Gawker: valleywag, publicis

Yahoo launches APT ad-buying tool, confuses agency friends

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:20:00 EDT

Yahoo's marketing department didn't like "Apex," and their choice, AMP, was already taken, so when Yahoo finally announced its new display advertising dashboard for sales representatives yesterday, the company decided to call it APT. The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News have already signed up, reports the Wall Street Journal. Yahoo's friends at ad agencies Publicis, WPP and Havas plan to hold off on using it, though.

Mostly because each has already announced plans to develop dashboards of their own — in partnership with Yahoo — and they're confused about the new tool. "For us, we've already got something going with Yahoo, and I'm not sure this changes that strategy," one agency exec told the WSJ. "The news is more a continued statement along the line that digital media is really hard to buy. We need to make it easier."

World's most annoying online-ads startup loses executive

Owen Thomas — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 14:20:00 EDT

Ah, schadenfreude: Vibrant Media, the company responsible for those "IntelliTXT" ads that appear disguised as hyperlinks in the middle of articles and pop up if you accidentally mouse over them, is enduring executive turmoil. Sean Finnegan, an advertising executive who joined the company as "chief media officer" in January, is leaving the startup for Publicis. Such a big title, such a short stint! But Vibrant's executive ranks are stuffed with ridiculously puffy titles. A suggestion for Vibrant: Try making your ads, and your business cards, less obnoxious.

Google sells the search marketing business it never wanted to own

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:40:00 EDT

As promised, Google has found a buyer for Performics, the search-marketing business it acquired when it bought DoubleClick. French ad conglomerate Publicis will take the Chicago-based company off Google's hands for an amount that so far remains undisclosed — probably because the fire-sale price will be low enough to be immaterial to both companies. [Reuters]

Publicis sees rapacious demand for new ad networks

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Ad agency conglomerate Publicis Groupe announced it will create a new "open source" ad network running on inventory from AOL's Platform-A, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. Everyone knows the world does not need yet another ad network, so why is Publicis doing it? We asked AdWeek's Brian Morrissey. The five-word version: Because its scared of Google.

It's a way for the buy side to match what's happening on the sell side. The sell side is consolidating in these big platforms and Publicis thinks it needs to organize its buying to hook into these platforms so Google doesn't have all the data. Clients have lots of data. Their agencies need to be able to organize that data to better run campaigns.

Very informative, no? We asked Morrissey if anybody's ever told him he should write about the ad industry for a living. "If Twitter doesn't work out, totally looking into it."

Madison Avenue's digital future: outsourced to Bulgaria

Nicholas Carlson — Thu, 22 May 2008 10:00:00 EDT

AvVenta Worldwide does the production work behind digital ads for General Motors, Microsoft and Bank of America and it expects to earn us much as $22 million in revenues this year — all while charging 20 percent to 50 percent less than the competition. How? Outsourcing! AvVenta, founded in 2005, has 415 employees in far-away locales such as Costa Rica, Ukraine, the UK and even South Carolina. As the Wall Street Journal reports: "Outsourcing has hit Madison Avenue." Big agencies are getting in on it, too. Publicis, for example, has created a outsourcing digital-production company called Prodigious Worldwide. Says Publicis CEO Maurice Levy:

We're not there yet in terms of large-scale output production. We believe that not only must we learn now as it's still in its infancy, and above all be ready when we — when the economies of scale kick in.

Muxtape-jamming creative types at the digital agencies in Madison Avenue and San Francisco's financial district need not worry about their jobs yet. The Journal reports these agencies don't trust the ferners with ad copy, pictures, music or anything else that goes into "creative." Well, at least not yet, they don't. (Photo by LYDIA and her SALAD DAYS)

Digital made Madison Avenue's year

Nicholas Carlson — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:40:00 EDT

2007 was supposed to be the start of an advertising-industry downturn. But growth in agency revenues slowed from 8.8 percent in 2006 to 8.6 percent growth in 2007, according to AdAge's annual survey, and it's large part due to ever-increasing digital spends. The world's four largest agencies — Omnicom Group, WPP Group, Interpublic Group and Publicis Groupe — earned 12.3 percent of their revenue online in 2007. Digital accounted for 10.2 percent of the revenues for all U.S. agencies taking part in the survey.

Google and Publicis swap execs, wet kisses

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:00:00 EST

Google is more than just a "frenemy," Publicis CEO Maurice Levy told gathered reporters yesterday, after surprising them with a visit from Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Levy said that the search engine and advertising conglomerate plan to swap executives and work together to develop new products and tools. Know what you call that? Frenemies with benefits. Leading the lovefest will be ad-sales executives Tim Armstong and Penry Price from Google and Digitas CEO David Kenny for Publicis. Hawt.