Writing in the New York Times today, Nat Ives sheds light on the newest scam: click fraud. Since pay-per-click advertising (and there's some on our site) is the newest cash cow for companies like Google, this could be a huge problem very soon. It's also the latest gotcha for marketers who are desperate to precisely measure their results (or ROI for you DM dorks). The more we rely on back-room technology to track an …
Abstinence And The City
From CNN: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Tuesday he would push for applying broadcast decency standards to cable television and subscription satellite TV and radio. In the wake of Nipplegate, Congress is seeking to increase the fines for indecency on broadcast TV and radio. But if Stevens got his wish, Howard Stern would still have to watch his mouth when he moves to Sirius Radio. "The …
Point to Point Scores Some Points
Congrats to my buddy True and the rest of the gang at Point to Point Communications for their sweep of the Cleveland ADDY awards on Friday. Point to Point has assumed the mantle of Cleveland …
Goofy, Dopey, Greedy And Sleazy
Bad Viral Advertising Is Quickly Spreading Like, Well, A Virus
This article from London's Globe and Mail details the story of 2 guys who used Bryan Adams' upcoming new album as the focus of a fake viral site called Who Ordered Room Service? I think viral advertising may have Jumped the Shark. AdLand dives deeper into this discussion. UPDATE: The Globe and Mail is based in Toronto, not London. Thanks to Constantinos for pointing out my American ignorance. …
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iSucker
This always happens to me when it comes to technology purchases. I just got an iPod last week. And today Apple introduces a new line of iPod Minis and iPod Photos, with increased capacity on the Minis and lower prices on the Photos. We are all just pawns in Steve Jobs' cosmic chess game. …
The Ogilvy Verdict: Guilty On All Counts
Adweek has the initial report. It didn't take the jury very long to reach a verdict. Yikes. I might have more to say on this later. I think this may have huge implications for the ad industry. Thoughts, anyone? …
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We Know Who You Are. Maybe.
USA Today and other newspapers have been following a story about identity theft that ought to scare the bezeejus out of you. Criminals targeted ChoicePoint, a company that keeps a database containing over 19 billion records on Americans. According to the article, "The criminals opened 50 accounts and received volumes of data on consumers, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers and credit reports …