Super Bowl

21st Century Insurance Hands Media Account to Mindshare — NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Auto insurer 21st Century Insurance and Financial Services has shifted its estimated $50 million U.S. media planning and buying account to WPP's Mindshare without a review. The account was previously run by Omnicom Group's Omnicom Media Group.

Three years ago, a survey found Google to be the world’s best-known brand, topping Microsoft, GE and others. It was an impressive achievement not just because Google wasn’t even a decade old but because it did so little advertising. So why has Google been spending nearly $2 billion over the past year to strengthen its brand?

Google, the company that has redefined advertising in the 21st century, is itself becoming a major advertiser in traditional media. Remember the “Parisian Love” ad that ran during the Super Bowl (a $3 million piece of TV real estate)? Or how Eric Schmidt, in tweeting about the ad spot, joked that “hell has frozen over”? Then there was the Chrome ad on the NYTimes.com, as well as other print ads in magazines and newspapers around the world.

But when hell freezes over, you have to wonder why. Yes, Google launched new products like the Nexus One (to disappointing sales); and yes, its brand takes a hit with every perceived violation of its don’t-be-evil ethic. It also wants to let people know about new twists on search ads like remarketing. But does a company with a two-thirds share of the search market really need to beef up its marketing budget?

Google’s marketing costs have long been around 8 percent of its revenue. Last year, sales and marketing (excluding stock-based compensation) totaled $1.8 billion. Yet in the first quarter of this year, it spent another $553 million, a 47 percent increase over the same period a year ago. Granted, the beginning of 2009 was a bad time to be spending on anything, but that 47 percent rise is more than twice Google’s revenue growth rate.

The question of why Google is buying so many ads was on the minds of analysts during the company’s earnings call this week. When a Bank of America analyst asked about it, a Google executive responded that it was driven by return on investment. Which is a silly answer: All advertising is directed at a return on investment. That’s like saying you’re going into business to make a profit.

What’s more, marketing an ad-driven company has an absurd Ponzi scheme logic to it, a kind of media usury where ad revenue is spun out of ad revenue. Just stop and think about Schmidt’s Super Bowl ad tweet: Here was the CEO of an online ad giant advertising a TV advertisement. If it gets any more meta than that, our heads could explode.

But, as another analyst pointed out on the call, Google is facing long-term threats from social sites like Facebook, where major advertisers like eBay are spending more of their own ad budgets. Jeff Huber, a SVP of engineering, responded by saying that online advertising is growing so fast it’s not a zero-sum game. That’s true for now, but it won’t be for long. Google, of course, has had a number of failed initiatives in social media. And mobile search is not only a clear priority for Google, it’s a fledgling market up for grabs, perhaps by Google’s newest rival in web advertising, Apple.

Google’s sudden interest in buying expensive ads in visible advertising spots may suggest that the company is bracing for a period when its core market matures and growth slows. Coded into those rising marketing numbers is a slight but growing concern about what life will be like in middle age.

Still, at the end of the day, I doubt there can be much return on investment for Google to advertise its search engine and its ad model. Does anyone with web access need to know what Google is, or what it does? If so, I suggest they Google “Google.” Ow — once again, my head hurts.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Why the FTC Should Approve the Google-AdMob Deal

Seattle Dinner at Black Pearl —

Seattle Dinner at Black Pearl is a post from Chris Pirillo

It’s another Seattle Tweetup! Thought I’d show you a snapshot of what’s on the menu for tonight. This particular event is being hosted by BlackPearlSEA, NorthESea and Seattle_Events.

Contributions for the event were provided by: BlackPearlSEA, NWTotemCellars and GRLakeWine. Be sure to check out the new store that GRLakeWine has opening at 1400 North 80th Street!

• Seattle Wine Time!
• Food Seattle
• Seattle Restaurants
• Event for Seattle Nonprofits and Techies
• Looking Down on the Seattle Space Needle from the Top of Columbia Tower
• Have You Ever Had Ostrich?
• What is the Best Burger in Town?
• When Will Your Bus Arrive?
• Rock Bottom Brewery Review
• Super Bowl Sunday Snacks

During the Super Bowl, we ran a 60 second ad made simply with a few Google searches and a little music. We were humbled by how much some people liked it. And we've even seen a few parodies that have left us in stitches. Making videos out of Google searches isn't exactly elaborate Hollywood film-making, but to help everyone get in on the fun, we've made a really simple video creation tool, which you can try today.



All you need to do is type in your Google searches, pick some music and — presto! — you've got your very own Search Story to share with your friends or showcase on our YouTube channel.

And who knows, if people really like your Search Story, it may end up in a place you never dreamed.

Posted by Robert Wong, Google Creative Lab

Remember Google’s Hell-froze-over, critically acclaimed Super Bowl ad Parisian Love? The one that managed to use a series of basic search queries to tell a touching love story? Now you’ve got a chance to tell a story of your own.

Some time in the last few days Google launched a new feature called the “Search Stories Video Creator“. And damn if it isn’t fun. The new feature prompts you to input up to seven search queries spread across Google’s search features (including Images, Maps, and standard web search), choose a song, and it generates a video in the same style as Google’s other Search Stories.

The whole process only takes a few minutes (the tool automatically uploads your video to YouTube when you’re ready). And while there are plenty of parodies already out there, we can expect a whole lot more of them to pop up in the next few days.

For those who were wondering, Parisian Love was only one of Google’s Search Stories — the company actually began releasing a series of them last fall (you can see all of them here).

Here’s a test video I threw together:

Alicia Keys Uses Monster.com to Find New Blogger —

Grammy Award-winning musician Alicia Keys is looking for a new blogger for her website IAAS.com (I Am Super) and she’s teaming up with Monster.com to find the right candidate. Monster.com will use its new 6Sense semantic search technology (that was shown off in the company’s Super Bowl ad) to help narrow down the right candidate.

From April 6th (that’s today!) through May 3rd, qualified candidates can submit their applications via this job listing. Then, Monster.com will use its technology to comb through the resumes, using semantic filters and efficiently separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak.

At this point, a group of applicants will be asked to create videos and writing samples for IAAS.com, and those entries and videos will be on display for the public to offer their feedback as well. An advisory panel that includes Alicia Keys and her team, as well as executives from Monster.com, will then look at the applicants and the top 10 will be selected and flown to New York.

The top 3 candidates will then be given a final task to blog about The Black Ball UK on May 27th. By the end of June, the new Head Blogger will be announced and hired.

Check out this video from IAAS.com:

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Growing Importance of Social Media in the Workforce

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Make no mistake, this is a real job and not a contest. Applicants need to be qualified and they will be held to high standards. However, what this does is underscore the growing importance of social media in various industries — and also the power that the web can have in helping people find job candidates.

In this case, the job posting becomes even more meta. IAAS.com has Twitter page, @IAASdotCom and will be using the has tag #AliciaJob. It’s expected that candidates who make the early rounds will likely use social media to gain exposure for themselves as they vie for the job.

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Why An Online Job Tool?

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So why would Alicia Keys and her team choose an online job site to conduct this type of search. In a word: Scale. Especially in today’s economy, finding the right candidate amongst a sea of applicants can be a daunting task — and that is only enhanced when the employer is associated with a celebrity.

Alicia Keys’ publicist gave us this additional quote:

“I wanted to find the right blogger whose voice can truly embody the
site, and I wanted to do it in the most egalitarian way possible. One
thing I like about partnering with Monster.com for a search is that it
proves that we’re not looking for someone who has the best connections
or the most impressive resume, but for someone who understands my
mission and who is talented at just being their own person.” ‚Äì Alicia Keys

For Monster.com, it also serves as a good case study in how its technology is different and how it can help match the right candidates with the right listings. Ted Gilvar, the global chief marketing officer for Monster.com, told me that one reason that Ms. Keys and her team came to Monster was because of the scope of this search. That’s where Monster.com can help.

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What do you think?

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What do you think about this approach to both recruitment and the use of social media to find a social media job? What do you think this says about the role of social media? Let us know your thoughts!

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For more social media coverage, follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook

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Tags: 6sense, alicia keys, job search, monster.com, social media jobs

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The most significant change to Google's search ads in years could be the most controversial to the nation's biggest brands.

Last fall Google rolled out the change to AdWords -- a format called Ad Sitelinks, where search advertisers buying their own brand names can add additional links to a traditional search beyond a link to their homepage.

Read the rest of this story »

See Also:

• Google Makes YouTube Text Overlay Ads Self-Serve
• Just How Popular Was Google's Super Bowl Ad?
• Here's The Bullish Case For Google This Quarter

New data from The Nielsen Company lends more credence to the idea that watching television while surfing the web is becoming more common in U.S. households.

In fact, nearly 60% — or 134 million people — do it at least once a month, with the average time spent consuming media on both platforms now three and half hours per month. That’s almost 35% more time spent doing both than last year at the same time.

These numbers should come as no surprise given the upward trend in simultaneous media consumption. Still it’s important to recognize just how prevalent computers in the living room have become. In fact, panelists reported using the Internet 34% of the time they were also watching television — 14% more frequently than a year ago.

Nielsen points to increased DVR usage as a factor influencing simultaneous usage rates. We also know that television viewers are using sites like Twitter and Facebook to share the experience with their friends and followers during live events like the Super Bowl, Grammys and Oscars.

Image courtesy of iStockPhoto, joshblake

Tags: Nielsen, social media, stats, tv

It is really hard to get a grip on what is going on with the Baltimore Ravens. On paper they look far better than they really are, with a 9-7 record in the regular season, they seem to have under achieve somewhat. However they did make it to the second round of the payoffs, and they play in a crazy tough division. It seems that the Ravens are a piece or two away from being just as good as, or better than the team that won the Super Bowl.

In 2009 the Ravens offense scored 391 points or 24.4 points per game. That was good enough for the 9th best 2009 NFL offense. Joe Flacco led his team through is sophomore campaign throwing for 3,613 yards, completing 63.1% of his passes, and throwing 21 touch downs and 12 interceptions. On the ground this team gained 2,200 yards led by Ray Rice and his 1,339 yards.

The defense gave up 261 points or 16.3 per game, and they were the third best 2009 NFL defense. Given how well, they paled it seems inconceivable that they had just a 9-7 record. Their take away differential was +10 also the third best in the league, and all the numbers suggest that the Ravens dominated teams in 2009, but their record shows something else.

Since they gave up 3,506 passing yards and 17 passing TD’s, it seems a little upgrade to the defensive secondary is in order. They also seem to have a need for a few offensive playmakers and so far in 2010 they have added Donte Stallworth and Anquan Boldin to their receiving corps. Things look pretty god for the Ravens, and if they add some corners and some pass rushers in the 2010 NFL draft they may just dominate the league the way their numbers suggest they are capable of.

Related Links:

•Baltimore Ravens news and notes
•2010 NFL Draft news, notes, and rumors
•2010 NFL Free Agents
•2010 NFL Mock Drafts
•NFL Complete.com

Monday's Signal round up is light. The news was a bit boring over the weekend, and I'm OK with that. We all watched the Oscars and enjoyed the suspense of disbelief. I tweeted that it feels like, as a culture, we're closing in on One Big Mass Media Event each month. Oscars, Super Bowl, New Year's Eve....What's the next one?

Meanwhile, I am doing a lot of writing/producing right now. The theme for Web 2 this year is really, really interesting (it centers on points of control and strategy across the Internet), and we're also a few days away from unveiling the new CM Summit site (the theme this year is "Marketing in Real Time" - and the speakers are extraordinary). Not to mention some deep stuff I'm working on for FM and the future of its business (off to NYC this week for more on that). Oh, and yeah, I want to update that Database of Intentions post I did last Friday. Lots of great input from all of you - in comments, Facebook, Twitter - and I've decided that for sure, we need to add a Signal for Commerce. Health, Music, others - I am not sure about yet. More on that soon.

Meanwhile, the links I did find worth digging into over the weekend:

Why Ad Blocking is devastating to the sites you love (Ars Technica) Finally, a publisher (one who was with FM until our pals at Conde Nast purchased them) sounds off about ad blocking. Ken, the founder, created a program that blocks content from folks who block ads. He didn't run it for long, but read the piece. He learned a lot, and engaged with his audience as a *publisher*. Well done. I love that Ken did this, and can't wait to read all 1400 comments. Money quote: "Imagine running a restaurant where 40% of the people who came and ate didn't pay. In a way, that's what ad blocking is doing to us."

Drafting a New Blueprint for the Client-Agency Relationship (Jones&Bonevac) This topic ain't going away, it seems, in fact, it's coming to a head.

Clorox App Gives Consumers Content They Want (eMarketer) All marketers are publishers. Who said that?

Monopolies, Retransmission Fees, and Screwing Customers (AVC) Fred puts one more story into the ongoing narrative of traditional media coming to terms with the Internet.

18 Use Cases That Show Business How to Finally Put Customers First (MarketingProfs) Always a sucker for case studies....

Pepsi Refresh Wants to Give You $50,000 for Your Digital Pro-Social Idea —

Last month, Pepsi made the bold move of forgoing Super Bowl ads in favor of a $20 million social media campaign centered around the Pepsi Refresh Project.

Today we’re excited to announce that we have an opportunity to get of our reader’s ideas funded to the tune of $50,000, and it will all happen within the next couple weeks in conjunction with SXSW. We’ll also be keeping you updated about the project and letting you know how you can help here on Mashable.

Here’s how it works:

We’re asking our readers to submit their best pro-social digital ideas to us by Sunday, March 7th, at 11:59pm ET. For an idea of what we mean by “pro-social,” check out some of the submissions already on the Refresh Project site.

We’ll select our favorite, and work with the winning team to formalize an application to Pepsi. Because this is Mashable, our criteria will focus both on the idea and its proposed social media strategy.

We’ll be competing against other “digital influencers” to win the $50,000 in funding. I’ll personally be presenting our choice at SXSW along with the winning team (meaning you’ll have to be at SXSW to present) when the voting portion kicks off on March 13th. We’ll also be using Mashable’s online reach to promote our idea make sure we bring home the funding for it!

Voting will take place publicly via Twitter with a unique hashtag for our chosen team and the #PepsiRefresh hashtag. Voting will end at 11:59pm CT on March 15th.

Interested? Be sure to read Pepsi’s guidelines and eligibility requirements (a key one being this is US-only) and then submit your idea to Mashable by going here. We’ll be in touch with the winning team early on March 9th to discuss next steps. We look forward to your ideas and working with our selected team!

Disclosure: Pepsi is a previous sponsor of Mashable events.

Tags: Pepsi, pepsi refresh, social media, sxsw

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Talk about getting caught with your pants down: After running back-to-back ads in the Super Bowl utilizing the same creative theme -- people walking about without any trousers -- CBS has agreed to give one of the marketers involved additional ad time to make up for the gaffe, according to a person familiar with the situation.

First Google, now Foursquare. Hot on the heels of Google’s first Search television ad (run during the Super Bowl, no less), the location-based social network Foursquare is gearing up to do the same thing tonight.

In a tweet sent from their main Twitter account, the Foursquare team notes a “rumor” that an ad for their service will be running on Bravo tonight alongside the show Sheer Genius from 9 to 10 PM. But it’s not a rumor, we’ve seen the ad (and have embedded it below for your own viewing pleasure). It’s a 20-second spot made by Bravo for Foursquare to highlight their recently announced a partnership that allows the network to point out locations from its shows that let fans who use Foursquare (or their own Guides By Bravo app) go to them in the real world. This is believed to be one of the deals currently earning Foursquare some revenue.

While the company is making some revenue, it’s not yet profitable, and the focus remains on building the product and gaining users. Currently, Foursquare is closing in on 500,000 users, but with a cable television commercial, those numbers could soar.

The service is in the process of revamping its website and several of its mobile applications. A new version of the iPhone app, which launched one year ago at the SXSW conference will hopefully be ready in time for this year’s SXSW, we’re told.

It’s been nearly two weeks since the Super Bowl, but the stats behind one of the world’s biggest media spectacles keep pouring in. YouTube has just written about the impact some of the Super Bowl ads have had on its site, offering rare insight into just how much attention those million-dollar advertising spots will get you.

During the days following the Super Bowl, YouTube reported an 18,000% spike in queries for “Snickers” (no doubt spurred by their ad featuring Betty White and Abe Vigoda). YouTube also says that mobile queries for Doritos rose by 5,000% (note that the Snickers stat that was for YouTube’s entire property but Doritios was for mobile only  — it’s a bit strange that they aren’t giving an apples to apples comparison).

YouTube ran a week-long contest beginning on Super Bowl Sunday that invited users to choose their favorite ad using a special site called YouTube Ad Blitz, during which 2.9 million votes were cast (Doritos took the top spot).

YouTube mentions one other interesting stat: clicks on the site’s Promoted Videos, which allow users and brands to advertise their videos on the site, doubled over Super Bowl weekend.

Target’s Super Love Sending Facebook campaign has now come to an end and $1 million was donated to the winning charities. Target launched the marketing campaign with a philanthropic twist at the start of this month. The company decided to theme the campaign around Valentine’s Day and the Super Bowl. Participants had the option to vote for their favorite charity, if they send a customized video card to their friends – thereby making the campaign grow virally.

The campaign lasted for two weeks and enabled Target to reach more than 900,000 facebook fans, who together sent out 26,000 Valentine’s Day and Super Bowl themed cards to friends and family.

Target’s Charity Giveaway is different from the Chase Community Giveaway in a sense that Target will be splitting the donation between the five selected charities on the basis of the votes that they received during the campaign. The Chase Community Giveaway on the other hand allowed users to vote for the charity of their choice, and donated $1 million to the charity that received the most votes. Further more, unlike Target’s campaign, the Chase Community Giveaway had a list of 1,000 charities to vote for.

Target will distribute the $1 million to the five charities as follows:

• Kids In Need Foundation – 12 percent of votes = $120,000
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital^® – 49 percent of votes = $490,000
• The Salvation Army – 8 percent of votes = $80,000
• United Through Reading^® Military Program – 22 percent of votes = $220,000
• United Way – 9 percent of votes = $90,000

Target selected all the 5 charities, due to their work in the area of education. St. Jude, the charity that received the most funds, will be using the money to support the hospital’s groundbreaking research and lifesaving care, including The St. Jude School Program – that is specially granted by Target. Target’s campaign is yet another example of brands using Facebook to launch marketing and brand building campaigns, that also aim to support charitable causes.