By msebastian@adage.com(Michael Sebastian)

“I’ve been in media for 15 years,” said Meredith Kopit Levien, head of ad sales at The New York Times. “The last three or four have been the ones where I’ve seen the most dramatic change.”

It’s not just the Grey Lady: Most legacy publishers are struggling to adjust to an evolving environment in which advertisers are no longer satisfied with just ad space in print or on the right rail of a website. They are demanding that publishers apply reams of data to target their ads, which, by the way, should appear within the stream of editorial content, get significant social-media promotion and be as bespoke as possible. And they’re trying to squeeze publishers on the price every step of the way.

As a result, legacy publishers are taking a pickaxe to calcified sales departments. Positions are being eliminated and longtime staffers let go. But the turmoil is also giving rise to opportunities for sales talent that can think creatively and nimbly while being conversant with return on investment. Ms. Kopit Levien calls them “unicorns.”

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By mcmorrison@adage.com(Maureen Morrison)

Pinterest in recent months has been getting more serious about going after advertisers with services like Promoted Pins. Now, it’s getting taking a further step by refining its ad-targeting tools and audience- targeting products.

Eric Hadley, head of partner marketing, said Pinterest will be offering advertisers a more precise way to reach the intended audience beyond its 30 different categories for pins including food & drink, hair & beauty and sports. Previously, for example, a marketer may have only been able to target interests broadly in sports, but now it will be able to target specific sports like soccer.

Advertisers will now also be able to target users by audience, such as “outdoor enthusiast,” said Mr. Hadley, who joined Pinterest in October from the Weather Channel. There, he was senior VP-sales strategy and marketing, a role that focused heavily on data and mobile.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By abruell@adage.com(Alexandra Bruell)

From Brooke Shields’ “My Calvins” in the 80s to Justin Bieber’s most recent endorsement, Calvin Klein has a history of generating buzzworthy creative with high-profile stars. The same goes for 14-year CK vet and marketing chief Melisa Goldie, who has served in a handful of creative roles at the company.

Ms. Goldie wanted to take that creativity and CK’s in-house marketing team to the next level by hiring an agency of record. But instead of turning to a traditional creative agency, she’s placing her bets on planning and buying with the appointment of Dentsu Aegis-owned Vizeum.

She talks to Ad Age about her views on media, the company’s goals to identify the Generation Z consumer for its denim and underwear lines and the Bieber effect.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

The concept of return on investment came to prominence in the mid-20th century when marketers entered the age of mass media and large campaigns, and they began demanding to know the impact their ads were having on awareness and sales.

We are well into the second decade of the 21st century, and I would suggest that the era of ROI has come and gone, primarily because of the digital revolution that launched some 15 years ago. Through digital channels, we have powerful tools that can create highly personalized and emotive relationships between a brand and a consumer.

Marketers want to know even more about how effective their marketing is and its impact on customer relationships. A new metric is required in today’s complex ecosystem. I call it ROE2 (return on experience x engagement). ROI is a short-term measure of specific, individual campaigns. The more comprehensive ROE2 represents a longer-term, holistic measure of consumers’ total brand experience and their level of engagement.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By Emily Alford At this week’s Mobile World Congress, Pizza Hut and Visa rolled out plans for a connected car that allows users to order, pay, and have pizza delivered right to their cars using beacon technology.

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Source:: ClickZ – Internet Marketing

By nives@adage.com(Nat Ives)

Both Apple and Samsung took the opportunity of the Academy Awards to introduce new, inspiring commercials: see “Apple’s Oscars Ad Looks to Scorsese for Inspiration” and “An Ordinary Family Makes a Movie in Samsung’s Funny Oscars Spot.”

But the tech ads that rated better with viewers came from Adobe, the generally dull software company, and Samsung’s waterproof phone.

Adobe’s colorful “Inspire Creativity” retrospective earned an Ace Score of 642, according to research firm Ace Metrix, which asked more than 500 consumers watch and score more than 24 new ads during the Oscars. Its Ace Score is based on two measures: “persuasion,” which reflects elements such as likeability, desire and attention; and “watchability,” which gauges viewers’ engagement with ads.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Adidas continues to dominate our weekly Viral Video Chart, which tracks views of campaigns in the week ending each Sunday, as compiled by Visible Measures. The brand’s “Take It” goes to the top for the second consecutive week while “There Will Be Haters” hangs in the top 10 even as it recedes to No.6 from No. 2.

Samsung takes over that No. 2 slot with the “Movie Magic” campaign it introduced at the Oscars, which displays the versatility of its mobile devices by touting how they could be used to shoot the next great film.

But for viral persistence, Google’s “The Google App” campaign is making an impressive showing, appearing on the chart for the twelfth time since September. (It fell off for a time but is back in action.)

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

Last year, just 14% of marketers and digital business executives used mobile wallets to engage with their customers. Fast forward to this year, when 27% plan to add mobile wallets to their marketing tool kit. Why the shift? As consumer usage begins to reach critical mass over the next three years, mobile wallets will see an integration of value-added services that push the platform beyond payments. The result will be a new marketing channel.

How will this work? Consumers spend the majority of their time on just a few mobile apps, and increasingly on new audience portals like messaging and social media apps. To reach consumers where they are, brands will be required to “borrow” mobile moments from platforms with huge engagement. Mobile wallets will become one of these platforms, used by 15% to 20% of U.S. smartphone owners by 2018, according to Forrester.

Winning the mobile wallet war

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By mbergen@adage.com(Mark Bergen)

Last week, Gemalto, the world’s largest maker of cell phone SIM cards, admitted it was the target of “sophisticated attacks” by American and British spy agencies. This week, the company is asking brands to trust it with mobile payments.

On Tuesday, Gemalto and Tapit, a mobile ad-tech firm, are launching an app that allows consumers to buy a myriad of internet-connected items with one touch from a smartphone. It’s feasible thanks to near-field communication (NFC) chips in “tens of thousands of products,” said company co-founder Andrew Davis. In the past, the Australian startup has worked mostly with content discovery: shoppers could tap a Samsung tablet with their smartphone, for instance, and be directed to a mobile web site on the product. Mr. Davis said the company works with 60 brands.

Now, it is turning that capability into mobile commerce, allowing customers to charge the purchases through Gemalto’s billing services. The offering is starting with small purchases; after downloading the Tapit app, a consumer touches an object with their phone and is sent to the brand’s e-commerce site. It is launching in Australia and the U.K., but Mr. Davis said the company plans to arrive in the U.S. in June.

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Source:: AdAge – Digital

By Marko Muellner The relationship between agencies, marketing software vendors, and the brands they serve is a complicated one. Let’s try and break it down.

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Source:: ClickZ – Internet Marketing