classifieds business. The big threats to the traditional classifieds model are lined up to give classified managers some sleepless nights. Craigslist is becoming a significant threat in more metro markets, obliterating revenues that newspapers used to take in from people paying for ads. Google has launched a service called Base that anyone can use to sell merchandise, a car, a house, or post a job opening. And Microsoft in 2006 will debut its free-classifieds service (thought by analysts to be a counter to Craigslist).

In 2005 we saw the beginning of the newspaper industry's reaction: Knight Ridder lifted fees for placing ads in its online classifieds for merchandise-category goods in 22 of its 27 markets. The San Diego Union-Tribune started offering free three-line ads online and in the print edition for goods valued at under $5,000. We'll see more of this within the newspaper industry in 2006.

The shift, of course, is from classifieds as direct revenue source to classifieds as content. I don't expect a complete transition to the latter to occur overnight, but 2006 is the year when you should be figuring out how to make money when the transition becomes complete in a few years.

Making money from free ads is not as crazy as it may sound. (Indeed, many publishers outside of the dailies have done that for years.) Publishers of daily newspapers may well keep some categories as fee-based advertising -- just as Craigslist is free but charges for job listings in a few cities. They will figure out how to get money from people who place free ads by offering paid "upsells" that improve a seller's chances of success, such as premium placement, enhanced photos (slide shows, larger images, etc.), video, etc. They will sell advertising around the classifieds "content"; for example, for classifieds search results on household appliances will be paid ads for appliance retailers and repair shops. And they will learn how to make money from the transaction itself between buyer and seller.

The money will still come, but from different sources than in the old, dying model. I hope that in 2006, you figure out how this will work for your newspaper operation.

A good source of information and advice about making money from free classifieds is the Classified Intelligence consultancy, which recently published a (not cheap) report called "Free Classifieds: They're all the rage, but where's the money?"

6. "I will publish where the young people are."

We all know the "problem" with newspapers: Young people aren't picking up the habit of print readership, because they're too distracted by the Internet, cell phones, Playstations and whatnot. So let's resolve to reach them where they are: on the Web, on instant messenger services, on cell phones, on Playstation consoles, etc. (A recent report from a colleague, Monique van Dusseldorp, noted that Playstations have become news devices. Take a look at this funny TV commercial from Belgium.)

News organizations have been grappling with the concept of convergence for many years. But in 2005, a clear trend emerged: Some newspaper companies have begun to incorporate online and print operations into one, breaking down the walls that have existed between print (old) and online (new) for the last decade-plus.

The New York Times provided the classic example. Its newsroom initiative introduced in 2005 went far toward the vision of the Times becoming a news company that publishes cross-platform; its reporters work with the goal in mind of feeding multiple channels, where everyone works on it all. Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. described the newsroom initiative in a speech last October: "This eliminates the distinction between newspaper and Web journalists and thereby creates a new environment that integrates Times tradition with the most innovative online practices."

The same thing happened at USA Today, which recently promoted online editor and publisher Kinsey Wilson to the position of executive editor of both the newspaper and its online operations.

I think we've reached the point in the evolution of the news industry where online is equally as important as print. Indeed, I think that in another few years, print will be seen as the weaker sibling -- once the transition of readers and advertisers to digital is further along. 2006, then, is the year that newspaper companies should begin restructuring (if they haven't already) in order to operate under such equality.

7. "I will devise a better Web site registration scheme."

OK, I know that lots of people will debate me on this one, but I truly think that newspaper forced-registration is a problem for the industry, because it annoys many Web users. So for 2006, let's get put this dog to sleep and figure out something better.

Better doesn't mean abandoning registration, because it's a useful thing -- to both publishers and users. Useful to publishers for collecting audience preferences and interests, which can be used to deliver more intelligent advertising that users will find worthwhile because it matches what they are interested in. Useful to users because Web sites can deliver better-matched content and services to users that they know well -- ergo, a better user experience.

Here's what I think you should do: 1) Require registration only on things where it is necessary -- such as e-mail delivery of content; public submission of content or advertising; commenting on published content or posting to discussion forums; creating custom content feeds; viewing newspaper archives; etc. 2.) For content and services where user registration isn't necessary, provide incentives to encourage people to register. Give people a choice instead of forcing them into something and you'll nearly always get a better response.

I'm not sure that it's a bona fide trend yet, but in 2005 both the Houston Chronicle and the Toronto Star dumped mandatory registration to read articles, but retained it for the types of things mentioned above. I expect to see more newspaper Web sites follow their lead in 2006.

8. "I will become a podcast god."

In the dozen years since I left print newspapering to work on the Internet, I have not seen a new "thing" take off as fast as has podcasting. The speed with which podcasts have captured a mass audience is startling.

While the Internet world at large has gone podcast-crazy, newspapers have (as usual with something new) been tepid in catching on. A few papers' Web sites, like DenverPost.com, have developed early podcast programs, and WashingtonPost.com even has dived into video podcasting ("vodcasts"); both those news Web sites have found paying sponsors for their podcasts.

This ties in with item No. 6 above: Newspapers need to publish where the young people are -- and increasingly that's listening to their portable music players. So let's resolve to produce more podcasts in 2006; indeed, let's create a serious podcasting program of content from our newspaper staffs.

But let's not restrict podcasting to employees. Podcasting is just another form of blogging -- an inexpensive way for anyone with a computer and Internet connection to broadcast worldwide. It's a democratization of broadcasting. So with so many new voices podcasting -- certainly there are lots of new podcasters in your community -- it's a smart move to invite local podcasters to be part of your Web site. Just as many media Web sites aggregate community blogs, the same can be done with local podcasters. Or find the best local podcasters and bring them on board under your brand; they might get paid a little, or maybe just offered wider exposure.

9. "I will not become complacent; I will remain alert."

The speed with which the media world is evolving and changing shows no signs of slowing down; indeed, it may just be picking up again in a second Internet boom. Let's resolve to keep on top of what's happening in the Internet culture. Let's not get left behind the next time it turns in yet another new direction.

***

E&P welcomes your feedback. While we don't (yet) have an automated comments function, we invite you to send your thoughts via an old-fashioned e-mail. We promise to post letters in this space as quickly as humanly possible.
Steve Outing (steve@poynter.org) has covered the online news industry for E&P since August 1995. He is also senior editor at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies.

source: www.mediainfo.com

The Retail Christmas Message

By David Martin, Marc Ryan for AdRelevance, a Jupiter Media Metrix Company

The holiday rush is officially on, and the stakes are high for Internet retailers. While a sonic boom of retail advertising signals the Christmas rush, the marketing noise companies make may determine who wins and who loses in the holiday revenue game. With that in mind, it may seem surprising that online retailers have placed a huge emphasis on brand awareness campaigns to lead off the holiday season. Instead of going for the early quick sell with direct marketing ads; retailers are aiming at establishing recognition with consumers that will hopefully come when the need to purchase grows urgent.

Early in the shopping season, brand awareness strategies dominate the market, and few companies see the need to use incentive ads to set themselves apart. AdStrategy data from AdRelevance suggests that in a retail market that is getting more competitive as Christmas approaches, we may see more direct marketing ads intended to win over the last-minute shopper. Over the past five weeks the gap between brand awareness ads and direct marketing ads has drawn closer, and that gap may get tighter as the gift-buying frenzy nears the eleventh hour.

Plenty of time remains in the holiday shopping season, however, and online advertising promotions reflect this with passive branding campaigns. AdStrategy data shows that brand awareness is the dominating tactic for early holiday season retail advertisements, working to establish brand saliency and build long-term recognition.

Disneystore.com and Spencer Gifts currently place a high priority on awareness campaigns, as demonstrated in the ads above. Forty-three percent of Disney banners use brand awareness, while Spencer Gifts utilizes the strategy on 72 percent of its ads. The two companies are clearly marketing toward the Christmas buyer without imposing an undue sense of immediacy early in the shopping season. As last-minute web shoppers scramble for gifts, companies like these may employ more urgent campaigns using direct marketing strategies.

Discount retailers Half.com and Bestbuy.com, are good examples of direct marketing advertisers who use offers or incentives to pique immediate consumer interest. Half.com actually uses more direct marketing ads, at 57 percent of their total, than brand awareness. Their ads are intended to encourage consumers to visit their site and make a purchase. The total number of direct marketing ads such as these has increased steadily since the beginning of the summer, and in recent weeks that number has grown at an even faster rate.

So far, the top four retail advertisers are steering clear of direct marketing strategies. Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Ebay and Red Envelope Gifts are fueling a huge Christmas surge with awareness-based campaigns, helping to increase total retail ad spending by 35 percent over the last five weeks. Less than a third of retail advertising, however, uses direct marketing tactics.

AdStrategy Breakdown
for Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, Ebay, and Red Envelope
10/02 through 11/05

In a cutthroat environment where a Christmas slump may mean extinction, it would be surprising to see a lack of heavy price and incentive competition as the big day nears. When consumers start scrambling for last-minute gifts, ads touting free overnight shipping and large discounts will draw the crowds. A convergence between brand awareness and direct marketing ads could be very likely as retailers push to increase site traffic and sales as shoppers find time running out. In the end, the savvy marketers who adopt strategies that win consumer interest will find a large present of revenue under the tree, those who don't may be faced with a lump of coal.

About AdRelevance
The AdRelevance Service provides advertisers, agencies and publishers with marketing intelligence that tells them when, where and how the competition is communicating on the web. If you are looking for a service that enables you to better plan, place, develop and execute your online communications programs, call AdRelevance toll-free at 1.877.884.5083.

source: www.adrelevance.com

ROI for online advertising touted at HSMAI Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference

With predictions that online advertising will grow to $18.9 billion by 2010 and assertions that the ROI for online advertising is second only to direct marketing, attendees to the recent Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference, held at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco, CA, were urged to protect their Web sites and their consumers who are being attacked by traffic diversion, identity theft and fraud.

“Overall, the conference, held in conjunction with HEDNA, was highly interactive, with an emphasis on the current state of online travel marketing and advertising, the growing trend in customer-driven content, and what to do about it, and current threats to online marketing, including online crime, trademark infringement, and the growing debate over privacy online,” said Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHA, president and CEO of HSMAI.

The attendees represented the top Internet marketing professionals in the industry, with 57% of attendees from 24 hotel brands and hotel management companies and 13 individual hotels, resorts, and casinos, along with 34% from 24 service providers.

Gary Stein, senior analyst for Jupiter Research, presented an address on “Effective Internet Marketing in a Global Market Place” with a prediction that Internet advertising will grow to $18.9 billion by 2010 and spending on search advertising will overtake spending on display advertising by 2009. “If you don’t appear on the first page of search results, you don’t exist [to the potential customer],” Stein noted.

As the hospitality industry learns how to talk to customers online, there is a growing confidence in return on investment of online advertising as many advertisers are only paying for success. “Online advertisers are looking for direct conversion,” Stein told the attendees, adding: “Advertisers must understand the real worth of a click. To do that they have to spend the time to research what happens when someone clicks on their ads.”

Stein cautioned hoteliers that 8 out of 10 potential customers will go to sources outside their control, such as blogs and online reviews, and smart marketers need to make sure they know what is being said about their hotels. “Tap into discussions about your brand online,” Stein said, adding: “Data is a marketers best friend, and this is the freshest data available.”

Stein added that video content is also growing online and will be the next big opportunity for online advertising.

Emerging Threats and Protecting Your e-Business was one of the top panels at the conference. Consumer confidence is being attacked from all sides in the online environment and consumer perception will likely drive companies to quickly adopt advanced solutions or risk losing existing and potential customers, revenue streams and brand reputation. Optimizing your presence online goes beyond capturing Web traffic.

This session addressed ongoing and emerging risks to consumer confidence in today’s global hospitality environment: the various ways they manifest themselves online, their impact, and what to do about them.

“Risks to consumer confidence include traffic diversion, identity theft and fraud related to your best customers through loyalty program information,” according to Panos Anastassiadis, CEO, Cyveillance, and panel moderator. Other risks of increased online presence include possibility of boycotts, protests, activism, threats against executives, facilities, information leaks and online commentary.

“The challenge today is the growth and sophistication of e-crimes, which result in lost reputation, revenues, and customer trust,” said Anastassiadis. “You must have an action plan in place if one of these risks is realized,” he urged.

“However, you cannot react to every threat, so you must evaluate the level of threat,” according to panelist Michael Menis, director, Global Marketing Services, InterContinental Hotels Group. “Protecting our consumers and hotels are our top priorities,” Menis said.

Consumers today are armed with iPods, TiVo machines, Blackberries, search engines, broadband connections and other digital technologies, and they have gained unprecedented control over their media, content and purchasing options. As a result, marketers are facing an increasingly complex web of challenges. The question of how digital advertising and marketing techniques can help achieve objectives was explored by Geoff Ramsey, CEO, eMarketer.

After direct mail, marketers say the ROI of online advertising is the highest, noted Ramsey. However, “the online experience is fundamentally changing, and marketers need to keep up with it,”

“Mass reach is giving way to a world of niches,” said Ramsey, adding: “Marketers need to be willing to go down in the size of audience to increase engagement.”

Nick Nyhan, president, Dynamic Logic provided the closing keynote address on Metrics vs. Privacy: The Safecount Initiative and noted: “We are in an advertising arms race and waiting for an end to the cold war with consumers.”

Nyhan noted that there is an ongoing battle over the right of web sites and online advertisers to place “cookies” on the users computer when they visit their sites, and included information on the Safecount Initiative, which is being undertaken by advertising agencies and brands to head off legislation to block the use of cookies, and educate consumers on why cookies are not the same thing as spyware that is being placed on computers to steal their personal information.

Advertisers are increasingly using the digital media landscape to find, engage and measure consumers. While advertisers talk about engagement and accountability, consumers are talking about identity theft, spyware and fear.

“Marketers have to be careful to not bombard people with too much advertising, because in the digital world, people have the ability to block you out,” Nyhan said.

Attendees also enjoyed a networking lunch with roundtable discussions on Trademark protection, blogs and user driven content, globalization, emerging technologies, privacy, multi-lingual web sites, wireless, content syndication/RSS, affiliate marketing, and meta-search.

The new co-chairs of HSMAI’s Hotel Internet Marketing Committee were introduced at the event and include: James Zito, director, interactive marketing & development, Affinia Hospitality and Karmela Gaffney, director, e-customer contact, Best Western International.

Sponsors of the Internet Marketing Strategy Conference included: American Express, Cyveillance, Inc., eMarketer, Expedia, Inc., HSMAI University, Real Magnet and TIG Global.

The next Travel Internet Marketing Strategy Conference will be held April 19, 2006 in New York City in conjunction with TIA’s TravelCom.

Theodore Koumelis
www.traveldailynews.com

Search Firms Scramble to Hire From Advertising, Marketing Agencies

By: Christine Blank
Contributing Editor
cblank@dmnews.com

The search is on.

The fast-growing importance of search advertising in businesses' overall marketing plans is pushing search agencies and optimization firms to hunt for employees in the traditional direct marketing and advertising arena.

"I believe we will see more and more people transfer their account management skills from other industries," said Mike Taylor, London-based director of JobsInSearch.com, which recruits search professionals for companies in Britain and the United States. "These could be from a direct marketing background or the IT industry."

Some estimate that demand for professionals in search marketing exceeds supply by 20 percent. Account representatives and account managers are particularly sought after, as well as business development executives, copywriters and technical experts to execute campaigns.

"We look for smart people with either great client-facing experience with an understanding of advertising and marketing, or, for our analytics department, smart people with an understanding of how statistics are applied to advertising and marketing," said Kevin Lee, chairman of search marketing firm Did-it.com, New York. "These people do exist in both direct marketing and traditional agencies, and we can teach them search marketing."

High-profile hiring coups of executives from traditional advertising backgrounds include Ron Belanger, former vice president of search and affiliate marketing at Carat Interactive (now Carat Fusion), who was hired by Yahoo Search Marketing in late September, and Toby Gabriner, former president of Carat Fusion, who was hired as CEO of predictive marketing company Poindexter Systems Inc. in November. Also, Stephen Tortorici, formerly creative director of interactive for Y&R, New York, recently was hired as executive creative director at search marketing agency iCrossing, New York.

Executives with traditional advertising experience are valuable to search firms because of their ability to view marketing and media plans across all media and their experience in working with large brands and accounts.

"We're focused on search, but we also look for candidates that have a diverse group of interactive and online as well as offline marketing experience ... to be able to integrate those in a way they can really look at the client's industry in a holistic way," said Noah Elkin, director of industry relations at iCrossing.

Andy Beal, president/CEO of search marketing firm Fortune Interactive, Durham, NC, said he likes to hire employees from traditional public relations and marketing agencies because they "know how to handle large accounts. They know what to say, what the client is used to hearing, and they bring fresh ideas."

Search marketing firms also are looking for forward-thinking managers and executives focused more on the big picture rather than simply executing a search campaign.

"You look for someone who does strategy or more long-term thinking, someone who has a brand background and knows how to insert search in all media," said Dana Todd, executive vice president at interactive agency SiteLab International, San Diego.

Taylor agreed.

"[Search firms] need people with not only a good understanding of search, but also how search will evolve in the future and how it will benefit their clients," he said.

Search marketers also seek these experienced, long-term thinkers within their own industry, but there are few who have many years of experience in such a young field. Those who do leave SEO firms and agencies are offered high salaries -- figures that each company guards closely -- on top of relocation expenses and performance incentives.

When Beal left WebSourced Inc. this year to start Fortune Interactive, other search marketing firms courted him immediately.

"I wanted to start my own company, but was tempted by very good offers from search marketing companies who were going to let me stay in North Carolina," he said. "It was amazing what some companies were willing to do to bring me on board."

Job boards feature numerous ads for people like Beal with "several years" of search marketing experience, which they typically cannot find because the industry is only about 4 years old. In addition, search marketers have trouble finding qualified individuals because they can't pay as much as search engines and corporations with in-house marketing departments.

Though hiring competition has heated up, many companies still find qualified employees because they have built a name for themselves in the industry and often know how to differentiate their services from the new ones that are popping up. ICrossing, which is among the leading search agencies, has had no problem attracting qualified search marketing employees, Elkin claims.

"Our approach is less focused on a bidding war and more on a branding war," he said. "We enjoy a good reputation and brand in the industry."

Will Margiloff, CEO of Innovative Interactive, a New York performance marketing firm that owns search marketing shop 360i and search software company SearchIgnite -- and was recently acquired by Japanese portal Livedoor -- had a similar opinion.

"It is not always about the money," he said. "One of the things that helps is having a well-known, well-respected firm run by smart people."

Though Google and Yahoo are respected, Margiloff said, some employees think they can make a bigger impact at smaller search firms. Search agencies have effectively branded themselves as fun places to work where employees are allowed to think and create.

"I talk to people all the time who move to jobs that pay considerably less," Todd said. "All you can do is find out what they really like to do and foster that."

However, search executives are quick to note that today's company cultures aren't like the startups of the dot-com era.

"The difference between now and five years ago is that companies have figured out how to retain the fun of the job without going over the top," Elkin said. "You can have fun without there necessarily having to be Ping-Pong and Foosball tables."

For salary chart click below:

www.dmnews.com/pdffiles/Charttwo.pdf

Christine Blank covers online marketing and advertising, including e-mail marketing and paid search, for DM News and DMNews.com. To keep up with the latest developments in these areas, subscribe to our daily and weekly e-mail newsletters by visiting www.dmnews.com/newsletters

Finance tops cost-per-click list as dating expense rises

by Sam Matthews Brand Republic

Online ads: finance tops cost-per-click list

LONDON – Finance remains the top cost-per-click sector, with recruitment feeling the greatest pinch and dating tipped for top spot, according to research.

The data, compiled from August to November by The Search Works across the 20 most popular CPC keywords, revealed that finance is the most expensive sector with "home insurance" topping the analysis at £7.34 per click.

Despite some high fliers, the finance sector overall dropped by 8p as some keywords dropped dramatically. For example, "car insurance" was down a massive £2.82 from an original high of £6 in October.

Recruitment suffered the most out of the five key online sectors -- finance, travel, retail, recruitment and dating -- falling 12p to an average cost-per-click of 43p.

Dating was the only riser in the month of November, with overall costs going up by 10p per click.

Search Works predicts a big push in this sector over the coming months as the keyword "online dating site" jumped a massive £1.29 in November, up to £2 per click.

The search firm said that the rise in the cost of dating is down to an early push for business because the coming weeks represent a busy time for online dating.

Nick Hynes, chief executive at The Search Works, said: "It's encouraging to see that there is no major increase in the cost of pay-per-click advertising.

"However, we know that cost-per-clicks are only going to rise in price over the next year as more marketers come online -- and they will."

He added that it was vital that marketers track their campaigns along other key metrics such as return on adspend and cost-per-acquisition.

Internet Stealing Thunder of TV, Newspaper Ads

By Cho Jin-seo
Staff Reporter

Korean Internet companies picked the boom of online advertising and increasing overseas sales of Korean-made online services as the two biggest issues of 2005.

In a year-end report, the Korea Internet Corporations Association said that the Internet is encroaching on traditional newspaper, magazine and radio-television advertising coverage, accounting for almost 10 percent of the market,

Online advertising may reach 630 billion won this year, up from 480 billion last year, while advertising in traditional print and broadcasting media drops. Newspapers are expected to see an annual drop of 3 to 4 percent in their ad revenues as big companies reduce their television advertisements.

``South Korea’s online advertising market is still in the early phase of the development. It is expected to have an average annual growth of 30 percent until 2008,’’ the association said in a statement. The total market for this year’s advertising is expected to stay almost unchanged at 6.5 trillion won.

That would mean Korean firms’ budget on traditional media _ TV, radio, and newspaper _ will end up dropping about 150 billion won this year, after seeing a 5 to 8 percent decrease in the 2003-2004 period.

The Internet is the third largest advertising field in South Korea after TV and newspaper. Last year, TV accounted for 33.5 percent of the total market and newspapers 26.4 percent. Radio and magazines have shares of only around 4.5 percent and 3 percent, respectively, far less than the Internet.

Furthermore, the Internet firms predict that online advertising will grow in years to come.

Reflecting such favorable market conditions, Web portal operators are raising the price of their banner advertisements.

NHN, the operator of leading portal Naver, announced that it raised the price of banners by up to 30 percent this month. The company recorded 34 billion won in sales of the banner ads last year, but it already exceeded the figure this year by selling 39 billion won in the first three quarters of the year.

What is more encouraging to NHN is the rapid growth of its keyword advertisement service, which account for around 75 percent of the total ad sales.

The keyword service allows paid firms to be listed on the top of the searching result. For example, a flower shop can pay 900,000 won to NHN per month and a link to their Web site will be seen on the top of the screen when people search Naver with the keyword ``Flower.’’

The keyword advertisement business has grown by 80 percent annually, the association said. NHN earned 119 billion won with it until September.

Booming online advertising is not only a local trend.

The online advertising market in the United States is estimated to have grown 28 percent last year, $11.9 billion this year, and $13.6 billion next year, according to research firm Jupiter Research.

In a survey by Credit Suisse First Boston, about 45 percent of chief marketing officers in U.S. firms said they are intending to increase their budgets on Internet advertising by an average of 30 percent next year.

Leading the trend is Google, a California-based search engine giant. Google dominates the fast-growing market for keyword-search advertising, growing by around 100 percent a year.

Google may make the pie bigger next year in South Korea as well, when it expands its business by opening a subsidiary in Seoul.

Along with the astonishing growth in online advertising, Internet firms responded, in the survey that 2005 was a milestone year for them in overseas sales.

According to the association, more than 50 percent of Chinese online gamers are playing Korean-made computer games.

Japan’s Web game market is also dominated by Korean firms. NHN’s Hangame Japan, and CJ Internet’s Net Marble Japan were ranked the first and second most visited game portals in the country.

reference site: times.hankooki.com

Free Internet Advertising, While Keyword Phrases Last

SearchNaked, announces today a holiday present for online advertisers with a $50 dollar credit for free advertising on our search engine.

San Diego, California (PRWEB) Amid sharply rising occurrences of click fraud on internet search engine advertisements, iSearchNaked, LLC announced today a holiday present for online advertisers: a $50 dollar credit for free advertising on its search engine. Replacing the bidding process, iSearchNaked.com is offering all keywords and keyword phrase listings at the monthly price of only 25 cents each. The service offers substantial savings to advertisers and does away with the click fraud issue. “Fifty dollars will go a long way for keywords in our search engine,” says Hytken, founder and president of iSearchNaked. “In order to receive the advertising credit just sign up through the process and select your keyword phrases. You will need a valid credit card, but it will not be charged, in order to finish the process. When you go back to your promotion account summary you will see number of days left which will be your credit,” Hytken said.

According to Hytken, “This offer is based on a first come, first served basis for keyword phrases and will end December 31, 2005,” Hytken continued, “We have some innovative projects that will be completed by the first quarter of 2006 that will benefit our users searching our site and will result in significant traffic.”

“ISearchNaked is experiencing 4,000 to 6,000 unique visitors a day with that number jumping up to 10,000 by week end," said Hytken. He continued, “We are advertising our site and the response has been tremendous. The feedback has been 98% positive and we’re excited about the future.”

“Our new image search is fantastic and is getting rave reviews, according to Hytken. “The video search will be up by the end of the month and we expect high praise as well,” Hytken stated.

“Advertising on our search makes sense even from a branding point of view,” Hytken said. He went on to say, “There are many companies that spend thousands monthly to advertising just a few keyword phrases, but on our site advertisers can get one hundred keyword phrases for twenty-five dollars.”

Under the prevailing pay-per-click advertising system employed by Google, Inc., Yahoo! Inc., and scores of other search engines, advertisers secure a keyword or phrase by outbidding other advertisers and placing funds into an account with the search engine.
It is widely accepted, however, that the “pay per click” model is rife with click fraud. According to industry studies, click fraud accounts for 10% to 30% of all clicks received on internet advertisements. With internet advertising revenues at $4 Billion and expected to exceed $7 Billion by 2008, fraudulent clicks represent an alarming, growing problem for advertisers.

iSearchNaked is turning the pay-per-click advertising model on its head, by charging a fixed monthly fee for keywords and keyword phrases. Regardless of the number of clicks the advertiser receives on its advertisement during the course of a month, the cost of the keyword or keyword phrase will remain fixed. The free fifty dollar credit must be used by March 31, 2006.

According to iSearchNaked’s founder and President David Hytken, “our search engine eliminates the costs of fraudulent clicks, permitting the advertiser to know precisely what their monthly advertising costs will be.”

About iSearchNaked, LLC
iSearchNaked, an innovative provider of search engine services, is headquartered in San Diego, California. For more information, visit www.isearchnaked.com.

Media Contact Information:
Call 858.350.7979

reference site: www.prweb.com

Welcome to Pay Per Click Advertising

.Pass the Egg Nog.

The week before Thanksgiving, when the turkey is defrosting in your refrigerator and you’re trying to figure out how to squeeze Auntie Lorraine in at the end of the dining table, the nation’s retailers begin to bombard us. On radio, television, and in newspapers across the country, it’s impossible to avoid the chatter about post-Thanksgiving sales.

Traditionally, there has been only one way to join in on these “Black Friday” festivities. You must awaken at 4:00 AM after eating the biggest meal of your life. You must slug 5 cups of coffee and drive erratically to the nearest big box store. Then, shivering all the while, stand in line with complete strangers in the pre-dawn darkness. As the clock strikes 5:00 AM, prepare to claw your way into the entrance and down the aisles to seize the digital camera or IPod you’ve been dreaming of. Enjoy!

Luckily, back in the early 1990s Al Gore invented the Internet, and the average consumer no longer has to put up with the overblown theatrics of Thanksgiving weekend sales. While some discounts are limited to in-store purchase, most retailers have realized the true value of leveraging their Website to drive holiday sales.

So how can you take advantage of your Website to get in on the action?

In the last month, we’ve written a lot about Website optimization, often referred to as search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is a truly effective way to rank higher in the search engines, and reach users who are interested in your products and services. However, there are no shortcuts to excellent SEO. To rank high, you need many pages of quality content, a sufficient number of inbound links, and a logical internal navigation structure. In essence, you need to be one of the best sites on the Internet for your particular mix of keywords. That doesn’t happen overnight.

So while you’re working on improving the optimization of your site, consider starting a pay per click (PPC) advertising campaign. PPC ads appear on the right hand side of major search engines like Google and Yahoo, and are a great way to drive traffic for keywords that are relevant to your business. To start, you select a list of keywords that represent the key components of your business. Then, write specialized ad copy that matches up with them, and select the amount you’re willing to pay for a user to click on your ad. It’s a “pay to play” system where you only pay if a prospect actually clicks. In this way, it’s a much more efficient and targeted advertising program than many forms of traditional media. You’re only showing ads to consumers who have a demonstrated interest in your product and you’re only paying when the user chooses to click over.

The best part about PPC advertising? You can set up a campaign and start running ads instantly. So if you’re sorely in need of holiday traffic, you can have a campaign up and running pronto. Major PPC advertisers like Google and Yahoo offer an array of tools to monitor and measure the results of your PPC campaign. This is important, because you want to keep the campaign on budget while making sure your click charges are justified by back end sales from the PPC effort.

PPC advertising can be a boon for consumers and retailers during the holidays. It’s an effective and efficient way to get your message out. And who knows, in the course of sifting through the wide world of Internet retail, maybe you’ll find a nice Christmas or Hanukkah gift for Auntie Lorraine. Word has it she has her eye on an IPod Nano.

reference: business.mainetoday.com

Advertising enters storylines; meet Nokia in video games

Luxury brands TAG Heuer, Bang & Olufsen, and Lacoste are targeting a group of people you wouldn’t expect: 18- to 34-year-olds who spend hours playing video games.

A study released recently concludes that people who view advertisements in video games have better brand recall, and in some cases are more likely to favorably change their opinion about a brand, than consumers who view television product placements.

‘‘It took a lot of convincing to persuade Bang & Olufsen that gamers are the same people who go into their stores and like playing on the plasma screens they sell,” said Arden Doss, managing director of Propaganda GEM, an entertainment marketing firm in Los Angeles.

‘Everyone — even luxury goods clients — realizes that the twentysomething male is off playing video games, not watching TV.’’

Once considered the sole territory of awkward teenagers, video games have lured an estimated 20 million young males, and with them a rapidly growing number of advertisers.

As the highly coveted group of 18- to 34-year olds spends more time with Xboxes and PlayStations than watching prime-time television, in-game advertising is expected to grow eight times to $562 million in 2009, making the nascent industry one of the fastest-growing marketing segments, said Michael Goodman, a video game analyst at Yankee Group in Boston.

Already, video game publishers have waiting lists of companies angling to promote video ads and get product placements, including in Anarchy Online, a game that takes place 30,000 years in the future and whose free version attracts 2,000 new users around the world every day.

Next year, cellphone maker Nokia is doubling to 10 the number of games in which it will advertise, and the world’s largest independent game maker, Electronic Arts, which had one game with ads in 2002, will have product placements in at least half of the 30 titles it releases next year.

Part of the reason is that video game advertising has evolved beyond a billboard ad on a screen.

Now, companies can feature dynamic commercials and intertwine their brands into the story lines of games, such as a murder victim who was about to sign a contract with fashion designer Lacoste in the ‘‘Law & Order: Justice is Served’’ game.

Meanwhile, Bang & Olufsen will showcase its high-end electronics stores along with Swiss watchmaker TAG Heuer in Tycoon City: New York, an Atari game due early next year. ‘‘Advertisers have built their business on finding ways to interrupt consumers, and that is fundamentally in conflict with how you effectively advertise in gaming,’’ explained Julie Shumaker, director of sales for Electronic Arts. ‘‘We have to think about how it flows with the game experience.’’

The growing popularity is transforming the video game landscape and making some games longer and allowing publishers to offer free versions of their games that are totally supported by advertisements. Just a few years ago, video game publishers were paying car companies like Corvette to use their brands in games. Now, the tables have turned, and brands such as Jeep are paying to be in Activision’s ‘‘American Wasteland’’ out this holiday season.

Costs for advertising in video games have grown exponentially. They can range from $5,000 to $500,000, prices that rival spots in small films, according to some agencies.

For advertisers, it’s worth it: The average gamer playing, for example, Anarchy Online is 29, male, college-educated, and spends more than 20 hours a week playing video games.

Meanwhile, prime-time TV viewership for young men declined nearly 8 percent in 2003, according to Nielsen Entertainment. The 18-to-34 male age group is an important demographic for marketers looking to build brand loyalty and grab consumers who have disposable income.

The study indicates that video games can persuade like no other media, said Michael Dowling, general manager of Nielsen Inteactive Entertainment, a market research firm that conducted the study with video game publisher Activision.

For example, people who viewed Cingular ads in a car racing video game were 1.5 times more likely to recommend the phone company brand to a friend and two times more likely to rate it very strongly, compared to a control group that saw the video game without the ad.

On the other hand, people who viewed product placements for Applebee’s in a ‘‘Seinfeld’’ TV episode were no more likely to recommend the restaurant chain or rate it strongly when compared to a control group that saw the show without the ad.

‘‘If games are supposed to be immersive, sometimes ads can work and add a sense of realism,’’ said Elliot Targum, a 28-year-old teacher in Cambridge who spends about five hours a week playing video games. Although few game publishers have introduced advertising into children’s titles, some consumer groups say it’s only a matter of time.

—Jenn Abelson / NY TIMES
www.financialexpress.com

Big advertisers join podcasting fan club

As listenership grows, the marketing potential of downloadable programs is being watched by companies ready to capitalize

By Michael Bazeley
San Jose Mercury News

Since they started recording their eccentric, irreverent podcast from their Midwest farmhouse, Dawn Miceli and Drew Domkus would joke about "world domination."

They haven't quite achieved that goal yet. But their downloadable "Dawn and Drew" show is now so popular that it's courted by big-name advertisers--despite its sometimes raunchy and profane language--and has allowed Domkus to quit his day job so he can concentrate full time on podcasting.

"It's kind of unique when your hobby becomes your job," said Miceli.

Miceli and Domkus are on the vanguard of podcasters who are finding that their living room-produced, amateur Internet radio shows can lead to both fame and fortune.

Now that some podcasters are pulling in hundreds of thousands of listeners a month, advertisers are setting their sights on the downloadable audio programs as a viable marketing channel.

That's spawning an ecosystem of companies hoping to capitalize on the emerging medium. And it's letting some podcasters begin to seriously think about quitting their day jobs.

"I think things will take a dramatic turn," said Ron Bloom, chief executive of San Francisco start-up PodShow, looking ahead to 2006. "There's a $32 billion war chest invested in radio advertising. Advertisers are already leaning forward and looking at alternatives."

Bloom's optimism is understandable. He's betting big that PodShow--founded with longtime friend and podcasting evangelist (and former MTV VJ) Adam Curry and backed by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalists--can build a lucrative business by pairing podcasters with advertisers.

The company has corralled a stable of 18 shows--including one by a Chicago drag queen and another produced in Scotland. And it already has advertising deals with companies such as Absolut Vodka, Logitech, EarthLink and America Online.

The company soon will launch a major marketing push to lure even more podcasters into its fold, broadening the network of shows it can sell to advertisers.

"We'll invite anyone who wants to podcast to come through the door," Bloom said.

Barely 2 years old, the podcasting phenomenon has quickly emerged as a key piece of the grass-roots media movement. As many as 10,000 different shows are now being produced. Listeners can subscribe to the shows with software such as Apple's iTunes and copy the MP3 audio files to their portable music players.

Mainstream media celebrities such as Rush Limbaugh and Al Franken produce some of the shows. But the vast majority are produced in dining rooms and basement home offices by a wide array of no-name amateurs.

Advertisers are taking notice.

Virginia moms Paige Heniger and Gretchen Vogelzang began "Mommycast"--a show about the joys and travails of motherhood--in March. The pair has quickly become podcasting stars, drawing hundreds of thousands of listeners a month and appearing on national news shows.

In November, the duo announced what is perhaps the most lucrative podcasting marketing deal to date--a 12-month sponsorship agreement with Dixie paper products, worth more than $100,000.

"We are trying to speak to the same moms and reach them in the same way Mommycast does," Erik Sjogren, senior brand manager of Dixie, told Brandweek. "We are an 85-year brand, but we want to be contemporary and find the cutting edge."

Unlike some podcasters who view their shows as hobbies, Heniger and Vogelzang always had bigger ambitions for Mommycast.

"What caught us by surprise has been the speed," Vogelzang said. "I don't think we anticipated the scope of it. What we're seeing is people starting to recognize the power of podcasting."

So far, advertising dollars are flowing largely to the most popular "A-list" podcasters. Whether smaller, niche podcasters can cash in remains to be seen.

Part of PodShow's star-making strategy is to have podcasters promote each other's shows and help them build audiences, raising appeal to advertisers. The company also works with podcasters to give their shows a more professional polish.

"There's going to be a small number of people who can do it professionally," said Gary Stein, an analyst with Jupiter Research who follows the advertising industry. "These are people who have something unique to say and a big audience. There are definitely going to be superstars. But there are no get-rich schemes."

The uniqueness of podcasts--the shows are portable and their content is wildly diverse--is causing marketers to think creatively about their advertising messages. Familiar, radio-style commercials will be part of the mix. A recent Mommycast show, for example, concluded with a short recorded commercial for EarthLink.

But more creative campaigns will emerge, with podcast hosts being asked to chat up certain products or promote contests tied to a brand or product.

Stay-at-home dad and comedian Dan Klass says promoting products on his "Bitterest Pill" podcast is a far more palatable way to support his show than asking listeners for donations. That's what he did after he got socked with a $570 bill from his file-hosting company because the downloads of his podcast consumed so much Internet bandwidth.

"I assume they'd rather listen to me talk about a service that I genuinely support than standing there with a tin cup," Klass said.

There are still kinks that need to be worked out before podcast advertising can really take off, marketing professionals say.

Advertising rates for the medium are still in flux. And advertisers are increasingly wedded to demographics and audience statistics--information that's hard to come by for podcasts.

Counting downloads is doable. But it's virtually impossible to know whether a person has actually listened to a podcast.

"What we need to know is how many people have downloaded it, how many people listened to it, and how many people have listened to the ad," said Geoff Clendenning, managing partner of Digital Media Garage, an entertainment marketing firm. "The challenge from a large brand perspective is how do I know what I'm getting and how do I know what to pay for it."

Clendenning sees promise in an audience measurement system being developed by digital book company Audible. And Mark McCrery just founded Podtrac, which attempts to measure podcast activity and listener demographics.

Bloom is not concerned: "I think the advertisers understand this is a new medium, and they're growing with it."

"Rock and Roll Geek Show" host Michael Butler's advertising strategy has evolved considerably in the past year. The San Francisco musician's early attempts at getting compensated for his podcast involved begging Heineken for free cases of beer (in vain) in return for mentioning the product on his show.

Now his show carries ads for AOL and Hasbro Toys and Games. And Butler has quit his 20-year house-painting career to work full time for PodShow.

"All I did for 20 years was paint houses and play in a band," Butler said. "Now I'm doing this for a living. I'm living the dream, so to speak."

source: www.chicagotribune.com

Advertising curtain-raisers :Sachin’s 35th CenturyAdd to Clippings

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

I GET a 100 every time I recharge,” says little maestro Sachin Tendulkar from a hoarding for a leading mobile service provider.

Which, given the hope that springs eternal in the Indian cricket fan’s breast, could be considered the right omen for all those millions who want Sachin to become the first cricketer in the world to reach the milestone of 35 Test centuries today at the partially renovated Ferozeshah Kotla stadium.

Tendulkar has been on par with Gavaskar’s 34 centuries for months now, being done in at Kolkata this March by a wrong one not from any Pakistani bowler but umpire Steve Bucknor who later blamed it on the failing light though he did not offer the batsman the option of walking off! And so Sachin has been stuck on 34 Test centuries for quite some time, with a tennis elbow further delaying the breaking of Gavaskar’s cricketing record.

Advertisements say what we want them to say, even if the product being endorsed is something else. For instance, a slogan saying “Do it once tonight!” could even refer to the switching on of a mosquito-repellent! Advertisements need not even be logical.

Otherwise, surely by now, the National Dairy Development Board would have roped in Mahendra Singh Dhoni for an endorsement going by reports that it was the regular imbibing of buffalo milk in his formative years that gave him the strength to recently break the record for the most number of sixers hit by a wicket-keeper in a one-day international.

Just image a live telecast where slow-motion replays of sixers hit by Dhoni are “brought to you, courtesy NDDB” — there is a vacuum to be filled now that Sehwag has moved upmarket to an extent where his mom’s cooking no longer features in TV commercials! Ads could even feature those who feel left out of things. With Sourav running out Laxman twice in the last two Tests, maybe a nutritious brand which sees itself as an energiser could take

source: economictimes.indiatimes.com

Iran to Open Advertising and Marketing Offices in 14 Target Countries

Tehran, According to the decision of the deputy council of the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO) in its latest session, Iran will establish advertising and marketing offices in 14 of the 30 target countries.

“Iran has 30 target countries to attract tourists from, but it has been proposed to the council to launch the program in 14 countries as a starting point,” said Ali Hashemi, deputy director of the ICHTO.

“Based on the forth development program, the governmental organizations are not allowed to directly establish representative offices in foreign countries. Therefore, we have decided to make contracts with some companies of the target countries to work for us and advertise Iran with a low expense,” explained Hashemi about the activities of these offices.

According to Hashemi, since ICHTO is planning to pay for 50% of the advertising expenses of the private sector, the established offices are in charge of marketing for Iran and not for the private sector.

He also expressed hope for establishing a tourism international fair in Tehran to be included in the list of the World Tourism Organization. “Since a large number of Iranians visit other countries as tourists each year, Iran should be regarded as a tourism destination as well. Such an exhibition with special facilities is quiet essential in the forth development program,” explained Hashemi.

Referring to the fact that Iran has held three exhibitions on pilgrimage and also on trade in Kish Island, Mashad and Shiraz cities in the past, Hashemi said, “Considering that Isfahan has been chosen by OIC as the ‘cultural capital’ of the Islamic world and also taking into account the large number of tourists who visit this province each year, it is worthwhile to make this city the host of a permanent tourism exhibition as well.”

Hashemi also explained that although the number of the participant countries in the recent Isfahan fair was not satisfying, if Iran gets the support of WTO for holding a tourism exhibition in Isfahan and establishing its secretariat offices both in Tehran and Isfahan cities, the exhibition will be held during an appropriate time each year with the presence of governmental and private sectors; and this will open new horizons for Iran in tourism development.

source: www.chn.ir

Dealing With Contextual Advertising

David Utter
Staff Writer

The rise of online advertising available from the search engines parallels their rise; at SES Chicago, speakers from Yahoo, Google, and other firms discussed the world of contextual and non-search ads.

Contextual ads have helped make Google wealthy and drawn Microsoft's attention to the field. How have they helped you? Let us know on WebProWorld.

Rich Ord delivered some notes to those of us who didn't make the trip to Chicago for the latest rev of the Search Engine Strategies conference.

In a morning session on ‘Dealing With Contextual & Other Non-Search Ads', Reprise Media's Peter Hershberg took note of the Microsoft effect on search commenting that "competition from msn in the future will motivate Google to offer further improvements."

In Hershberg's point of view, Google managed to attain its place in contextual search because they had minimal competition for that market. The decision to offer smart auction-based pricing over the market's desire for typical pricing schemes played a role in Google's growth.

Indeed, during her talk later, Google manager for AdWords Hillary Hoover Keller said "there has been a 50% increase in advertiser ROI since the launch of smart pricing."

What's next? Hershberg thinks more behavioral targeting and specialization options loom in the future, along with additional channels for distribution.

Yahoo wants to raise the bar for distribution. Barry Chu from Yahoo! Search Marketing noted how the portal company wants better destinations for its network of advertisers: (O)ur thought has always been to focus on quality distribution of sites ... creating a more desirable target audience...It is very difficult to get into the Yahoo Publisher Network because we have very high standards.

Getting into Google's network as a publisher is a trivial task, but succeeding as an advertiser requires a different way of thinking. Online marketing firm NewGate's VP Brad Byrd noted theme consistency is the key for advertisers: Google thinks about page content and ads in AdSense in a fanatical way...If you are conducting an AdSense campaign focus on an overall theme.

source: www.webpronews.com

Advertising on School Uniforms

CRIENGLISH.com

In Kunming, capital of China's Yunnan province, a primary school has recently adopted a school uniform with a unique race car driver style. It's emblazoned with logos of internationally renowned brands, including Vodafone, Bridgestone, Shell and Ferrari.

Students in their new school uniforms emblazoned with logos of various brands Among the brands, the logo of cigarette brand "Marlboro" has aroused particular debate. According to a Kunming newspaper, Chun Cheng Evening News, a majority of students say they like the uniforms. But parents worry about psychological influences and potentially harmful effects. The headmaster sees no direct link between having the cigarettes' logo on uniforms and developing a smoking habit. A local lawyer disagrees. He says by adopting the uniform the school has violated China's Minor Protection Laws. Public opinion suggests it far better for the school to replace commercial logos with charitable ones. This could benefit students and the public alike. The press offers another opinion. Some believe commercial advertising is acceptable since companies pay for the uniforms. This can serve to help reign in tuition costs, an especially important issue for many poverty stricken students. The paper Shen Yang Today says the uniform shouldn't be legally or morally judged. He thinks it should simply be appreciated for its bright colors and unique style. Students have long hated wearing old-fashioned uniforms. Being open to new choices may help them develop a new sense of individually. An advertising executive offers his opinion in the Beijing Morning Paper. In the advertising world, the current wave of campus commercialization is seen as an inevitable trend. It's a two-way street. Advertisers seek access to campuses and students. And schools are increasingly open to outside influences as they try to find new ways of financing. Authorities at the Capital University of Economics and Business say it's natural for schools to accept commercials on campus. But they also point out authorities should be responsible for screening the ads. Only those that fit particular school settings should be allowed access. The Beijing Municipal Education Commission disapproves of for-profit commercials aimed at students. A schools primary purpose is education. Authorities should provide students with a relatively pure learning environment. (Photo Source: China Foto Press)

Coca-Cola addresses obesity issue in France with advertising campaign

by Staff Brand Republic

Coca-Cola: addressing obesity problem

PARIS - Coca-Cola has run an advertising campaign in France outlining its commitment to combating obesity and promising to include more nutritional information on its packaging.

The campaign ran as a full-page ad in major French newspapers in November. It outlined four ways in which Coca-Cola says it is working to combat the problem of obesity, including offering a number of lower calorie options and the fact it promotes sports in France.

The strategy of outlining how it is fighting obesity is not something that has been seen in the UK.

The French ad campaign also says that Coca-Cola does not run ads during programmes with core audiences under the age of 12 in France.

The brand is following in the footsteps of other multinational companies accused of contributing to poor health and weight gain, such as McDonald's and KFC. They have altered their menus to introduce healthier items, such as salads and fruit juices, alongside their deep-fried products.

In the UK, Coke recently unveiled a restructure that will see it focus on healthier drinks, with the creation of a health and wellness arm.

It has taken a similar approach in Asia, with a division dubbed HAL, which stands for healthy and active lifestyle. This also included an ad campaign that gave consumers advice such as "move your butt" and "sweat it out".

But at the same time as responding to accusations that it is contributing to the health crisis sweeping the world, Coca-Cola is dealing with its own problems -- namely falling sales of fizzy pop.

It recently appointed Wieden & Kennedy to handle global advertising for the main Coke brand. It has been reported that Coca-Cola wants to create an international campaign that will replicate the success of the classic 1970s 'I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing' advertising.

It was also revealed recently that Jack White, one half of the White Stripes, is to write a jingle that will appear in a Coke ad. The singer, whose girth has been notably expanding of late, told a website that he used to drink six cans of the fizzy pop every day.

source: www.brandrepublic.com

New appointment at Qatar advertising and design agency grow

Announcing the appointment of Rico de Guzman as Creative Director of grow.

Anthony Ryman, Managing Director said ' We are very happy to have appointed such an awesome talent as Rico who is a creative heavyweight and has proved himself working with some of the leading brands in the world. His willingness to come and work in Qatar and help Qatari companies develop their positioning and differentiation is a reflection of grow's commitment to growing Qatari business and putting Qatar and Qatari companies on the world map.'

Rico brings on board over 20 years of experience in design and advertising. Graduating with a BFA in design from the University of Illinois, he began his career as a graphic designer in Minneapolis. Eventually he opened his own firm working on projects for 3M and Pillsbury.

Prior to coming to Doha, Rico was working in Tokyo for 16 years. First, as a Creative Director for a design and marketing company in Tokyo working for clients such as Canon and Mercedes Benz and then at CDP Japan, creating advertising and communications collateral for Matsushita Electric (Panasonic/National brand).

He set up a partnership, 2AD Design and Communications, where he was the top creative servicing multinational companies such as Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, IBM Asia-Pacific, Honda, Toyota and brands such as Snapple, Haagen-Dazs and Toshiba.

Rico's work has won numerous regional and national design awards in the U.S. and has also been cited for his advertising and design work in Tokyo.

Robbie Williams Single Release – Advertising Space – 12th December 2005

'Advertising Space', the second single to be taken from Robbie Williams new album ‘Intensive Care’ is released on Monday December 12th 2005.

‘This is my ‘True Romance’ song,’ Robbie says, ‘the one where, like Christian Slater in the film, I like to believe I have direct access to Elvis Presley every now and then.’ Elegiac, mournful and profoundly cinematic, it describes a superstar's tragic fall from grace. Robbie jokingly describes it as his own ‘Candle In The Wind’.

‘Advertising Space’ was written and recorded by Robbie Williams and Stephen Duffy in Robbie Williams’ bedroom high in the Hollywood Hills as part of his 8th Album ‘Intensive Care’.

‘Intensive Care’ released on Monday 24th October 2005, it entered the album charts at No.1 in 16 countries, including the Billboard European Top 100 Albums chart. Robbie’s over-the-counter first week sales of ‘Intensive Care’ in the UK were almost 20% higher than his previous fastest-selling album release in 2004 – ‘Greatest Hits’.

More than 373,000 copies of the album were sold in the UK first week, making it the second fastest selling album of the year and the fourth fastest selling album since records began. At one point ‘Intensive Care’ was selling at the rate of nine copies per second in the UK. Three million copies were shipped worldwide to retail in just seven days. Robbie Williams' global solo album sales currently stand in excess of 40 million copies.

‘Intensive Care’ has dominated the digital charts since its release, sitting at No.1 in the iTunes chart in 14 out of 20 territories. The album peaked at No. 4 position in the US, where the album is only released digitally. Robbie Williams has accrued an impressive 22 top ten singles in the UK alone. Seven out of eight of his albums have also reached No. 1.

Robbie has amassed a record 15 Brit Awards, three Ivor Novellos, a Q Magazine Classic Songwriting Award and all manner of worldwide MTV gongs. ‘Live at Knebworth’, the commemorative album recorded over three nights in 2003, where he played to 375,000 fans (another record), holds the title of fastest selling live album the UK.

Credits: Advertising Space. ISRC-GB-FFG-05-00007. Written by R. Williams/S. Duffy. Produced by S. Duffy and R. Williams Engineered by John Paterno Pablo Munguia & Daniel Porter. Strings Engineered by Alan Sides. Mixed by Bob Clearmountain at Mix This! Published by BMG

site -
http://www.robbiewilliams.com%20
www.contactmusic.com

Web Marketing Association Launches the 2006 Internet Advertising Competition Awards

NewswireToday - (newswire) - Boston, MA, - The Web Marketing Association will judge the best online advertising within 97 industies and 7 ad formats.

The Web Marketing Association announces the launched of its fourth annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. The IAC Awards are the first and only industry-based advertising award competition dedicated exclusively to online advertising. The Competition Web site is located at www.iacaward.org and the deadline for entry is January 31, 2006.

“We created the IAC Awards to highlight the best in this unique advertising medium by industry, and also to help advertising professionals validate their efforts to clients and senior management,” said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association, Inc. “As spending for online advertising continues to explode, it is important to make sure the ads delivered to advertisers are up to the challenge”.

2005 Best of Show Awards were awarded in each of the online medium categories. Last year's winners include:

EVB, Inc. for Redwood Creek (Best of Show Online ad)
TMX Communications for Endo_Lidoderm Campaign (Best of Show Email Message Campaign)
she communications (Hong Kong) for Heineken Pulse (Best of Show Online Campaign)
Power Design for Wanda Sykes Cotton T-shirt Tour (Best of Show Email Message)
Organic, Inc. for Jeep Brand Web Site (Best of Show Integrated ad campaign), Jeep Trail Rated Challenge (Best of Show Interactive application)
and ROBOTS - CONQUEST AD (Best of Show Rich Media Online Ad)
i33 Communications for Buick Email Re-contact Program (Best of Show Online Newsletter Campaign)
Agency.com for Someone To Turn To (Best of Show Rich Media Online Campaign) and Where Did The Time Go? (Best of Show Microsite/Landing Page)

Two agencies tied for the 2005 Top Agency Award, each winning 21 IAC Awards.

Organic, Inc. of Bloomfield Hills, MI received 21 IAC Awards, including Best of Show Integrated ad campaign for Jeep Brand Web Site, Best of Show Interactive application for Jeep Trail Rated Challenge and Best of Show Rich media Online ad for ROBOTS - CONQUEST AD.

TMX Communications of Conshohocken, PA for recognition of winning the most awards in the competition. TMX Communications took home 21 IAC Awards including Best of Show Email message campaign for Endo_Lidoderm Campaign.

The Internet Advertising Competition Awards are open to all organizations and individuals (advertising and interactive agencies, corporate marketing departments, etc.) involved in the process of developing Internet advertising. Entries may be submitted online at http://www.iacaward.org.
The deadline for entry is January 31, 2006 and will be judged on creativity, innovation, impact, design, copywriting, and use of the medium.

Awards will be presented within each of the industry categories and advertising formats such as online ad (including banner, pop-up or interstitial) , rich media online ad , email message, online newsletter campaign, microsite/landing page and integrated ad campaign. This year, “ads the client did not choose” has been changed from an industry to a medium. Best of show award for each medium will be selected from among the industry winners. Ads eligible for entry in the competition must have run during the period from January 1, 2005 through January 31, 2006.

Judging for the IAC Awards will take place in February, 2006, and winners will be notified by e-mail one week prior to the general announcement of winners in March, 2006. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet advertising professionals with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web advertising. Past WebAward competition judges have included top executives from leading corporations, institutions and media organizations such as Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, National Cable & Telecom Association, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, Answerthink, and Zentropy Partners.

The 2006 Internet Advertising Competition Awards are sponsored by BURST!Media, Macworld Conference and Expo, ExactTarget, Line56 Media, and Small Army Marketing Services.

About the Web Marketing Association

The Web Marketing Association (www.webmarketingassociation.org) is an organization working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of advertising, marketing and promotion used to attract visitors to Web sites. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association’s annual WebAward Competition (www.webaward.org) has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world. Now in its tenth year, the WebAward Competition has become the premier industry-based site recognition program for Web developers and marketers worldwide.



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Trinity Mirror to axe 750 as slump in advertising starts to bite

By Saeed Shah

The newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror has started a new round of job cuts, which could see some 750 workers axed at its regional and national titles, in a further sign that the industry is struggling.

The news follows the shock announcement earlier this week that Daily Mail & General Trust was bailing out of the regional newspaper industry with the sale of its Northcliffe division. News International has just frozen editorial budgets at its papers, which include The Sun and The Times, for the next three years.

DMGT already has in place a £30m cost-cutting programme at its Northcliffe regional division and it is regarded as all but inevitable that any buyer would have to extract further savings, which would result in significant job losses.

One senior newspaper executive said: "Circulation has been going down for years. Now advertising has hit a wall."

It is understood that Trinity Mirror is looking to remove between 5 and 7 per cent of its 11,000-strong workforce, across its national and regional titles. The company's nationals are led by the Daily Mirror; its regional papers include the Birmingham Evening Mail and the Liverpool Echo. The cuts could include about 150 editorial staff.

Some of the company's regional centres have already told staff of the numbers that will go, for instance 50 at its Cardiff operations. Many of the bigger papers, such as the Birmingham titles and the nationals, have not been informed of their fate. The group hopes to complete the programme by March.

Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: "These cuts are an entirely false economy. In order to build the company in the long term, they need to build readership and that means investing, not cutting. It will result in the longer-term decline of the titles."

Trinity Mirror, led by its chief executive Sly Bailey who has presided over a series of cost-cutting measures, recently cancelled its £250m share buy-back programme after purchasing only about £55m worth of its stock, citing the need to use its cash elsewhere.

A spokesman for Trinity Mirror said: "In view of the challenging economic conditions facing all media companies, each of our businesses has conducted a review of its cost base. Those reviews are now being completed, and our businesses are entering periods of consultation with those employees affected. This is a locally-driven process and each operating company has its own timetable for consultation."

Advertising revenues across the industry are under severe pressure, especially the classified ads that are the lifeblood of regional papers. DMGT revealed that recruitment ads are currently down 20 per cent at its regionals. Elsewhere, Emap's Nursing Times publication has reported that its job ads have collapsed.

DMGT argued this week that the downturn was the result of cyclical economic factors but many believe a major structural shift is under way, with advertising moving away from traditional media and on to the internet. Classified advertising in newspapers is especially susceptible to this migration.

But not everybody believes that the newspaper industry is doomed. Alex DeGroote, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said DMGT's Northcliffe business is expected to fetch £1.5bn. "If it [Northcliffe] were such a busted flush as a business model, why would people want to buy it?" Mr DeGroote said.

Although Northcliffe would be a very big acquisition for the other two major UK-listed regional newspaper groups, Trinity Mirror and Johnston Press, analysts said the City may welcome such a deal. Northcliffe's margins are 20 per cent, compared with nearly 28 per cent at Trinity Mirror and more than 30 per cent at Johnston. If Northcliffe's margins were brought up to this standard, it would add £50m to its £100m annual profits.

The newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror has started a new round of job cuts, which could see some 750 workers axed at its regional and national titles, in a further sign that the industry is struggling.

The news follows the shock announcement earlier this week that Daily Mail & General Trust was bailing out of the regional newspaper industry with the sale of its Northcliffe division. News International has just frozen editorial budgets at its papers, which include The Sun and The Times, for the next three years.

DMGT already has in place a £30m cost-cutting programme at its Northcliffe regional division and it is regarded as all but inevitable that any buyer would have to extract further savings, which would result in significant job losses.

One senior newspaper executive said: "Circulation has been going down for years. Now advertising has hit a wall."

It is understood that Trinity Mirror is looking to remove between 5 and 7 per cent of its 11,000-strong workforce, across its national and regional titles. The company's nationals are led by the Daily Mirror; its regional papers include the Birmingham Evening Mail and the Liverpool Echo. The cuts could include about 150 editorial staff.

Some of the company's regional centres have already told staff of the numbers that will go, for instance 50 at its Cardiff operations. Many of the bigger papers, such as the Birmingham titles and the nationals, have not been informed of their fate. The group hopes to complete the programme by March.

Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: "These cuts are an entirely false economy. In order to build the company in the long term, they need to build readership and that means investing, not cutting. It will result in the longer-term decline of the titles."

Trinity Mirror, led by its chief executive Sly Bailey who has presided over a series of cost-cutting measures, recently cancelled its £250m share buy-back programme after purchasing only about £55m worth of its stock, citing the need to use its cash elsewhere.

A spokesman for Trinity Mirror said: "In view of the challenging economic conditions facing all media companies, each of our businesses has conducted a review of its cost base. Those reviews are now being completed, and our businesses are entering periods of consultation with those employees affected. This is a locally-driven process and each operating company has its own timetable for consultation."

Advertising revenues across the industry are under severe pressure, especially the classified ads that are the lifeblood of regional papers. DMGT revealed that recruitment ads are currently down 20 per cent at its regionals. Elsewhere, Emap's Nursing Times publication has reported that its job ads have collapsed.

DMGT argued this week that the downturn was the result of cyclical economic factors but many believe a major structural shift is under way, with advertising moving away from traditional media and on to the internet. Classified advertising in newspapers is especially susceptible to this migration.

But not everybody believes that the newspaper industry is doomed. Alex DeGroote, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, said DMGT's Northcliffe business is expected to fetch £1.5bn. "If it [Northcliffe] were such a busted flush as a business model, why would people want to buy it?" Mr DeGroote said.

Although Northcliffe would be a very big acquisition for the other two major UK-listed regional newspaper groups, Trinity Mirror and Johnston Press, analysts said the City may welcome such a deal. Northcliffe's margins are 20 per cent, compared with nearly 28 per cent at Trinity Mirror and more than 30 per cent at Johnston. If Northcliffe's margins were brought up to this standard, it would add £50m to its £100m annual profits.

news.independent.co.uk