A little over a year ago, Igor held our Mediaplex banner while climbing a mountain, click here to see.  This time, I decided to take up the torch and get a picture while in the jungle of Argentina (Iguazu).  At Iguazu, the countries of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay all meet to form amazing waterfalls all over.

Check out the pictures below:

Click to view slideshow.

Mediaplex offices will be closed on Monday, February 20th for the President’s Day Weekend. Mediaplex offices will resume normal operating hours on Tuesday, February 21st.

Client Impact:
Access to MOJO Adserver, MOJO Mail, MOJO SEM and MOJO Reports will be available throughout the holidays.

Support requests sent to customersupport@mediaplex.com during the above holiday will be addressed on Tuesday, February 21st.

Data Integrity, Privacy, Control, Customer Retention/Acquisition are four of the primary focuses of companies in the finance field.   Whether you are in banking, mortgages, securities or financial consulting, online financial advertisers need to have the peace of mind that they can maximize ROI while, at the same time, abide by all regulations required of them (Sarbanes Oxley, PII, Can-Spam Compliance, NAI, IAB etc…).

Luckily for advertisers living in this world, there are a few things tips and tricks that can help.  Here are a few of them:

• Longevity of Partner – Before you do anything, it is important to assess the technologies you are using to buy media, serve media, acquire audience,  supplement your media  and track your performance.  If you have ever seen the overwhelming “Lumascape” of companies occupying the online space (See Lumascape) you know that there are a lot of options out there that sell a variety of products.  Make sure you work with partners that have experience in your vertical, have the infrastructure to support your demands, and you know what you are getting!!
• Dynamic Messaging + Geo – Leverage dynamic messaging to feed in interest/mortgage rates or the latest stock quote.  Further, layer location based targeting to find people that may be in your market, a feature particularly useful for financial consulting and localized banking.
• Data Feeds – Some major advertisers have the need to go beyond traditional reporting and import raw data dumps into their proprietary internal analytic systems.  For those advertisers, it is important to be able to seamlessly import data into their system the way that is optimal for their business (not just way the provider is willing to give it).  These files could include conversion, event level or Path to Conversion data.
• Tag Management – It is important to have a partner that has the experience to know how and where to place conversion tags, whether those tags need to be “secure” or not, and tags that won’t hinder page performance.  Nothing is worse than getting to a page the renders the pop up box “contains secure and unsecured items”.

For information regarding this, make sure to contact your dedicated account manager or sales rep at 1.877.402.PLEX (7539).

Campaign: Holiday Sale
Format: Polite, Video
Advertiser: Nuance
Campaign Info: An in banner video illustrates one of the uses of Dragon Software, a speech recognition software. A boy narrates a story about Blackbeard, with edits along the way.   Click on the ad to see it in action:

Campaign: Off Road Adventure
Format: Video
Advertiser: Land Rover
Campaign Info: Land Rover uses the audio visual components of in-banner video to generate excitement and interest for their brand.

Click on the ad to see it in action:

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2011. Revenue, adjusted-EBITDA1 and non-GAAP diluted net income per common share were all above the high-end of their respective guidance ranges.

“We completed a successful 2011 with strong fourth quarter results, including Media segment results that were driven by 20 percent organic growth in our display business, double digit growth in the Affiliate Marketing and Technology segments, and very strong performance by our recent acquisitions,” said Jim Zarley, chief executive officer of ValueClick. “We will continue to invest in people and in our data, optimization and traffic platforms to expand our presence in the digital marketing industry, and we remain confident in our ability to generate more than $700 million in revenue in 2012.”

Highlights from the fourth quarter of 2011 results include:

• Revenue of $182.6 million, up 42 percent from the fourth quarter of 2010 (Q4 2010);
• Adjusted-EBITDA of $62.7 million, up 50 percent from Q4 2010;
• Adjusted-EBITDA margin of 34.3 percent versus 32.5 percent in Q4 2010;
• Income from operations of $45.6 million, up 39% from Q4 2010;
• Non-GAAP net income2 of $0.47 per diluted share versus $0.31 in Q4 2010; and
• GAAP net income of $0.35 per diluted share versus $0.26 in Q4 2010.

The consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2011 included approximately $117 million in cash and cash equivalents, and $167.5 million in total debt associated with the August 31 acquisition of Dotomi and subsequent share repurchases.

Share Repurchase Program Update

During the quarter, the Company repurchased 2.8 million shares of its common stock for a total cost of $44.2 million. During fiscal year 2011, ValueClick repurchased 9.7 million shares of its common stock for a total cost of $145.0 million. Since the Dotomi acquisition announcement on August 1, ValueClick repurchased 7.1 million shares, which largely offsets the shares issued as part of the acquisition.

Today, ValueClick announced that its board of directors has increased the share repurchase program authorization by $59 million, bringing the program’s current total authorization to $100 million.

Cost Reclassifications

Beginning with the fourth quarter 2011 results, the Company will make two accounting reclassifications that have no impact on the Company’s historical consolidated revenue, operating income, cash flows, net income, net income per diluted common share or adjusted-EBITDA, or on historical revenue or operating income by segment.

First, ValueClick is electing to reclassify certain costs associated with payments to search engines for driving consumer traffic to the Company’s owned and operated websites. Historically, these traffic acquisition costs have been classified in operating expenses in the Sales and marketing expense line item. The Company is now classifying these costs in Cost of revenue, which the Company believes will provide increased transparency into the drivers of the Owned & Operated Websites segment.

Second, ValueClick is correcting the accounting classification of the amortization of developed technologies and websites acquired in business combinations by including it in Cost of revenue. Amortization related to developed technologies and websites acquired in business combinations was considered immaterial prior to the Dotomi acquisition and was previously recorded in operating expenses in the Amortization of intangible assets acquired in business combinations line item.

All prior periods presented in the Consolidated Statement of Operations and Segment Operating Results included in this press release are presented using the new classifications. A table with historical trend information is available at http://ir.valueclick.com.

Business Outlook

Today, ValueClick is announcing guidance for the first quarter of 2012:

Guidance Revenue $155-$160 million Adjusted-EBITDA $46-$48 million Non-GAAP diluted net income per common share $0.34-$0.35 Impact of stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles, net of tax $(0.12) GAAP diluted net income per common share $0.22-$0.23

The consolidated revenue guidance range is based on the following segment-level assumptions for revenue growth rates, expressed as a percentage increase from first quarter 2011 reported revenue levels:

■ Affiliate Marketing: up low double digits ■ Media: up over 100 percent on a reported basis, up mid teens excluding the impact of acquisitions ■ Owned & Operated: down high single digits to low double digits ■ Technology: up high single digits

First quarter 2012 guidance assumes stock-based compensation of $6.2 million, amortization of intangible assets of $8.8 million (including $2.5 million recorded in Cost of revenue), net interest and other income of zero, a 38 percent effective tax rate, and 82 million diluted shares outstanding.

Every year, people look forward to the most popular show on television—the Superbowl.  The Superbowl not only has exciting season ending excitement, but many viewer stay glued to the television for the half time show and high budget commercials.  Yesterday, ClickZ published their Superbowl commercial winners and losers here.  I agree with some of their picks but definitely had some favorites from the list.

Here is a list of the advertisers mentioned as winners and losers:

Winners

M&Ms “Ms. Brown” – Click to see on YouTube

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chevrolet – 2012 – Click to see on YouTube

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teleflora-  Adriana Lima 2012 – Click here to see the ad on YouTube

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chrysler – Halftime in America – Click to see the ad on YouTube

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Losers

Go Daddy – Body Paint – Click here to see the ad on YouTube

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audi – Vampire Party – Click to see the ad on YouTube

Online retailers have a set of challenges that they need to tackle to be successful.  These marketers may face a stiffer challenge than others when it comes to brand awareness, targeted marketing efforts and ROI.  So what can these marketers do online that will move the needle and make a difference?

As every retailer has a different niche, audience and focus, here are a few ideas to consider for those running display ads online.  A few of these ideas might just be the catalyst for success in your next campaign:

• Track Everything – Some advertisers have separate teams working on separate online channels where each team is tracking their success independently.  They might be running some paid search campaign along with display, social, etc., but if they aren’t tracking all these channels holistically there is no way to get an accurate ROI value and understand the influencing events different channels have on each other.  The key is to have all online marketing initiatives drive toward the same goal.
• Behavioral Dynamic Messaging – Tying in dynamic messaging with behavioral targeting packs a “1, 2 punch” with online retailers as they try to push wide varieties of apparel, cosmetics, guitars, books or computers.  Dynamic messaging can create many iterations of creatives and layered on  behavioral targeting makes sure that the consumer sees the most relevant ad possible.  Online retailers can then hone in on the most effective creative with the most effective audience and report on the findings!!
• Tie in Offline with Online  – Brick and mortar establishments have the ability to tie in offline conversion data with online activity.  For example, if a user reserves a rental car online, many brands do not consider that a “real” conversion until that customer drives off the lot”.  In the same way, that an online coupon could correlate with in-store sales.
• Be Social – Adding social ‘boosts” to your creative assets can make any creative more engaging.  Adding buttons related to Facebook, Twitter, Store Locator, and/or YouTube will have consumers a chance to interact with your brand see your fan page and see other brand advocates.

For information regarding this, make sure to contact your dedicated account manager or sales rep at 1.877.402.PLEX (7539).

Feb. 1-3 - Innovations in Automated Video for Marketing and E-Commerce – Miami, FL
Feb. 2 – BIMA - Decision 2012 (BIMA’s New State of the Industry Event) – Boston, MA
Feb. 5-8 – iMedia Brand Summit – Bonita Springs, FL
Feb. 6-8 – ePharma Summit – New York, NY
Feb. 6 – AMA – Health Care Marketing – San Francisco, CA
Feb. 9 – SFIMA – Marketing to the U.S. Hispanic Population - Miami, FL
Feb. 9 – SES Accelerator Conference - San Diego, CA
Feb. 15 – ANA – TV & Everything Video Forum – New York, NY
Feb. 15 – Real Time Trading Summit – New York, NY
Feb. 16 – DFWIMA – Future of Online Advertising (Lunch) – Dallas, TX
Feb. 16 – i612 – Social Event “Spill the Wine” – Minneapolis, MN
Feb. 21/22 – OMMA - Data/ Metrics – New York, NY
Feb. 21 – OnMedia NYC 2012 – New York, NY
Feb. 23 – ThinkLA – Interactive Awards Mixer – Santa Monica, CA
Feb. 24 – NWIAG - SearchFest 2012 – Portland, OR
Feb. 26-28 – IAB – Annual Leadership Meeting – Miami, FL
Feb. 27 – Mar. 1 - eTail Conference – Palm Desert, CA
Feb. 28 – Digiday Agency – Los Angeles, CA
Feb. 29 – AiMA – Mobile Wallet – Beyond the Money – Atlanta, GA
Feb. 29 – Mar. 1 – SMX West – San Jose, CA

As I realize that 90% of you already recognize the value of mobile and social media, I think it is fitting to bring up a recent update released by eMarketer regarding the adoption of social and mobile media.  Here is a quick snapshot of the findings:

• About two-thirds of web users, for example, will use social networks next year, and more than 90% of that group can be found on Facebook.

• Twitter will enjoy even higher growth, albeit from a small base. eMarketer  estimates that more than 24 million online adults will use the service next year, representing 10% of the overall adult population.

As for mobile stats, this graphic speaks for itself:

In my mind, the line between social and mobile is completely blurred as mobile users are checking into their Facebook, Twitter and Four Square applications on their mobile devices as well as at home and/or work.  As Mediaplex is on the forefront of these mediums, we are always keeping our eye out for those tools that will being value to our clients.  For Mediaplex, we work with clients who are running mobile campaigns on and off applications giving creative targeting capabilities to those who work “off app” on a mobile browser.  For those who run with various mobile ad networks, like Millennial, Admob, or GreyStripe (Mediaplex sister division) we can track those campaigns through Mediaplex as well.  This integration with all of your online ad channels into one centralized platform makes it easier to maximize your efficiency across all your media buys.

For brands looking to dip their town into mobile advertising, companies like GreyStripe make the transition very easy with formats that span the majority of smartphones and tablets and have the creative resources in-house to assure a smooth transition.   They are the largest brand focused network and will make sure that campaigns go off without a hitch (even building/optimizing mobile websites for some advertisers).  If you are interested check out www.greystripe.com

Regardless of what mobile medium advertisers use, I believe that mobile usage will only continue to expand and the ad formats for this will continue to become more innovative.  So if you want to “get into mobile”, mention it to your Mediaplex account manager or sales rep.

Campaign: Winter Savings
Format: Custom, Dynamic Messaging
Advertiser: Liftopia
Campaign Info: Liftopia maximizes their exposure to their amazing ski lift ticket deals through use of dynamic messaging and dynamic retargeting. Dynamic elements in the banner include the resort logo, savings amount, and landing page. Users who have visited Liftopia.com will see banners featuring the resorts in the state or region they last visited on Liftopia.com.

Click on the ad to see it in action:

 

According to eMarketer, the online spend of online advertising will near $40 billion (39.5 to be exact), about 6 billion more than total print ads (newspapers/magazines) but still trailing television at whopping $15 billion.

As online advertising penetrates marketer’s media plans, it is clear that online advertising will continue to dominate newspaper, radio, magazines, etc.  So it is important for marketers to understand how to best tackle the market of potential consumers.

Many advertisers are jumping on-board to be apart of the digital wave but get overwhelmed by the amount of point solutions that tout products to make life “easier”, but in reality, it just makes things worse.  If you have been contacted by a point solution touting their ‘expertise” on a particular aspect of online marketing, it is very important to understand what they are actually bringing to the table and if that ‘solution’ is already something you have access to.  Having a framework for what your business needs, wants, or looking to become will be important as you flirt with pushing more dollars into digital.

A number of point solution vendors will tout features like dynamic messaging, tag management, retargeting, DMP, DSP,  reporting, and/or optimization, when in reality all of those features already exist (baked in) in tools like MOJO.  To make matters worse, some of these point solutions don’t have the longevity, knowledge base, or experience to execute (may need heavy integrations), making trust and reliability an issue.  So research well!!

If you are interested in learning more about this topic or others contact your Mediaplex Account Manager or Sales at 1.877.402.PLEX (7539).

For those Mediaplex clients who are interested in training, here is an updated schedule of our webinars.  If you are interested in attending, please complete the registration form or contact your account manager.

Basic MOJO Adserver – Trafficking & Reports:

• 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, January 26, 2012
• 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, February 9, 2012
• 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, February 23, 2012
• 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, March 8, 2012
• 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, March 22, 2012

Advanced Training:

•  Trafficking Shortcuts – 10:00 AM PDT/1:00 PM EDT Thursday, January 19, 2012
•  Optimizer – 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, February 2, 2012
•  Performance Tracker – 10:00 AM PDT/1:00 PM EDT Thursday, February 26, 2012
•  XML Workbook- 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, March 1, 2012
•  Targeting (basics)- 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, March 15, 2012
•  Re-targeting (advanced) – 10:00 AM PST/1:00 PM EST Thursday, March 29, 2012

Campaign: Dead Sea Scrolls Life and Faith in Biblical Times
Format: Expandable
Advertiser: Discovery Time Square
Creative Agency: 343 Creative
Campaign Info: Discovery Time Square invites its audience to visit the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibition through this expandable banner which features a fascinating journey through the Holy Land.

Click on the ad to see it in action:

Campaign: Born Ready for a Greater Challenge
Format: Polite, Video
Advertiser: Coast Guard
Creative Agency: LM&O Advertising
Campaign Info: Anybody with a passion for life is a candidate for the Coast Guard or Coast Guard Reserve. This in banner video takes you through the environmental passions of one man and how being in the Coast Guard fosters that passion.

Click on the ad to see it in action:

Every time the 13th day of the month falls on a Friday, a few things typically come to mind:  Horror Movies, Black Cats, Bad Luck and creepy unexplained ‘happenings’.   Not to mention that 2012 is considered the final year (end of the world) according to the Mayan calendar.

For those with a fear of the unknown, a helpful remedy is to get more informed, get more data, and evaluate your concerns.  It is helpful to know that black cats are no more likely cause bad luck as a striped cat, dog, or any other any other animal.  For this (and many other) reason, I am not superstitious nor believe in luck–only in opportunity!

The opportunity for online marketers starts with their access to data, best practices, and historical learnings over time.  Never before have marketers had the chance to access to faster (more consolidated) data.  The more usable the data, the much better the opportunity to glean best practices and learnings from online campaigns in a condensed period of time – Offering a huge benefit to new online advertisers!

Collecting and tracking online events is only half the battle  It is not only the data that online marketers collect that creates opportunity, but also what that marketer does with that data that allows advertisers to capitalize on that opportunity.

For example, once a marketer has learned something about a potential customer, it is important to act on that data with retargeting, optimization and testing.  (i.e. upsales, incentives, etc).

No one can predict the future, predict and act (reliably) on luck, or guarantee success, but online marketers can mitigate the unknown (or fear) with the right facts, data, and the technology.  Online advertising requires constant attention to details that can change the outcome of a campaign.

Mediaplex clients/prospects have a wealth of information at their fingertips not only with MOJO platform but with the account management support that can provide best practices to help eliminate uncertainty and fear of the unknown.

For those who haven’t experienced Mediaplex, give us a shout at  1.877.402.PLEX (7539)

See what other clients are saying about Mediaplex here

MOJO Adserver now allows you to set additional fields directly from the Campaign tab thereby improving the workflow of your advertising campaigns. Previously the Insertion Order link on the Campaign tab only allows for configuring the following 4 fields on the Insertion Order PDF: 

Clients can now reference and set the following fields:

For Mediaplex clients, feel free to contact your account manager or click the link to get a more detailed description of this enhancement CLICK HERE

As written by Tom Leadbetter of our UK office:

Are you one of those advertisers that use retargeters like Criteo and Struq to identify site visitors and to buy back clicks on a CPC?  We hope you’re doing well and getting some great results, however, we wanted to shed some light on how your data is being used which may change your mind on how much you’re actually paying for those results.

Google research data suggests that most advertiser site visitors will also have visited the sites of competitor advertisers.  Where competing advertisers are both using the same retargeter, this third party resource then has data on prospects that both competing advertisers want to reach.  This creates a competitive environment in which advertisers are compelled to bid-up to earn retargeted site visitor clicks; the bidding process maximises margins for the retargeter and squeezes margins for the advertisers.

If an advertiser does not use a retargeter, the cookies common to competitor advertisers can be reached more cheaply by those competitors.  However, the advertiser is no longer entirely reliant on the retargeter to reach their site visitors – there are now other ways (independent of retargeter vendors) that are becoming increasingly accessible and which offer attractive cost efficiencies, particularly to larger advertisers.

Transparency is hugely important for advertisers and for our industry – we encourage advertisers to insist on it to protect the interests of their individual businesses.  Why is this important? Transparency is a principle that encourages good growth as opposed to bad growth. The explosive growth of retargeter vendors is an example of bad growth -  a bubble that is bursting now that advertisers have started to figure out that intermediaries have been eating into advertiser margins purely because advertisers had unwittingly created a competitive landscape by giving away their customer and prospect data.  It was a lack of transparency that helped the industry grow before budget owners figured out the competitive dynamic and the value of their data.

Retargeting itself is not a bad thing and we encourage advertisers to explore all the different ways in which data can drive performance marketing. If retargeting is carried out with a third party advertisers should demand transparency and learn to value the true cost of giving away your data to third party vendors.  If done without retargeters then advertisers will want access to leading independent technology and experience, this is certainly a possibility for larger advertisers.  Advertisers who have a large share of their market have more to gain by not sharing data and can enjoy the benefits of increased margins at scale, however, smaller advertisers may find that they have no option but to use a retargeter as resource is a barrier.

As written by Tom Leadbetter of our UK Team:

Over the past few years, with the introduction of DSP’s, ad-exchanges and the resulting increase of display purchasing, advertisers have found that they can quickly spend a large amount of their media budget on millions of impressions. However, this bulk purchasing bodes the question of how much are these impressions worth? What is the quality of these customers and where do they lie in the purchasing funnel?

One breed of company found answers to this, enter the retargeters (Criteo, Struq, Adgenie etc.). By allowing a retargeter to drop multiple tags on your website, they can quickly identify those all-important customers who are interested in your product. The clever bit is then finding those customers again once they’ve left your website and are out and about surfing the World Wide Web.

Advertisers using these companies have drastically improved click-through rates, and consequently sales, as customers are being targeted with products they have shown an interest in.

So everyone wins, right? Actually, not necessarily; I have tried to dig a little deeper into the tech behind retargeters as there are a few points that advertisers should be aware of; namely CPA and I’ll follow it up with another blog post on keeping, or losing as the case may be, your competitive advantage.

As this is a Mediaplex blog, it’s of course paired with a quick summary of a solution which can dramatically decrease costs while maintaining the results seen with retargeting, (this is also known as the salesy bit).

Think about your CPA

When you look at your retargeting costs, they’re generally on a CPC, or in some cases you may have this on a post view CPA via your affiliate network. Now, as these customers have been to your website, your acquisition costs are going to be a lot lower. Thanks to your retargeting company, who are identifying users that have already been to your site, you are serving the most relevant advert to potential customers as they make their way through your purchasing funnel, but you need to remember that those users have already been to your website. Which begs the question: “How did they get to your website in the first place?”

As any marketer will tell you it is unlikely they simply found your website without some sort of marketing influence. You may have already generated that lead via your own marketing and are then buying back the conversion; you’re offering up your own data to a third party to then charge you for any results. Yes, it works, but you do need to sit down and think about the process to gauge whether it’s the right strategy for you or if you think these customers would have returned anyway.