Ironpaper Current: Web design, online marketing, internet news, security and business online

Posts Tagged ‘advertising’

Bar Code Reinvented For A Digital World–Microsoft Custom Tags

Monday, February 1st, 2010

Microsoft is seeking to reinvent the bar code.

In essence, Microsoft seeks to make the bar code more stylish–allowing businesses to use the area of packaging dedicated to the bar code to appeal to consumers as well as be a content transmission device between businesses.

Microsoft Custom Tags will allow graphic artwork to be incorporated into the bar code. Custom Tags will work with current mobile Tag Readers. Although there are guidelines for proper usage of the Custom Tag approach to bar code and machine readable codes, this will provide more flexibility to packaging design and manufacturers.

BW Points Out A Possible Partnership Between Apple and Microsoft

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

As Google readies it’s mobile hardware set titled Nexus One for the markets, Apple may be looking to support a less threatening search company. Hell has frozen over. The increasing tensions between Apple and Google, highlighted by the resignation of Eric Schmidt from Apple’s board, may lead Apple to entrust Microsoft’s Bing with it’s search functionality for the precious iPhone.

Apple has likewise moved into Google territory furthering the tensions between the two companies. With the 275 million dollar purchase of Quattro Wireless, Apple has embarked on a journey of discovery in the world of mobile advertising–trying to solve one of the big needs of the day–how to profitize the mobile web with an advertising model.

Windows 7 Launch Party Marketing A Flop

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Microsoft is hoping to get people to host Windows 7 launch parties in their own homes with family and friends. As Microsoft tries to build some hype about the Windows 7 launch scheduled for Oct. 22, they have released a series of videos to show how easy it can be to throw a Windows 7 launch party.

Microsoft Windows 7 launch partyAverage users and main stream media have been disgusted with Microsoft’s latest advertisements for Windows 7 launch parties. One Washington Post reader commented on the ads, saying “If Microsoft had been put in charge of marketing sex, the human race would have ended long ago, because no one would be caught dead doing something that uncool.” CNBC commented on the ads calling them yet another one of the company’s “campy viral campaign[s].”

In yet another wonderfully entertaining article, Charlie Brooker, a self-professed bigot against everything Mac, describes his horror at watching the series of marketing videos as a mix of “vertigo, disgust, anger and embarrassment,” which he dubbed “shitasmia.”

TheRegister.com called the events “bogus,” feeling that Microsoft is coming across as having to “bribe” users into a sense of prideful enthusiasm.

Take a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cX4t5-YpHQ

New Google Advertising Exchange To Open Up The Ecosystem

Friday, September 18th, 2009

Google is announcing a new DoubleClick Advertising Exchange, which will help both publishers and advertisers simplify their transactions with online display advertising. For instance, the exchange will allow publishers to sell unsold inventory in real time.

Here are Google’s top three goals with the Advertising Exhange:

1. Simplify the system for buying and selling display advertising
2. Deliver better performance that advertisers and agencies can measure.
3. Open up the marketplace

The ad exchange will cause advertisers to use DoubleClick’s ad buying platform, which may be a point of concern for some advertisers and publishers. Also, this exchange will help Google conquer a larger piece of the display ad pie.

New Botnet Terrorizes Ad Budgets

Friday, September 18th, 2009

A new botnet has emerged that plagues advertisers marketing budgets. Dubbed the “Bahama Botnet” because it redirected traffic through 200,000 parked Bahamas based domains.

In some cases, the Bahamas botnet has afflicted up to 30% of advertisers’ monthly search marketing budgets.

This botnet has done a good job of disguising its traffic by altering the interval and breadth of the attacks across a wide assortment of infected computers.

Netbooks Are A Game Changer In PC Market

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Netbooks are small, light and inexpensive laptop computers, and they are very portable. Built for web access and basic office applications, netbooks are not high powered tools. Their low cost has helped popularize netbooks during this recession–in fact the netbook market was the only PC sector that experienced growth this year.

In the first half of 2009, 13.5 million netbooks were sold globally. Even phone companies have jumped into the market, and telco deals may have helped in the popularization of netbooks. Some 50 telco operators began selling netbooks and aiming their huge marketing budgets towards the advertising of netbooks.

Twitter Updates Terms Of Service To Allow Potential For Advertising

Friday, September 11th, 2009

Twitter updated its Term of Service to allow for advertising on its website. There were four key highlights to the changes of ToS: 1. Advertising 2. Ownership 3. APIs 4. Spam. These changes demonstrate that Twitter may be soon focusing on a advertising-based model ( a notable change from a previous focus).

Related topic:
Twitter to attempt to generate revenue in Q4

Google Investigated By Italian Regulators For Advertising Share

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Following complaints that Google has unfairly used its dominant market share to deny publishers a fair share of advertising revenue, Italian authorities have begun an investigation into the search giant. Anti-trust concerns will drive the investigation into two Google services: Google’s search engine and Google News service based on a “lack of transparency”.

“Publishers provide much of the content on the Internet, but they get nearly nothing for it” stated Carlo Malinconico, president of the Italian Federation of Newspaper Publishers. (NYTIMES – AUG 2009)

Copiepresse, a Belgium newspaper company, set a precedent for legal action against Google after winning a case which restricted Google from including its content within the company’s news service.

Organic vs. Paid Search Results: New Study Suggests Paid A More Valuable Proposition

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Engine Ready, an Internet marketing company, stated that visitors who click on sponsored links are more likely to buy than those who click on organic search results.

This study may help influence both marketers and buyers about where marketing dollars should be spent: 1. development of a website to rank high in organic results or 2. focus on spending marketing dollars on paid, sponsor link campaigns.

Broken into pure dollar value form, the study attributed a dollar value to each type of web visitor: $2.38 was the dollar value attributed to a visitor that arrived via a sponsored link and $1.35 was the dollar value of a visitor that arrived at a website from organic search results.

In addition to likeness of a visitor to come to a website an make a purchase, the study also suggests that visitors who arrive by paid links will also spend more than their organic search result counter parts.

Preview of new Google search infrastructure

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Google has made available for developer preview a new search infrastructure–”next-generation architecture for Google’s web search”. Google is soliciting comments and feedback on how search results compare to the old structure.

Potentially speed has been improved in this new search model. Relevancy may have also improved in the search functionality as well as size of the Google archive–which in turn will drive more relevant ads.

The URL for the sandbox is: http://www2.sandbox.google.com/