Apple remains in first place on an annual BrandZ ranking of the world's most valuable brands, notes MarketingWeek. Apple's brand is estimated to be worth $185.071 billion, putting it well ahead of next-closest rivals Google ($113.669 billion) and IBM ($112.536 billion). Other companies in the top 10 include McDonald's, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Microsoft, Marlboro, Visa, and China Mobile.
A new study by mobile advertising analysts Millennial Media finds that Apple's iOS is again the dominant platform for ad impressions, a measure of the effectiveness and engagement with in-app advertising. The report found growth in ad impressions across platforms and manufacturers, apart from BlackBerry which continued to shed users. Apple again swept the hardware results, taking the top manufacturer, top smartphone, and top tablet. Google's Android platform, however, continues to make great strides in growth.
Although it got off to a rocky start, Apple's iAd service is now the second-largest such service online, behind Google. The program has quietly but slowly improved over the years, and the improvements have now filtered through to a new major version of iAd Producer, the program that allows artist to create both typical iOS ads as well as the elaborate, beautifully-produced promotions that have become a signature showcase of Apple's approach to advertising. The new version, 4.0, improves nearly every aspect of the program.
Salesforce.com is increasing its involvement in social media advertising by launching a new self-service, cloud-based product. Social.com aims to simplify campaigns for advertisers and ad agencies, by connecting social media advertisements with customer relationship marketing (CRM) and monitoring social media itself, in order to optimally advertise to the public.
BBC America has signed a deal with Twitter to of the first "in-Tweet branded video synced to entertainment TV series." The announcement, made through Twitter itself, provides little detail in the way of what exactly the service entails, but does mention popular shows Doctor Who and Top Gear in the message, suggesting that video advertisements for upcoming episodes of BBC properties could soon appear on the microblogging service.
Facebook may add video advertisements to the news feeds of its users, in order to supplement its income from its existing advertising system, according to a report. The social network is in talks with a number of agencies to fill as many as four ad-spots, and is planning to play as many as three video spots per day to its users.
Google has finally released an update for its AdMob advertising SDK for iOS developers that leaves those reliant on it just three weeks to update affected apps before Apple's hard deadline for rejecting apps that still use Unique Device Identification (UDIDs) to track app usage and advertising effectiveness. The new version, 6.4.0, retires the UDID scheme (which had emerged as a potential security and privacy risk that could compromise personal information) and adds support for test ads, along with some bug fixes.
Apple is today launching a new marketing campaign aimed at winning editors over to Final Cut Pro X, says the LA Times. The campaign focuses on users praising features and differences in the video editing suite. Apple's efforts are reportedly being timed to coincide with the National Association of Broadcasters expo, which begins April 6th in Las Vegas.
Apple has hired Paul Wright -- formerly chief digital officer for the Omnicom Media Group -- as its new head of iAd operations for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, writes The Drum. Wright was with OMG for roughly a year. He has also worked for firms such as British broadcast/telecommunications firm BSkyB, where he handled various business development and sales tasks, and at Mobile Interactive Group, where he served on the Advisory Board.
Samsung spent $401 million in US TV, Internet, print, and billboard advertising for phones during 2012, surpassing HTC and even Apple, according to Kantar Media data obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The figure represents a quintupling of its budget for 2011, which amounted to just $78 million. By contrast, Apple's budget went from $253 million to $333 million, and HTC's budget actually shrank from $124 million to $46 million.
Developers who attempt to circumvent Apple's own Advertising Identifier with other methods to track users and ad impressions may now find their apps rejected by the App Store. The company is now -- nearly two years after announcing that it would be abandoning the former Universal Device Identification (UDID) method for ad tracking -- enforcing developer guidelines that mandate the use of Apple's Advertising Identifier (which can be turned off by the user) as the main allowable ad tracking standard for ad networks.
During last night's Academy Awards ceremony, Apple debuted a new TV ad, dubbed "Hollywood." The spot follows the same template as other recent ads, but simply uses a movie-connected theme, for instance showing iMovie, and a 3D-rendered Hollywood sign in Maps. Intermixed are clips from Back to the Future, Apollo 13, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Cisco is being sued for trademark infringement over one of its marketing campaigns. East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina has announced the start of legal proceedings in a federal court, over the use of the slogan 'Tomorrow Starts Here' in a Cisco campaign shown on television, print publications, augmented reality, and also online.
Apple has settled a lawsuit brought by the photographer of the now-famous "Retina" eye image used to demonstrate the quality of the company's high-resolution displays. Swiss photographer Sabine Liewald argued that Apple had licensed the image from her US agency, Factory Downtown, for limited uses only and not for the promotional and advertising uses it was eventually put to. Settlement terms were not disclosed.
A number of retailers, including Best Buy and Toys R Us, have complained to attorney generals in several states about Walmart advertising practices, the Wall Street Journal reports. The complaints generally argue that Walmart is using inaccurate pricing or non-equivalent products to lay claim to the lowest prices. Best Buy, though, has specifically singled out problems with a Walmart iPhone 5 sale.
Next year, Facebook users may begin seeing video advertisements beginning to play automatically when they open up their news feeds. This according to several advertising industry executives, who say that the social network is preparing to integrate video ads into its format, allowing marketers to grab users' attention by expanding videos into the News Feed. Reportedly, the ads will play automatically, though Facebook is said to be still considering whether the audio component of any ad would be turned off by default.
Facebook is said to be testing new features that would add recently released albums and upcoming events to user timelines. The social network is thought to have been testing the new features over the past month, though it's uncertain when exactly they will be rolled out. Facebook is also looking to add new features to its advertising operation, features that would allow advertisers to see which users clicked on which ads and how often.
Facebook this week began rolling out a tool that would allow e-retailers to track purchases made by Facebook users that have viewed their ads. The move comes as the world's largest social network continues in its efforts to demonstrate to investors that it is capable of monetizing its billion-strong user base. For e-retailers, the new feature could help to gauge the effectiveness of online marketing initiatives on a particularly granular level.
Mobile advertising analyst Freewheel has announced that the iPad and the iPhone are by far the most popular non-PC devices when it comes to streaming video. Together, the two devices make up more than 60 percent of all non-PC video viewing. The conclusion comes from analysis of more than 14 billion videos viewed through ad-supported apps (such as Hulu), which also found that viewing video on mobile devices has tripled since 2011 to a total of 1.3 billion videos streamed to users.
Apple's iOS mobile platform remains the most effective at ad monetization among all mobile operating systems, responsible for nearly as much ad traffic as all other operating systems combined. This according to Opera, which published its Q3 report on the State of Mobile Advertising this week. Opera found that iOS devices account for more than half of all mobile ad revenue, with the iPhone alone accounting for more than a third. The study's findings illustrate the continuing importance of Apple's platform in the mobile web sector, as no competing platform even approaches Apple's figures in the sector according to Opera.
In a conference call discussing its earnings report today, Google executives revealed that the company had achieved an $8 billion run rate on in mobile ads, including gross revenue from the mobile sales of Google Play content and consumer spending on Play apps. The new figure indicates that Google is making significant strides in the mobile sector, even as its earnings underperformed investor expectations in the face of a slumping global economy and a drop in advertising pricing. The search giant also announced that there are more than half a billion active Android devices in the world today, with 1.3 million more activated each day.
Entertainment Weekly has taken print advertising into the 21st Century by featuring a print ad for the CW network that incorporates an LCD panel that shows live Tweets as well as video. Intrigued, the team at Mashable decided to undertake what may be the first literal device tear down to reveal its innards. Incredibly, embedded between the two thick pages of the magazine are the components for a fully functional 3G Android mobile phone.
Delaware non-practicing entity B.E. Technology has filed suit against Apple in the Tennessee Western District Court in Memphis. B.E. Technology is claiming that Apple is infringing on two patents it holds in regards to targeted advertising. The company is asserting its patents against nearly Apple's entire line of products, including both iOS and OS X hardware and software.
A new tool has been introduced by Twitter that allows ads to be focused on the people who discuss relevant topics to the products for sale, based on past tweets and user content. Twitter is also making the "promoted tweets" connectable to specific accounts that may have followers likely to have an interest in the subject of a marketing message. Additionally, the price for a Twitter advertising campaign has been cut to the bone, with a reduction in the auction bid increment for daily placement down to one cent.
Facebook has announced plans to allow external marketers to mine new customers from the social network using personal information, such as phone numbers, email addresses, Facebook users' unique UID code, and other identifying characteristics. The targeting option will be available to advertisers next week. Facebook says advertisers will have to seek their customers' permission to use the data for marketing purposes before they proceed.
Sony recently filed a patent for a new method of ad delivery that would turn television commercials into "interactive networked video games." The patent, uncovered by Game'N'Motion, details a number of interactive commercial possibilities built on the motion and voice technologies currently available in Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Move, and PS Eye devices. By interacting with commercials, users are able to progress past them more quickly, getting them back to their desired program.
Facebook is set to begin testing a new wave of news feed ads, which will pop into users' feeds even if neither they nor someone they know has interacted with a brand. As Advertising Age details, the new ads, if implemented, would represent a departure from the norm for the social network, which has typically required that a user be connected at least tangentially to a brand before serving that brand's ads. For now, the site is only preparing to test the ads, but users could soon see even more brands popping into their Facebook experience as the world's largest social network continues to try to monetize its user base.
Apple's "Genius" series of TV ads have stopped airing during Olympic coverage, the company's ad agency has confirmed. A TBWA/Media/Arts Lab representative says that the commercials were only intended for a "first run" during the Olympics, specifically meaning the first weekend. Apple has yet to comment on the matter.
Vringo, best known for its video ringtones, has reached a partial settlement with AOL related to online search and advertising. First filed in 2011, the lawsuit claims that Google, AOL, and InterActiveCorp (IAC) violated two acquired patents related to web searches, and best advertising placement based on search keywords. Neither AOL nor Vringo had any comment on the settlement, and a specific dollar figure was not released.
Apple has posted a new case study, featuring Land Rover, in order to promote its iAd network to advertisers. The business-to-business marketing refers to the case of Range Rover Evoque, for which Land Rover is said to have wanted to "engage an all-new audience." The team at iAd "identified the perfect target and worked with Mindshare and Y&R Group to bring the Land Rover experience to them [the audience] in an innovative way," according to Apple's website. The company is particularly proud of the amount of time people spend with iAd spots.
Companies advertising on Facebook tend to hope customers will "Like" their pages in order to maintain contact with them, but the results of a BBC investigation suggest that some of the money companies spend advertising on Facebook may in fact be wasted. The news outlet contacted security experts and social marketing professionals and found that fake profiles appear to be common on the social network. What's more, these fake profiles are responsible for thousands of "Likes" each, throwing into doubt the validity of any number of accounts that companies are advertising to.
Apple has changed some of its OS X marketing to discard claims about the OS being immune to viruses, notes Computerworld Australia. On a page that previously claimed that the software "doesn't get PC viruses," Apple has swapped the text with "It's built to be safe"; "Safeguard your data. By doing nothing," meanwhile, has been replaced with "Safety. Built in." It's not clear exactly when Apple's marketing strategy changed.
Facebook users will soon have the option to decline having their pictures and names used in ads shown to other users on the social network. As The Telegraph reports, the new policy stems from the settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by users alleging the site improperly used their images. The new rules are calculated by some to potentially cost Facebook more than $100 million in lost ad revenues.
In between breaking the news of its new Surface tablets and showing off the features for its mobile operating system, Microsoft began previewing the rich ad platform that will accompany Windows 8 apps. In a post on the Microsoft Advertising blog, the company gave a peek at what ads will look like in Windows 8 apps, and what kind of content advertisers can expect to be able to push.
Details on Facebook's ongoing efforts to monetize its massive user base continue to trickle out, and now it appears that the social network is testing a new advertising scheme that will show up in users' news feeds. Speaking with Capstone analyst Rory Maher, Business Insider got a peek at the layout for the new ad strategy. In its plan, the social network is believed to be working to bring the commercial sponsors of website content directly into users' feeds.
Facebook is preparing a new advertising product that will allow companies to target users with location-based ads based on real-time data. Speaking with Bloomberg, representatives from the social network said that the new advertising feature has been in testing for the past several months, though the company has not provided any details on when the service may be rolled out.
Skype has announced that it is launching a new feature: Conversation Ads, according to a blog post on the company site. Users without Skype Credit or subscriptions who make Skype-to-Skype audio calls using the Windows client will now see ad images displayed in their call windows. The company bills the new feature as a means by which to get customers to engage in "meaningful conversations about brands in a highly engaging environment."
A recently revealed patent application from Microsoft shows that the company may be working on bringing mood-based advertising to its Kinect peripheral for Xbox. The patent, filed in 2010, describes a method for serving ads based on a user's mental state as perceived by Kinect's 3D camera system or other technologies. Microsoft suggests the technology will help advertisers more accurately target their ads, which could conceivably improve their effect.
Twitter touts itself as the platform best suited to advertising on the mobile web, but the site's newest ad isn't a tweet; it's a television commercial. The new ad is one of several the company is rolling out to publicize its new hashtag URL feature, which AllThingsD says is aimed at luring advertisers into a closer relationship with Twitter.
The Australian newspaper, in a very brief item, notes that Apple has agreed to pay a fine to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) of over $2.25 million (about $2.22 million US) and admit that its advertising of the latest iPad as having LTE compatibility in Australia was deceptive. While the new iPad is compatible with North American LTE networks, most other countries that have LTE use a different frequency that is not compatible.
According to Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, the company's strong mobile roots are the reason behind its success in the mobile advertising sphere. As AllThingsD notes, Twitter has rapidly succeeded where Facebook is still struggling, which could make for a struggle to determine the dominant social advertising platform for the mobile Internet. He attributes Twitter's success in the mobile sector to the fact that Twitter began as a mobile product.
Jumptap, a company whose specialty is mobile targeted advertising has released a study on the habits of mobile device surfers. The click-through rates of various mobile devices were examined for a variety of advertising campaigns served by Jumptap. The Amazon Kindle Fire achieved the highest rate of click-throughs, with two Apple devices taking second and third.
As was previously intimated by executives at the social network, Facebook is making a move toward increasing revenue returns on its mobile advertising operations. AdAge reports that the company has opened up its mobile-only sponsored-story placements to users of the self-serve ad tool Power Editor, as well as to Facebook's third-party ad sellers. The move will likely increase the number of potential advertisers able to afford to place ads with the network.
Sources privy to Twitter's internal financial numbers have told Bloomberg that the company is on pace to hit $1 billion in sales by 2014. The leaked revenue forecast outstrips the estimates of outside experts by a factor of two, and indicates that the microblogging site's advertising model is enjoying considerable success.
A senior Yahoo executive who had been in charge of its Shine site for women's issues, health and lifestyle content has left the company to take a position at Apple's iAd mobile advertising division, AllThingsD is reporting. Jessica Jensen was the public face of Yahoo's efforts to beef up its own content away from sports, finances and celebrity news. Jensen originally came to Yahoo three years ago through her own site LowImpactLiving.com.
In testimony that appeared to be crafted specifically to downplay any revenue generated by Android, Google's mobile head Andy Rubin told prosecutors in the ongoing trial with Oracle over Java licensing that the system exists mainly to "make it easier to access Google services" and that he did not expect the OS would contribute significantly to Google's ad revenues. While Google makes around $2.5 billion in mobile ad revenue every year, a substantial portion of that comes from iOS advertising rather than Android ads.
As previously expected, Apple has announced an increase in iAd developer payouts from 60 to 70 percent. The change took effect April 1st, and was signaled by a memo sent to developers over the weekend. The iAd pay ratio is now equivalent to the App Store, where Apple claims a 30 percent cut of revenue.
The UK Advertising Standards Agency has ruled in defense of Apple in the case of a complaint brought by an iPhone owner. The person specifically complained about an online Vodafone ad for the iPhone 4S, originally posted in October of last year. Even though the ad was devised by Vodafone, the carrier directed the ASA to Apple as the source of the offending text. "Simply ask Siri to help you send messages, set reminders or search for information, the ad read. "It can even use information from your iPhone -- such as your location, contacts and contact relationships -- to provide intelligent, personal assistance."
Twitter is now allowing promoted tweets to appear in the feeds of iOS and Android apps, according to an announcement. While promoted tweets are nothing new, these have so far only been displayed via the twitter.com web client. Advertisers will initially be limited to displaying tweets to people who already follow them on Twitter, but in coming months that restriction will disappear. For now, iPads will remain without the extra ads.
In a sign that softening mobile ad budgets and strong competition from Google and other ad agencies has hurt its high-end intentions, Apple's iAd program has cut the minimum amount it charges advertisers to run a campaign on iAd from its original price of $1 million to just $100,000, and is increasing the percentage of ad revenues developers will receive to 70 percent from the previous 60 percent. The company is also making other competitive adjustments.
