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AOL Renews with Google, but Nearly Ordered Chinese

Written on September 2, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Is anyone surprised that AOL renewed its search deal with Google?

AOL CEO Tim Armstrong was one of the executives that negotiated the deal the first time around–albeit while “playing” for Google at the time.

So, with AOL about as competitive as Yahoo in the search space, Google the incumbent provider, and Armstrong’s connections, it made a lot of sense to just push this one through quickly, so that AOL can focus on its new content provider goals.

Interestingly, although Microsoft was the other serious option for AOL, the company was rumored to have considered partnering with Yahoo. Er, doesn’t Yahoo get its results from Bing now? Maybe someone forgot to tell Yahoo that its not a real search engine anymore. Even more bizarre? China’s Baidu was in the running!

Baidu!

I can see how that would have worked out just fabulously!

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AOL Renews with Google, but Nearly Ordered Chinese

Is BP Just Trying To Buy Its Reputation Back With Advertising?

Written on September 2, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, Object, book, marketing

Because it is our nature to do such things, most of the world has moved on from the anger or whatever was experienced during the BP Deepwater Horizon oil mess in the Gulf of Mexico. There are still pockets of activism but the mainstream has started to flush that story out of its faulty and extremely short-termed memory and is moving on to something that is deemed more current and important like maybe politics (Oh, please God help us!).

In the wake of this waning uproar it looks like BP is working hard to put its reputation back together and a big part of that is the amount of advertising spend they have put into the stream.

The Wall Street Journal reports

BP PLC spent more than $93 million on newspaper advertisements and TV spots in the weeks following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, paying out three times as much money on ads as it did during the same time last year, according to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.

BP also expanded the scope of its marketing efforts in newspapers during that time, running ads in 17 states—including Florida, Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi—up from just two states last year.

Of course, these activities have gained the attention of headline grabbing politicians who need some press leading up to the November showdown. Regardless of why, this kind of ‘marketing’ is part of the new normal course of action in how to repair a broken reputation that may not have much left in the tank (pun intended). So what is all this ad spend really for?

“Our objective has been to create informational advertising to assure people that we will meet our commitments and tell them how they can get help—especially claims,” said BP spokesman Scott Dean. “It is an important tool to help us be transparent about what we are doing.”

Not everyone is buying that explanation though.

Some lawmakers, however, are more suspicious of BP’s motives. Florida Democrat Kathy Castor, for example, was among the first representatives to take an interest in BP’s ad spending and believes the company is merely trying to burnish its image.

“She has been concerned by all the advertising showing BP polishing its corporate image,” said a spokeswoman for Ms. Castor.

Here’s my question. Because of the moral uproar that all of this mess caused and the hyper sensitivity of people in general when there is a ’cause du jour’, coupled with the new activism (I “Liked” it on Facebook so I participated! Yeah!), should there be any concern about who is taking the advertising money that is being spent to repair the damage?

I am not trying to create something out of nothing. I think it is a reasonable question to ask what outlets are taking this BP money gladly and not caring that it could be aiding and abetting the very ‘criminal’ it was trying to hang just a few short months ago.

I hope we are paying attention here. With the “if it bleeds it leads” mentality that the press takes there is a business reason for it. It sells ads. The news is the means to an end. The end being revenue in a time where it has been tougher to come by than maybe ever in history.

This unnatural and unseemly relationship between those who pay for advertising and those who have decided that human misery is always the lead story is heading in a new direction. Could it be that the media is just fine with feeding their revenue streams from diametrically opposed ends of the same issue?

The company that one day creates news by trashing the Gulf is the same company that is shelling out dollars to make reputation related amends. All that money all ends up with the same media that is supposedly reporting it (not benefiting from it). If that’s not a system that is designed to be abused and bled dry every day then there never will be one.

Maybe there is no sense in questioning this because I bet dollars to donuts that not one of the media outlets will turn down BP advertising money that is designed to make the company whole after it was torn to shreds by these very same people who ‘report’ the news (without any bias Ha!).

This dysfunctional yet symbiotic relationship is something that may be a dilemma for some marketers. Maybe not. So what’s your take? Mountain out of a molehill? Is this really as broken as it looks? As marketers, is there a moral side of our actions or are we just to do whatever it takes to make the bottom line sing? Any thoughts on this one?

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Is BP Just Trying To Buy Its Reputation Back With Advertising?

Paul Allen Sues Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Others Over Patents

Written on August 27, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and one of the richest men on earth, has filed a patent infringement suit today against several Internet titans, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The lawsuit centers on technology developed a decade ago by Interval Research Corp., a technology lab that Allen owned between 1992 and 2000. Eleven companies are [...]



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Paul Allen Sues Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Others Over Patents

Attention Internet Folks: Facebook Apparently Owns the Word “Book”

Written on August 26, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

In the category of “Why should this even surprise anyone?”, Facebook is working hard to shut down any social networking service that is incorporating the word “book” into their name.

Over at Wired magazine’s Threat Level blog it reports on a small start-up called Teachbook that is either delusional or just milking as much publicity as they can out of their moment in the muted spotlight of the Internet.

Social-networking upstart Teachbook said Wednesday it would challenge a trademark infringement lawsuit brought by Facebook, which is demanding the teacher-oriented site remove “book” from its name.

This is a popular pastime of Facebook’s legal team

Facebook, in a lawsuit Threat Level reported on Tuesday, claims the term “book” cannot be used to name social-networking sites. The Palo Alto-based site claims Teachbook might dilute its famous name or cause confusion over which is the real Facebook.

Facebook doesn’t seem to be focused solely on social-networking sites, either. It leveraged its financial weight earlier this month to demand an upstart travel site to rename itself from Pricebook.

This seems so silly that it reminded of an ‘article’ that made me fall in love with The Onion way back in 1998. The title of the ‘article’ was “Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes”. If you would like to have some retro Internet fun go back and read it.

So should Disney be concerned that Facebook will try to set a legal precedent and sue them for using the Term “Jungle Book”? Will Facebook use its special powers to make its ownership of anything using the word ‘book’ retroactive throughout all of time with the claim that these companies should have known that Markie and the Zucks would exist in the future and rule the planet? Should Rudyard Kipling’s estate brace itself as well?

We are getting pretty close to the point where Facebook turns into Microsoft and starts to lampoon itself with stupid corporate tricks that make us mere mortals shake our heads and ask that popular Internet question “WTH?” (feel free to insert your version of this here but we try to keep a PG-13 rating here at MP).

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Attention Internet Folks: Facebook Apparently Owns the Word “Book”

Yahoo Becomes the Costco of Search Engines

Written on August 25, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

I was all set to post a simple announcement that Yahoo had officially flicked the switch and changed its search results to Bing’s.

I had no plans to give Yahoo a hard time. Give it a break, I told myself. Let it prove to the world that it’s not bailing on search.

Then I read Shashi Seth’s rebuttal to…well, no one in particular.

I’ve heard some innuendo that with Yahoo! Search transitioning certain back-end functions to Microsoft, we are no longer a “search engine.” …most industry players initially build their entire technology stack in-house. As these companies become more successful, and as technology matures, many building blocks of these products are outsourced – even some of the most critical components.

Take a look at Boeing or Airbus aircrafts. They outsource their engines to Rolls Royce, United Technologies, and GE.  But, does that mean that Boeing and Airbus are no longer airline manufacturers?

OK, let’s put aside the fact that Seth appears to be just a little to thin-skinned here. Let’s look at his analogy.

Effectively, Yahoo has become the Costco of search engines. To be more precise, the Kirkland Signature brand of search engines.

Not familiar with Kirkland Signature? Then you’ve clearly never shopped at a Costco. Kirkland Signature is Costco’s “store brand”–where the actual product is made by some other company; with Costco simply slapping its own label on the item in question. Shop at Walmart? Equate is Walmart’s store brand.

OK, still with me?

So what do you feel when you pick up a store brand product? Are you buying for the brand? The quality? The promise? Nope, you’re buying it because it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than the brand name. It doesn’t excite you. You don’t “fan” it on Facebook. You don’t wear a t-shirt with its logo. Nope. It simply gets the job done. Nothing more, nothing less.

While I may have brutally twisted the comparison Seth was trying to make, I think it’s a fair observation. Yahoo has become the store brand of search. Content to outsource the actual product to Bing. Content to fill in the gaps of search demand. Content to be the Costco of Search.

Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know.

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Yahoo Becomes the Costco of Search Engines

6 Ways to Replace Yahoo’s Link & Linkdomain Search Commands

Written on August 24, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, seo

Posted by randfish

Today, Yahoo!

Google, Bing & The Dance Of The iPhone

Written on August 24, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

The iPhone may have been outsold last quarter by Android, but Apple’s phone remains at least for the time being the “it device” in the smartphone market. Google and Microsoft are both, let’s say, “ambivalent” about the iPhone. And, in some ways, Google and Microsoft/Bing have changed places vis-a-vis the handset.
Of the three major search [...]



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Google, Bing & The Dance Of The iPhone

Behold “The King Of Bing Maps”

Written on August 21, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Object

This summer Microsoft held a competition to promote and popularize its Bing Maps developer SDK and Map Apps. I was privileged to be one of the three judges who reviewed the finalists and voted on them across a range of criteria. The other two judges were Josh Lowensohn from CNET and Joe [...]



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Behold “The King Of Bing Maps”

Yahoo Results Labeled as “Powered by Bing”

Written on August 18, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

With all of the talk about the Yahoo to bing transition there is now more indication (albeit less than overpowering) that the transition is in full force.

Check out the tiny little font at the absolute bottom of a Yahoo search result that I did for “Marketing Pilgrim”.

I wonder if the font size of the “Powered by Bing” notification was part of the negotiation. If it was, score one for Yahoo because unless you are really looking you won’t see this mention. Oh, and I guess that we are all to capitalize Bing now as well? Don’t you love it when companies make a logo that ends up confusing how something should be written? Yahoo (use the exclamation point or not?) and Bing-bing are a match made in Internet heaven then.

cnet also reports that some Yahoo search services like Search Monkey will be eliminated. One that will survive is BOSS.

Also, publishers who had been using Yahoo’s Search Monkey galleries and applications for highlighting search results will have to figure out a new strategy, as that product is going away. Yahoo isn’t giving up on the notion of semantic search–structured content displayed alongside crawled search results–by any means. But instead of having developers create apps for Yahoo, Web site publishers can just add enhanced listing information using standard formats–Google’s approach–and have them displayed in search results.

Also it looks like there will be some confusion about how to get help with this new hybrid approach

One potentially confusing aspect of the transition involves the fact that even though results on Yahoo pages will be powered by Microsoft, Webmasters that need to report problems or highlight new sites within Yahoo will need to use Yahoo’s Site Explorer for Yahoo pages, and Microsoft’s Bing Webmaster Central for Bing pages. That’s because the transition is rolling out first in the U.S. and Canada, and it will be some time before results in other parts of the world are powered by Bing.

Well, we are now easing into the age of Bingahoo, YaBing, Microhoo or whatever you want to call it so you better put on your seat belts. I suspect this is going to be a very rocky ride.

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Yahoo Results Labeled as “Powered by Bing”

Fun vs Informative: Meet the Screens

Written on August 5, 2010 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing

A new study called “What’s on their Screen, What’s on their Minds” by Microsoft Advertising says that the “screens” we use for entertainment each have a distinct personality that impacts how and when we use it. So allow me to introduce you to The Screens.

The computer is the middle brother in the family. He’s a work horse. He’s “informative” (67%) and “productive” but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know how to party. 58% said that their computer was more fun than their TV but mostly they expected to learn something or get something done when they booted up this box. How’s that for a one-sided relationship?

The smartphone is the trendy, sophisticated sister that went off to college in the big city. She’s “cool” (61 percent), “stylish” (59 percent), and “trendsetting” (59 percent). Ms Smartphone is someone they want to hang out with but heaven forbid she doesn’t stay ahead of the curve. If she doesn’t change with the times, then it’ll be time to go looking for a new BFF.

The game console is the kooky little brother that you probably shouldn’t hang out with but, man, you know it’s going to be a good time. Consumers in the survey said that he’s the most fun and engaging screen and he knows everybody! When you’re with the game console, you feel connected to the world and that really rocks.

The TV is the oldest of the Screen family’s kids. He’s entertaining for sure (69%) but he’s not as fun as his siblings. And between you and me, with his old school style and rigid schedule, he’s just not as engaging (38%). You gotta give him some respect thought, because he’s been doing this awhile and on Thursday nights he sure knows how to host a party, but he’s just not the go-to-guy that he used to be.

Collectively, the Screens are a pretty awesome bunch. They’re intelligent, they make friends easily and they they understand if you want to spread your time between them. Individually, they all have a lot to give, but when they get together, they’re something else. Like when sister Smartphone picks up songs from big brother TV’s favorite show then sends it to brother computer so he can add it to a track for baby bro game console – that’s making the Multi-Screens work.

Which members of the Screen family are working for your business? We’d like to hear about it.

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Fun vs Informative: Meet the Screens