German Firm Battles Banner-Free Web Content (Newsbytes, September 28th)
In addition to the rising scumware/theftware menace, publishers have been faced with another threat that uses technology to steal advertising revenues away from publishers. That threat, of course, is ad-blocking software. Fortunately, a German advertising companies are striking back with an anti-blocking solution that highlights to the user of such software the damage that they're doing to those properties that they visit, while offering the user the choice of disabling the banner blocking software or paying a subscription fee to access the site's content. Let's just hope ignorant users heed such a wake-up call, without this tech battle escalating into something akin to the ever-changing anti-virus effort. For an opposing view of the consequences of the employment of this technology, check out this ClickZ article.

MP3.com, Digital Island Team for Geographic Targeting (internet.com, September 27th)
Digital Island have developed a technology that is able to process the geographic targeting of ads with far greater accuracy than the standard IP-looups performed by most ad management systems. It is this ability, as well as the low costs associated with outsourcing one's ad serving to a specialist firm that has led both Microsoft and now MP3.com to select the firm as their ad manager.

A Bleak Future For Email Marketing (ClickZ, September 27th)
While not justified with formal research, Tom Hespos' latest insight offers a view of email marketing to which many of us can relate through our own mental filtering of commercial email. He suggests that marketers who purchase double opt-in subscription lists may fall short of reaching the response rates that they could through building their own lists. This comes down to the assumption that many users reflexively delete commercial emails that do not come from any source with which they are familiar.

Microsoft Invests Additional $30 Million in MSN Portal (NewsFactor, September 27th)
While AOL Time Warner is king of the online hill in America, Microsoft is rapidly making up ground and, in many cases, extending its lead over ISP and content competitors AOL and Yahoo! within foreign territories. To this end, the company has beefed up its investment in the MSN portal in an effort to attract European advertisers to its service.

Ad Market Woes Push About.com Into E-Commerce Waters (internet.com, September 26th)
The popular web destination purchased by magazine publisher Primedia last year for an incomprehensible sum has continued to fall victim to the slowing ad market, dumping almost half of its paid 'guides' just weeks after seeing their CEO cash out. In an effort to move towards profitability, the firm will reportedly be making aggressive advances into the e-commerce arena, betting its near future on the bumper Christmas shopping season. For a somewhat extremist view of About.com's latest culling, click here. For opinions as to how the company's Luna Network is progressing, check out the following recent Geek/Talk thread.

Affiliate Networks Support Relief Effort (NET-ADS, September 25th)
Following in the footsteps of leading e-commerce plays such as Amazon.com and PayPal who have actively been collecting funds on behalf of the American Red Cross to aide in the relief efforts associated with the September 11th attacks upon America, a number of affiliate managers and ad networks have spearheaded charitable initiatives that allow their publisher ranks to put remnant inventory to better use.

Web Publications Place Ads First (CNET News.com, September 25th)
As the broad experimental phase in online advertising continues, two popular mainstream properties have followed Playboy.com's lead by forcing their visitors to view full-screen interstitial ads for several seconds before continuing on to the requsted content. As you are probably aware, Salon.com has also been touting an ad-free version of its site to paid subscribers, with this latest development serving as a test for how best to raise the value of available ad space to a degree sufficient enough to support a free content site.

Marketers Vie For LifeMinders Assets (internet.com, September 25th)
Months after Cross Media made its bid for the assets of the struggling email-centric direct marketer, LifeMinders, which had been approved by the board, another player has made an unsolicited bid. The bid, coming from Encore Marketing International, promises shareholders a greater cash share than the initial Cross Media offer, so the bid is being taken into consideration.

Branding: Bask to Basics (ClickZ, September 25th)
With several once-prominent brands disappearing from the national psyche or eroding their appeal and trustworthiness, ClickZ' Martin Lindstrom is appealing to companies to push simple branding messages that enforce the belief that they're here to stay, and ready to deliver on their promises.

Excite@Home Drops MatchLogic Like A Hot Rock (internet.com, September 25th)
In a dramatic series of cutbacks and restructuring tactics, Excite@Home has launched an all-out attempt to claw its way into the black. Much of this campaign has weighed upon the lossy advertising-dependent portions of the company, with the company selling greeting card site BlueMountainArts to American Greetings for $35 million (the company spent almost $700 million for the same two years ago). Excite also sold its rich-media advertising division, Enliven, earlier thihs year, and is now shutting down its online marketing unit MatchLogic. The company expects to shed some 500 employees by year's end as part of its restructuring.

Infiniti Debuts Online Ads (internet.com, September 25th)
Following on from successful rich-media campaigns launched by Ford and Toyota, in addition to BMW's wildly-applauded BMWFilms.com campaign, Nissan's luxury car brand is making a series of rich-media puches online that incorporate interstitial ads, Unicast superstitials and several mini-sites in highlighting the sophisticated features that make up Infiniti's new I35 campaign.

Nuzzo Out of Engage Top Spot (internet.com, September 24th)
Approximately a month after Engage announced that it would be departing the media business entirely, the company's CEO - who was brought in to head the firm's restructuring - has announced his surprise resignation. Tony Nuzzo's departure comes at a crucial time for the firm, who is trying to build corporate confidence in its suite of workflow management software. The company's stock price remains in the dumps, after having spent almost the entire 3rd calendar quarter in sub-$1 territory.

Cutbacks in Ad Spending Predicted (NY Times, September 24th)
Given the continued weakness in the ad market, compounded with the negative economic consequences of the terrorist attacks and the increased sensitivity of marketers within the changed social climate resulting from the same, advertising across all media is expected to see no growth (at best) during the remainder of this year and the best part of 2002 according to many analysts.

Online Ad Spending Declines 7.8% In First Half of 2001 (internet.com, September 24th)
The IAB, in a study verified by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, has found that onlin ad revenues did, as was expected, decline quite significantly in the first half of this year. Declines were felt in each consecutive quarter, suggesting that the bottom has not yet been reached. The justification of this is a slowing economy in which ad spending is down across-the-board, with the web still seen by many as a risky proposition. The study also found that the lead enjoyed by the top online media companies has been extended, as a greater proportion of available ad dollars flow to the trusted brand players, and CPM-based transactions were more common than in previous periods. For eMarketer's report on this, featuring several tasty graphs, click here.

Bluestreak Lands Ad Veteran as New CEO (NET-ADS, September 22nd)
As part of its strategy to expand beyond being merely a rich-media technology company, Bluestreak has taken advantage of the turmoil within the online media market to acquire market share and assets, including Engage's AdKnowledge system. In addition, as this release notes, the company has snared a seasoned media veteran as its new President and CEO to captain the firm during its expansion in an unrelenting environment.

Rapid Developments in Terror Case Complicate Adjustment of Ads (NY Times, September 21st)
Marketers, boardcasters and publishers the world over have been forced to move swiftly and flexibly in the reformating of content and advertising that could be construed negatively in the wake of the World Trade Center and related disasters. It is understood that the public does not want to have to confront ads existing in the extreme ends of the emotional spectrum - such as violent football spots, ads that contain imagery related to air disasters or NYC, or spots that are excessively jubilant (such as Coke's 'Life Tastes Good' campaign). Read more about how football campaigns are dropping their previously-successful war clichés within this specialty NY Times article.

DoubleClick Expects Larger Loss Due to Terrorist Attacks (Newsbytes, September 21st)
The terrorist attacks aimed at the US on September 11th have had dramatic and wide-ranging effects on several businesses, having already wiped trillions of dollars from the world markets. Things are not looking particularly rosy in our sector of the economy either, if the market leader's announcement is representative. DoubleClick has revised expectations for its quarterly earnings downward, slicing some $10 million off their initial projections. For more information on this, check out this InternetNews.com article.

Christopher Manning Joins 24/7 Media (NET-ADS, September 20th)
24/7 Media, Inc., a financially-strapped player in interactive marketing, today announced that Christopher Manning has joined the Company as Senior Vice President of National Media Sales. In his new position, Mr. Manning will be responsible for all 24/7 Media Sales throughout the United States.

Rich Media Goes 'Full Service' (TurboAds.com, September 19th)
In yet another Pamela-Parker-penned promotion of bluestreak's services, this article highlights the company's determination to serve both publishers and marketers with a unified solution for the planning, delivery, tracking and reporting of rich-media ad campaigns.

Engage Touts Reorganized Product Line (internet.com, September 19th)
Just days after announcing its complete departure from the online media biz, CMGI-controlled Engage has begun promoting its new lin of workflow and asset management software - much of which is said to operate out-of-the-box at rates affordable enough to appeal to the small to medium enterprise market. The trouble is, can a firm that has left its roots, and whose stock has already been abandoned to a point at which delisting is imminent, survive in a market that is already packed with experienced and established competitors?

Marketing Still Matters (ClickZ, September 19th)
The terrorist attacks on America have not only created an uncertain economic environment, but have forced each of us to re-evaluate our priorities in life. As has been drummed into the public during the days following the life-changing events, however, we must return to business as usual if we are to undo the greater effects that the terrorist act has had on the capitalist psyche. Accordingly, it's essential to realise that every individual's position in society is important to keeping that complex economic system moving in the right direction, which suggests that while marketers should be cautious as to exactly what messages they're sending out, it is important that web publishers and marketers return to business.

Agency.com Closes Portland Office, Lays Off 200 (internet.com, September 19th)
Struggling in a market that has not been embracing the interactive agency concept as dramatically as expected, Agency.com has faced yet another dramatic round of cutbacks. The resulting reorganization will also take into account issues arising from the impending merger of the firm with Seneca Investments.

DoubleClick Approves $100M Stock Buyback (internet.com, September 18th)
Upon seeing its stock plummet some 15% to an new low of $6.99 in an historic day of trading on Monday, DoubleClick has announced a stock buyback plan that will see the company acquire $100 million worth of its outstanding common stock.

An Email Campaign To-Do List (ClickZ, September 18th)
This article presents a check-list of the most important factors that should be taken into consideration in the planning, execution and eveluation of an email-based campaign.

ADexact Lands $5.5 Million (internet.com, September 18th)
Set to compete with more established internet advertising tech firms, such as DoubleClick, 24/7 Media and Engage, ADexact has landed a $5.5 million investment that will go towards developing and marketing its iTV ad delivery and tracking system.

Think Fast, Be First (ClickZ, September 18th)
Focusing on Amazon.com's rapid philanthropic response to the terrorist tragedy that has gripped the world this year, Martin Lindstrom looks at how companies may build their brands by being first-movers into innovative or important areas of public relations.

Marketing to Consumers in Crisis (E-Commerce Guide, September 18th)
As we all know, one of the few factors keeping the US economy from slipping into recession during recent months was the strength of the country's consumer confidence indices. Now, though, in the wake of a crisis that has shocked us all and brought the world to the brink of war, the question that remains is whether or not consumers will keep spending. This article presents insights from the president of a market research firm specializing in consumer psychology as to how best to encourage consumers to open their wallets in defiance of a terror-driven recession.

Kurnit Out as About.com CEO (internet.com, September 18th)
Less than a year after spearheading About.com's merger with traditional publishing giant Primedia, Scott Kurnit has left his position as CEO of About.com (which manages the Luna Network) and been replaced by Bill Day, the company's President.

Media Trying to Stem Losses With Dignity (NY Times, September 17th)
The uninterrupted special coverage that many television networks, print pubications and digital properties have provided to the ongoing reporting of the war against terrorism has obviously been a costly investment for such advertising-supported media. These properties have additionally been hit with reduced or withdrawn campaigns as advertisers themselves come to grips with the dramatically altered environment and reconsider their tactics going into a slowing economy in which consumer confidence is under threat.

Marketers Dealing with Tragedy (DMNews.com, September 17th)
The manner by which marketers, and members of the general public, have responded to the tragedy that has befallen the mighty US of A has varied widely. Without inferring anything in particular, this article highlights how a few big entertainment companies reacted - or failed to react - to the incident.

Online Advertising's Great Debate (australia.internet.com, September 17th)
While this article acts mainly as a calling-card for a conference organised by the INT Media Group, it does raise some significant and poignant issues in relation to the growing reliance on cost-per-action transactions that has arisen largely due to the slowing economy, as well as the fact that several traditional advertisers have yet to embrace the web as a branding medium.

Web Ad Budgets: Bigger Slice of a Smaller Pie (ChannelSeven, September 17th)
In a study that, as Pamela Parker rightfully noted, is likely askew due to its survy taking in specifically those executives who made regular visits to websites devoted to discussion of online advertising, CyberAtlas Research has found that online advertising is being embraced with even more gusto than broadcast media by many small to medium enterprises, with email seen as the most affordable method of reaching customers directly, and in a timely fashion.

How Far Should Publishers Go? (ClickZ, September 17th)
Here, Dana Blankenhorn looks at the fact that as ad budgets have constricted along with the economy, the online advertising environment has been dominated by direct-marketing players who, in many cases, have little concern for the context in which their ad appears, so long as it pulls leads efficiently. Further to this, he suggests that publishers should not stoop in such a fashion as to cater to every whim of the direct marketer if it means adopting irresponsible or irritating practices.

Red Cross Banner Ads Get Major Play (Newsbytes, September 14th)
In a broad display of support for the relief effort in New York and Washington, major websites around the world have been filling their banner ad inventory with banners promoting the RedCross.org or related donation services.

Top Five Marketing Concerns for the Next Five Years (E-Commerce Guide, September 14th)
With the online marketing and advertising environment continuing to transmute and evolve at a rapid rate, Alexis Gutzman has suggested that marketers step back from the confusion to gain a well-rounded view of where the sector is headed, and how best to take advantage of these trends in order to boost one's returns.

News Publishers Cope with Advertiser Concerns, Amid Disaster Coverage (internet.com, September 14th)
Endeavouring to maintain their server load, while introducing new visitors to the quality of their reporting services, several major news destinations pulled all ads from their sites amid the first few days of covering the US terrorist disaster. In an effort to return to business as usual and to monetize the increased traffic, these sites are tentatively rolling out ads once again, while remaining cautious as not to create negative associations by aligning certain brands with negative news.

Engage Disengages From Media Business (internet.com, September 13th)
Trouble-stricken online media and technology player Engage Inc has been one of several CMGI-backed properties to face deep restructuring in an effort to keep their values bouyant. Engage, which has been trading in the sub-$1 range for several months, has finally made the decision to depart totally from the media business, selling some of its assets to Bluestreak.

Advertising, Marketing Firms Safe but Shaken (internet.com, September 13th)
With New York being a center of the advertising world, several ad agencies have been directly or indirectly affected by the devastating attacks upon their city, and have been forced to activate their contingency plans in order to keep things ticking during a most turmultuous time.

Netcentives Cuts Workforce (internet.com, September 13th)
The major online rewards-based marketing player has continued its restructuring and culling efforts in order to remain buoyant in a market that has seen the firm drastically downsized, and delisted from the Nasdaq this year.

Wireless Advertising Update: An Insider's Perspective (NewMedia, September 13th)
Just as ValueClick and MediaPlex are finalizing the merger that will see them become one of the largest and strongest pure-play online media companies, NewMedia has interviewed the company's VP of Sales and Marketing in order to gain an understanding of the firm's outlook for the wireless advertising market.

Sales Should Be About Service (ClickZ, September 13th)
A well-known business principle that guides many industries is that it's cheaper to invest in keeping an existing customer than to acquire a new prospect. Extending from this, Tom Hespos here presents a few tips to media sellers for how they may improve the level of service that they offer their clients in order to keep the client's business and grow their own company's revenues and reputation as a result.

Bluestreak Buys Engage AdKnowledge (internet.com, September 13th)
In an effort to beef up its exposure to the online media business just as CMGI-controlled Engage Inc is withdrawing from the market, Bluestreak has agreed to purchase the AdKnowledge system and customer lists from Engage. The company will also adopt several of Engage's employees.

Economic Aftermath of Attacks Could Hurt Web Ad Sector (internet.com, September 12th)
The destruction of the World Trade Center and the attack upon the Pentagon could lead to a continued downturn in web ad spending, if the markets fall as expected upon the opening of the US stock exchanges in the coming days. This article notes some of the most significant steps in the knock-on effect that could result.

Branding Online Is Possible...Now What (ClickZ, September 11th)
Jim Meskauskas here questions why it is that a bulk of traditional advertisers still have an aversion to launching branding campaigns online despite the evidence presented by dozens of credible studies claiming that the medium is effective in building brand awareness and associations. His central conclusion notes that one likely cause for the delay has been created by agencies, who were all too eager to jump onto the net trend during the bubble of irrational exhuberance, but who presently avoid selling the improved strengths and decreased costs of the medium to their clients.

CMR: Web Ad Revenues Down 10 Percent from Year-Ago (internet.com, September 10th)
Competitive Media Reporting has noted that although many analysts predicted web advertising to grow slightly or remain flat for the year, the first six months of 2001 have seen significantly lower revenues flow into the coffers of web publishers than in the 6-month period a year earlier.

A Rewarding Conversation with BountySystems (eMarketer, September 10th)
eMarketer reports that viral marketing is the third most popular method through which web users are introduced to new sites. Further to this, the company has conducted an interview with an ASP whose services are tailored to faciliting rewards-driven viral behaviour.

Is Branding On the Web Really Dead? (MarketingProfs, September 9th)
The folks over at MarketingProfs here attempt to expel a few myths about the meaning of the much-ballyhooed marketing term 'branding', while illustating that branding online is a matter of following the same, time-tested principles that have defined the experience of building, shaping and maintaining a brand in the traditional offline world.

Connecting With the Future of Online Ads (E-Commerce Times, September 7th)
Regardless of whether or not the creatives are well suited to the online environment, in which users are expressively purpose-driven, ad technology companies and publishers are spearheading a move to make web ads more like those seen on TV in an effort to lure more traditional advertisers and major brands online. This is in response to reports that most online promotions are of the direct-marketing variety, with the big-budget branded players making only minimal investments online.

Why I Love Gator (ChannelSeven, September 7th)
Amidst the in-fighting that has dominated the online advertising and affiliate marketing space of late, ChannelSeven's Christopher Saunders looks at Gator as a wake up call for web publishers, rather than as the marketing vulture that most have proposed. Hmmm...you make the call.

Under Pressure from Parent, Real Media to Cede Media Business (internet.com, September 7th)
Four months after announcing a cross-media partnership with its parent company's traditional media ad sales division, Real Media is apparently being forced to sacrifice its media sales representation service to the more established Publicitas. This will leave Real Media as a pure technology player, with its OpenAdStream and OpenAdStreamCentral products core to its operations.

24/7 Media to Dump Two Divisions (CNET News.com, September 6th)
Trouble-plagued online media and technology player 24/7 Media is set to become a pure-play media company with the impending sales of its broadband and professional services divisions. These branches, like the company's email marketing and Sabela ad serving platform, are being sold to finance the continued operations of 24/7's core US-based media business.

AOL is Still Selling Ads (To Itself) (Forbes.com, September 6th)
Estimates have varied widely regarding AOL's market dominance in the online advertising business, but with analysts such as Henry Blodget forecasting that AOL's ad sales will account for as much as 45% of all online spending, it's clear that they are on a good thing. Confusion arises, though, when we come to realise that as well as being one of the Web's biggest media sellers, AOL TW is also one of its biggest buyers, and much of their online advertising reach is achieved through house ads delivered through their own properties, which could be seen to skew the data in their favor to an incomparable degree.

DoubleClick to Offer Media Buying Automation (internet.com, September 6th)
In an effort to make its product more attractive to time-strapped and control-oriented ad agencies, online ad player DoubleClick has teamed up with Adgile Interactive to provide media buyers with an automated system through which to plan, track and execute online buys.

Study Details Decline in Ad Spending (NY Times, September 5th)
CMR New York has revealed that the ad spending decline that is continuing to plague the industry has seen spending in traditional media fall a significant 5.9% for the first half of 2001 when compared to the same period a year before.

HBO Promotes Band of Brothers with Out-of-Banner Ads (internet.com, September 5th)
Just as Universal and others have experimentd with beyond-the-banner 'takeover' ad creatives designed in Flash, HBO has embarked on a large-scale effort to attract the online audience to its incredibly expensive new series.

Cross-Media Salvation (ClickZ, September 5th)
As the tides have turned on the so-called 'new economy revolution', media sellers have finally begun to recognise that the internet is simply another communications medium - albeit an incredible powerful and democratizing one - it becomes essential that we snare our fair share of the media buying pie. In order to gain back the respect and business of traditional advertisers, Jeffrey Graham suggests the importance of building relationships that focus on reality, ROIs and the capacity to make cross-media buys with a minimum of fuss.

The Case of the Missing Affiliate Traffic (E-Commerce Guide, September 5th)
Most affiliate marketer would have, by now, heard of the growing threat posed by theftware (aka scumware, or 'contextual advertising' to the participants). For those who haven't, or who have not yet grasped exactly how it is that these widely-distributed applications could negatively affect your traffic and revenue streams, Cynthia Arko has presented a nice introduction to the menace.

A Billboard in the Palm of Your Hand (CNET News.com, September 5th)
In an attempt to boost the lagging wireless advertising and device manufacturing markets, companies have devised a number of experimental advertising and marchandise formats to run on handhelds. These include embossed and/or branded cases, fashion accessories, mobile games used to promote media products and similar, suggesting that not all advertisers are willing to limit their wireless exposure simply to the SMS and WAP standards endorsed by the Wireless Advertising Association.

Thinking Outside the Box: Floating Ads Hit the Mainstream (TurboAds, September 5th)
Landing on several popular web destinations earlier this year in test runs that were lauded as great successes in many cases, attention-grabbing 'takeover' ads were seen as a saviour to the declining online ad rates commanded by websites. Here, Pamela Parker notes that having gauged the formidable response rates attracted by such creatives, buyers are ready to increase their exposure to those ads that break the banner border.

Pop-Under Ad King Marks Milestone (internet.com, September 5th)
FastClick's Chief Sales & Marketing Officer Jeff Hirsh has remarked that his company has continued to see interest in the oft-criticised pop-under ad format increase exponentially throughout the three quarters that the company has supported the format. In an important sign of the company's strength and the durability of the popunder, FastClick reportedly served its 2 billionth popunder window last tuesday.

24/7 Media Europe Closes Down (EuropeMedia.net, September 5th)
After failing in its extended and well-publicised attempt to lure a buyer to its lossy European division, 24/7 Media has finally been forced to wind down their business in Europe. The more direct reason being for the speedy closure of the arm is the failure of the firm to appoint directors who met the approval of the company's financial backers.

Double the Branding for Half the Price (ClickZ, September 4th)
Martin Lindstrom investigates just how effective the common banner ad may be in brand-building, as opposed to being used simply as lead-acquisition tools in direct-marketing campaigns.

Mediaplex, Personify Team For One-Stop-Shop Offering (internet.com, September 4th)
Endeavouring to simplify the booking and management of interactive ad campaigns, Mediaplex (whose acquisition by ValueClick is in process) will align with marketing technology player Personify in order to provide media buyers with a central platform that combines the delivery, tracking and retargeting of a campaign while reporting activity on-the-fly.

Lions Gate Films Taps Out-of-Banner Media for "O" Promotion (internet.com, September 4th)
Calling on the services of digital media specialist L90 in the development of the online portion of its campaign to market its violent, teen-oriented cinematic Shakespeare adaptation, Lions Gate Films has employed several rich-media 'takeover' variants in an attempt to build buzz about the film leading up to its release.

AOL Pulling Sagging Ad Industry Along (internet.com, September 4th)
While reporting on the state of online advertising at present, Merrill Lynch analysts have put AOL's share of online ad revenues a 45% of the entire market, while noting that GoTo.com and Homestore are amongst the other winners. The company has, though, downgraded its estimates of overall online ad earnings for both this year and 2002 in the midst of a longer-than-expected downturn in spending.

Think Global, Spend Local (eMarketer, September 3rd)
Regional newspapers, television stations and radio networks have never underestimated the power held by the small-medium enterprise market. Now, with technologies improving the ability for promotional offers to be targeted directly at net users from certain geographical locations, the small business market is expected to add some $5 billion to the online advertising sector's annual revenue intake by 2006.