Tracking Moves Offline (ClickZ, November 27th)
In a development that is as frightening as it is revolutionary, Germany's largest market researcher, GfX, has devised a wearable product that gives marketers unquestionable insight into what audible media its wearer has been exposed to during a given day. If such technologies are to be adopted by sample groups, this could represent a blurring of the distinctions that exist between on- and offline audience measurement and tracking techniques. That would fundamentally change the offline media scene as much as it would raise concerns about user privacy.

Verizon Wireless, New Line Team Up On 'Rings' Promo (internet.com, November 27th)
A two-year marketing deal struck between New Line Cinema and Verizon Wireless includes a variety of interactive marketing initiatives aimed at maximizing the popular fantasy franchise. The grand push includes such features as a co-branded website, interactive games and sweepstakes, text-messaging communities and other experimental promotions.

Spammed for the Holidays (internet.com, November 27th)
As retailers bolster their sales efforts, some junk-mail solutions companies expect to see a surge in unsolicited commercial e-mail. :(

Top Ten Reasons Partner Programs Fail (ASPnews.com, November 27th)
Nurturing effective partner programs is both art and science. The road to success is paved with more than a set of criteria for others to join your gold, silver or platinum program.

Reaching the Next Generation (MSNBC, November 26th)
The first kids never to know a world without the Internet will soon be teens. A former member of the last seemingly anti-consumerist generation takes a look at what today's wired youth will expect and demand from their media.

E-Mail Click-Throughs Climb in Q3 (eMarketer, November 26th)
DoubleClick reports that US e-mail marketing click-through rates grew from 4.85% in Q2 to 6.13% in Q3. Learn what kind of e-mail campaigns are getting their recipients to the next stage. Internet.com presents more on the DoubleClick report here.

The TiVo Effect: Advertisers See Less TV Ad Spending (internet.com, November 25th)
A new Forrester Research study finds advertisers in a quandary over how to deal with ad-skipping technology and ready to explore other media options. This eMarketer analysis looks at just how TiVo and similar user-centric devices are changing the media landscape and the manner by which advertisers must attempt to reach consumers.

Celebrity Promoter Says the Words and Has Her Say (NY Times, November 25th)
The stretching of the traditional relationship of celebrities and the makers of the products they are paid to pitch is part of a nascent trend. Companies are involving the stars they hire in substantive product and advertising decisions to counter intensifying consumer skepticism about the motivations and trustworthiness of celebrity endorsers.

Study: Simultaneous Media Use Poses Ad Challenge (internet.com, November 22nd)
New research says half of consumers use different media at the same time, putting the onus on advertisers to change their ways.

SBI Inks Deal to Buy Razorfish (internet.com, November 22nd)
The $8.2 million transaction is expected to bring to a close the turbulent story of the interactive services firm that symbolized, to many, the Net boom's excess. Reflecting on just how inflated the company's valuation was during rhe boom years, this $8.2 million cash tender is degrees short of the $2 billion market capitalization once ascribed to the firm. The acquisition of Razorfish follows several other deals in which SBI snapped up devalued interactive agencies.

ValueClick Buys Back DoubleClick's Stake (internet.com, November 21st)
As part of its drive to buy back $75 million worth of stock, direct-marketing technology provider and market intermediary ValueClick announced this week that it had bought out the rest of DoubleClick's stake in the company. DoubleClick once possessed a 30 per cent stake in rival ValueClick, along with an agreement stating that it would not charge the firm with patent infringement for as long as it held a 5 per cent stake in the company. Now that DoubleClick has shed its interest in the competitor, and dumped its own media interests in favor of a focus on technology, the question now remains: Will DoubleClick renew its legal battles to increase its market share in the ad management technology space?

USA Interactive Sees Gold in E-Coupons (internet.com, November 21st)
Moving to marry off-line promotions to its online e-commerce endeavors, Barry Diller's USA Interactive is acquiring privately held coupon book publisher Entertainment Publications Inc. in a $370 million cash and stock deal.

Update on US E-Ad Spending (eMarketer, November 21st)
Reviewing e-ad spending from the top down, CMR released its latest estimates for US ad spending. The report compares activity levels in various advertising markets during Q1-Q3 2001 with those tallied during the same period in 2002. Growth is seen in several ad sectors, while online has experienced the greatest falls, with an 18% revenue decline reported over the period. Also released this week, Nielsen reported its e-ad impression numbers for Q3. Both reports are put into perspective during this eMarketer report.

Salon's Bargain: View Ads, View Premium Content (internet.com, November 20th)
In a move to boost flagging ad revenues, socio-political commentary zine Salon.com has presented its unsubscribed users with the ability to trade a few seconds of their time for access to premium content previously granted only to paid subscribers. This initial experiment involves users viewing an interactive Mercedes ad spenning four pages in exchange for a day's premium access. Read or participate in a discussion concerning the development at Geek/Talk.

Avoiding E-Ad Viewer Overlap (eMarketer, November 20th)
Atlas DMT reviewed the online advertising campaigns of 58 Atlas Digital Marketing Suite customers to learn more about how many times US internet users are viewing the same ads. Atlas reports that 96% of internet users viewing the ads reaching an audience of between one and 10 million users per month viewed the ads on only one website. Just 4% viewed the same campaign's ads on two websites.

Parents Are Pleased with the Internet (eMarketer, November 20th)
Pursuing parents with your latest campaign? Pew says 70% of US parents, or 45 million people, are currently using the internet. Learn what they're doing online and why from this eMarketer report.

Locking Down the Pop-up Perps (BusinessWeek Online, November 20th)
Some pop-up ad variants have already inspired civil lawsuits. Here's how federal computer crime law and the USA-PATRIOT Act could put obnoxious mouse-trapping advertisers in the pokey.

Innovative and Inexpensive Member Marketing Techniques (ClickZ, November 20th)
Professional associations need to work lean and mean - and get results. That makes them a great source of B2B email marketing advice.

Never Too Cheap to Meter (ClickZ, November 19th)
Will there ever be a viable micropayment system enabling publishers to monetize content? Existing infrastructure is better than you may think, as ClickZ' Vin Crosbie reveals within this article.

Online Travel Ads Surge (internet.com, November 19th)
Nielsen//NetRatings says travel-related online advertising grew by 39 percent in the third quarter, despite the travel industry's financial woes.

Yahoo!: Dayparting Can Boost Ad Campaigns (internet.com, November 19th)
While more subdued than many previous conferences of its type, this year's @d:Tech produced a few notable addresses of optimism. One such proposition for online advertising's future came from Yahoo!'s chief solutions officer Tim Sanders, who pitched the web as an effective medium both for those looking to target the day-time or workplace audiences, and those looking to tie-in a cross-media campaign in an affordable manner.

MMS, We Hardly Know You (WirelessAdWatch, November 18th)
MMS has been simultaneously heralded as the next golden child of wireless messaging and shrugged off as a ploy to increase phone sales in a stagnant market. Can it emulate the popularity SMS has found in Europe and Asia? And should marketers care?

Yahoo! Japan Inks Deals With Overture, Google (internet.com, November 18th)
As the search-feed land grab continues its extension into foreign markets, two rivals - Overture Systems and Google - have found themselves granted equal placement on Japan's leading directory. The deal comes on the eve of Overture's release of a Japanese-language paid search service.

Web-Inspired Ads Coming to TV (TechTV, November 18th)
With the rise of TiVo and other video-recording devices, television networks are getting creative for sponsors. And where are they turning for inspiration, but the wild, wild web.

No Law of Averages (ClickZ, November 18th)
What's the average CTR for an email marketing campaign? Even if ClickZ' Jared knew, he wouldn't tell you.

AOL Names E-Commerce Vet to Interactive Marketing Post (internet.com, November 18th)
Lisa Brown will become the ISP's executive vice president of interactive marketing, after leading USA Interactive's e-commerce group. Meanwhile, AOL has culled 90 employees from its interactive marketing division amidst the continued stale market for online ads.

What's Wrong With This Picture? (ClickZ, November 15th)
In this superb article, Pamela Parker attempts to peer through the smoke and beyond the mirrors to uncover the true state of online advertising. This exploration is prompted by a series of crossed signals that simultaneously seem to assert that the online divisions of traditional publishing operations are seeing a majestic boom in business, and are doing it so tough as to force layoffs nevertheless.

Coremetics Rolls Out Analytics Tool (internet.com, November 15th)
Web analytics company Coremetrics has rolled out a new tool to allow retail advertisers to better gauge how their marketing is working in various interactive media, including paid search, banners, affiliates, and e-mail.

Gator Hit With Another Lawsuit (internet.com, November 15th)
The long list of plaintiffs suing Gator just got longer. Earlier this week, hotel-chain operator Six Continents filed suit against the ad-supported software maker, charging it with trademark and copyright infringement, unfair business practices, and misleading visitors to its hotel Web sites. Six Continents' hotel brands include Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, and Intercontinental.

US Online Ad Spending: The Roller Coaster Continues (eMarketer, November 13th)
Though the lightning-fast incline and sudden drop left some begging to get off the ride, the tracks are pointing to a steady, uphill climb for online advertising.

Beating Big Brands at Search Engine Marketing (ClickZ, November 13th)
Think big brands hold all the cards in the search engine marketing game? Kevin shows you some tricks the little guys have up their sleeves.

Coke Judges China SMS Campaign a Success (australia.internet.com, November 13th)
Coca-Cola is crowing about the success of its short-message service contest in China this summer, which it says increased brand awareness and led to direct interactions with consumers.

Online Ad Slump Still Stymies iVillage (internet.com, November 13th)
The company that made a dubious splash earlier this year through the public announcement that it would no longer sell popup ads (despite the fact that popunders were still supported) reported news of a less impressive nature this month. Online women's network iVillage has continued to strain under a difficult ad market, experiencing a 20 percent revenue decline for the past quarter based on year-ago figures. While reducing its losses through cost-cutting measures and experimenting with search monetization, the company still clocked up a net loss of no less than $5 million for the period, suggesting that while optimism remains in the market, turmoil will continue to prevail in the near-term, with some large properties still likely to cave.

Flash Video is Already Here (TurboAds, November 13th)
Case study: SF Interactive wanted to use video in an interactive campaign for Quantum Corp this year. But doesn't video look terrible on the Web, and doesn't it require the user to have a plug-in?

Measuring Marketing: Why Doesn't Everyone Do It? (eMarketer, November 12th)
With accountability long pitched as a defining feature of the online market, little justification remains in launching a campaign that fails to employ effective measurement and reporting techniques. eMarketer's Senior Analyst David Hallerman takes this notion further in an examination of market data to conclude that measuring is mandatory for a campaign to reach its full potential.

Playing the Ad Game (MSNBC, November 12th)
Playing interactive video games online isn't just fun and entertaining for players. For companies and marketers, online games are becoming yet another avenue to attract a consumer's attention — and make a sales pitch. Though Advergaming has been making the rounds for well over a year, the format has recently received a further infusion of attention, with developers attributing interactive aspects and the comparitive affordability of the format in terms of the price per minute of engagement by a consumer.

Pay for Performance: Online Advertising's Penicillin (ClickZ, November 11th)
Here, Jupiter Research's Rudy Grahn addresses the strengths and weaknesses apparent in a broad overview of pay-for-performance online marketing, and concludes that transactions of this type can only be considered successful when managed in moderation as part of a wider media/branding plan.

Bluestreak Unveils New Ion Ad Server (internet.com, November 11th)
Online advertising firm Bluestreak announced the launch of its Ion 3.0 ad server, which the company touts as giving clients better workflow tools and real-time reporting of ad campaign features like return on investment.

Online Publishers Boast Ad Gains (internet.com, November 8th)
The Online Publishers Association, a group representing a number of well-known content sites, said on Thursday that a survey of its member companies showed ad revenues rising sharply in the third quarter, despite gloomy reports of the state of the Internet advertising industry.

Search Engine Marketing Boosts ROI for B2B Sites (australia.internet.com, November 7th)
Many Business-to-Business web sites don't bother with search engine marketing, and that's an expensive -- and possibly fatal mistake, according to a panel of experts.

Engage Bids Adieu to Online Ad Serving (internet.com, November 6th)
Engage this month announced the sale of its ad management products to a group consisting of the unit's managers. The management team have created a new entity called Accipiter Solutions (in a return to the namesake of a software firm acquired by Engage during the bubble) that will control AdManager and AdBureau. Engage will continue as a software firm offering workflow automation and digital rights management products.

Marketing Meets Anti-Establishment Music (NY Times, November 6th)
Odd couplings of anti-establishment music and conspicuous consumption could end up alienating the very consumer the ads are meant to seduce.

Clutter Kills Online Advertising (eMarketer, November 5th)
Think you can't have too much of a good thing? Find out how consumers feel about your brand when your online ad is lumped with several others on a page.

Are PVRs the Enemy? (internet.com, November 5th)
A new research report says that TiVo and its brethren might not be the bane of advertisers' existence, so long as advertisers are creative in their approach to the medium.

Is The New Outlook a Threat to E-Mail Marketers? (internet.com, November 4th)
The upcoming version of Microsoft's popular email program boasts a range of useful anti-spam controls, one of which could potentially give legitimate email marketers headaches. The feature in question will see images from sources external to the email itself (such as remotely-located graphics in an HTML mailing) blocked from appearing within the preview window so as to avoid the incidental triggering of graphical 'beacons' that unethical emailers frequently employ in order to track open rates and confirm the validity of email addresses. Further discussion about this issue may be located at Geek/Talk.

The End of the Privacy Wars? (internet.com, November 1st)
Following in rival DoubleClick's footsteps, Avenue A announces a settlement in the class action lawsuits over its privacy policies.

Interview: Building Brand Momentum (eMarketer, November 1st)
By studying your brand's momentum, you can adjust its value proposition, market agility, integrity and category leadership. Cisco VP of Marketing Ron Ricci elaborates on the subject of his new book.