Facebook Test Mines Real-Time Conversations for Ad Targeting

• This month — and for the first time — Facebook started to mine real-time conversations to target ads. The delivery model is being tested by only 1% of Facebook users worldwide. On Facebook, that’s a focus group 6 million people strong.
• The closest Facebook has come to real-time advertising has been with its most recent ad offering, known as sponsored stories, which repost users’ brand interactions as an ad on the side bar. But for the 6 million users involved in this test, any utterance will become fodder for real-time targeted ads.
• For example: Users who update their status with “Mmm, I could go for some pizza tonight,” could get an ad or a coupon from Domino’s, Papa John’s or Pizza Hut.
• To be clear, Facebook has been delivering targeted ads based on wall posts and status updates for some time, but never on a real-time basis. In general, users’ posts and updates are collected in an aggregate format, adding them to target audiences based on the data collected over time. Keywords are a small part of that equation, but Facebook says sometimes keywords aren’t even used. The company said delivering ads based on user conversations is a complex algorithm continuously perfected and changed. The real aim of this test is to figure out if those kinds of ads can be served at split-second speed, as soon as the user makes a statement that is a match for an ad in the system. (www.adage.com)

Could Combined Data From AT&T, T-Mobile Be Powerful Ad Tool?

• On the surface, AT&T’s $39 billion acquisition of rival T-Mobile would not seem to have huge implications for the fledgling but fast-growing mobile advertising space—unless the two companies decide to leverage all that customer data to run more targeted mobile ad campaigns, say industry experts.
• Currently, while AT&T does maintain its own in-house mobile ad network (AT&T Advanced Ad Solutions), neither it nor T-Mobile is a major ad seller. A few years ago, media companies and advertisers embarking on mobile campaigns had little choice but to vie for space on each carriers’ “decks,” i.e., their walled garden-like portals. But the importance of such positioning has waned. “On deck [advertising] is no longer a force,” said Eric Bader, chief strategy officer at Initiative and former president of the mobile marketing firm BrandinHand.
• That’s because with the emergence of smartphones like the iPhone, mobile users surf the Web just as they would on PCs and don’t need their hands held by the wireless carriers the way they might on basic “feature” cell phones. And smartphone users surf the Web way more than feature phone users do. (www.brandweek.com)

Teen Dream: Driver’s Ed, Courtesy of Mercedes

• Marketing 101 (along with actual demographic research) teaches that brand loyalty tends to be established at a young age—the painfully image-conscious adolescent years, especially. This is why a number of nervier adult brands have rolled out youth extensions: Pink by Victoria’s Secret, for instance, or Teen Vogue, or U.K. brand King of Shaves’ recently introduced Kings 1965, a line of shaving products targeted at teen boys hard at work on their first whiskers. Well, get ready youth of America: Mercedes-Benz is the latest grown-up brand to want you.
• No, the iconic German automaker isn’t cranking out a new line of skateboards. Rather, Mercedes-Benz USA just announced the creation of a teen driving school that’ll open later this year (cost and location undisclosed). The project is a pond jump from the U.K.-based Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy—also aimed at youth—that opened in 2009. Some 4,500 peach-faced motorists have taken that course, which surely beats the sleep-inducing 30-hour class we all endured during high school. Seventy-nine percent of the U.K. school grads passed their road test on the first try, which is nearly double the U.K. average of 43 percent.
• Of course, Mercedes’ stated aim for the U.S. teen-driving school is to turn out safe drivers, not the next Dale Earnhardt. “The skills required to simply get a license do not fully prepare young drivers to meet the demands of the road,” according to Daimler AG’s senior manager Alexander Hobbach—and who are we to doubt the man?
• But let’s separate out the parts here. Most teen boys in America are as likely to get a chance to test the 4.3-second, 0-to-60 acceleration of a Mercedes coupe as they are to get a date with one of the Kardashians. So once you give Junior a spin around the track with 451 horses under the hood and his hands on that leather Alcantara-grip steering wheel, tell us: When he grows up, what brand of car do you think he’ll want to buy? (www.brandweek.com)

Burned by Daily-Deal Craze, Small Businesses Get Savvy

• The small businesses that feed the “deal a day” websites are getting more sophisticated in how they structure their offers, and with whom. In the past, merchants regularly absorbed as much as 75% of a deal’s cost and often saw little in the way of repeat business.
• Now, with a glut of Groupon clones competing for their attention, merchants are carefully negotiating better revenue splits and tweaking the fine print of their offerings to make deals work in their favor. That, in turn, could tighten margins in what has been a fast-growing business.
• The lure for small businesses is the amount of potential customers they can reach with little effort. Groupon, for example, operates in more than 500 markets and has over 60 million users.
• “We used to just do a deal with everyone that approached us,” said Dani Zoldan, principal of New York comedy club Stand Up NY, which has relationships with more than a dozen deal sites. “We’ve become more sophisticated on how to structure the deal.” (www.wsj.com)

 Imax to Open 75 New Theaters in China

• Imax has reached a deal valued at about $100 million to open 75 new theaters in China, a move that underscores the degree to which the movie exhibition business is surging there.
• Imax, the large-format film company, said late Wednesday that it would team with China’s largest theater operator, Wanda Cinema Line Corporation, to build the theaters by 2014. Imax currently has 45 theaters open in China, with an additional 57 in the works. The company expects to have 300 theaters operating in China by 2016.
• “As disposable income has increased in China, the demand for entertainment — particularly a movie experience — has dramatically increased,” said Richard L. Gelfond, Imax’s chief executive. “To meet that demand, the creation of a more robust exhibition infrastructure is crucial.”
• Terms were not disclosed. Imax investors with knowledge of how the company conducts business overseas estimated that building the theaters would jointly cost Imax and Wanda about $100 million. The new theaters in aggregate could add about $25 million in annual revenue to Imax. The company’s total revenue last year was $250 million. (www.nytimes.com)

Birthday Greetings From an ‘Idol’ Contestant to Build the Brand

• FOR “American Idol,” having more than five million followers on Facebook is encouraging, but there is something besides devotion the show wants from Facebook users: cash.
• Beginning Friday, Facebook users will be encouraged to spend $1 to send each other video messages recorded by the 10 finalists on the show. The videos, through a partnership with an application called Cameo Stars, will feature the contestants sending birthday wishes or a poke, a common Facebook greeting.
• Cameo Stars films subjects in front of a green screen and does not embed videos in a player, meaning contestants appear to be speaking directly from profile pages of Facebook users.
• “For this particular product, there is a feeling that it’s customized for you because it’s being delivered to you on your own page and because a character is walking toward you and talking toward the camera,” said Olivier Delfosse, vice president for interactive at FremantleMedia Enterprises, which co-produces American Idol in the United States with 19 Productions. (www.nytimes.com)

EA Launches Madden NFL Football in 3D

• Electronic Arts announced today that Madden NFL Football, the first EA Sports title available for Nintendo in 3D, hits retail stores throughout North America Sunday. 
Madden NFL Football brings each of the 32 NFL teams and stadiums to life with gameplay optimized for viewing in 3D. 

• The new game joins existing EA Sports titles including Madden NFL football, FIFA Soccer, NHL hockey, NBA Elite basketball, NCAA Football and NCAA Basketball, Fight Night boxing, EA Sports MMA and Tiger Woods PGA Tour golf. (www.licensemag.com)

IMG Signs Muhammad Ali

• IMG Licensing signed an agreement with Muhammad Ali Enterprises to represent the legendary boxer for consumer products licensing.
• Under the multi-year agreement, IMG Licensing will exclusively represent the Muhammad Ali brand in Europe and Asia, seeking opportunities in both traditional sports categories including memorabilia and apparel, as well as new business areas.
• “Ali is simply the greatest boxer ever and IMG Licensing is honored to be entering into this partnership with Muhammad Ali Enterprises,” says Bruno Maglione, executive vice president and global managing director at IMG Licensing. “Ali’s inspiring personal journey, his achievements both in and out of the ring and his devotion to humanitarian efforts are all material for branded concepts and product ideas that can generate interest from Ali fans old and new.” (www.licensemag.com)

Bacardi sign Nadal to promote responsible drinking

• Tennis star Rafael Nadal will be encouraging responsible drinking after signing a deal with Bacardi to become a company ambassador.
• World number one Nadal will lead Bacardi’s ‘Champions Drink Responsibly’ campaign as part of this personal endorsement deal.
• The multi-faceted campaign will be run across advertisements, public relations, consumer initiatives and social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.
• Nadal said: “I enjoy socialising with my friends and family and drinking responsibly is important no matter what your game is. That is why I’m teaming up with Bacardi Limited, as I want to take the lead in promoting social responsibility to fans and consumers around the world.” (www.sportspromedia.com)

U.S. Census Is All About Hispanic, Local

• This is a very big year for the Census and not just for the obvious reason that new national Census numbers are forthcoming. The new data, which will be trickling out in coming days, reveal some profound shifts in demographic trends that will have major implications for marketers: You had better start thinking local.
• It might help marketers that for the very first time, the Census will be putting out annual small-area data. The yearly data will look at occupational distribution, educational attainment, commuting patterns, housing, and socioeconomic status, according to Robert Groves, director of the U.S. Census Bureau.
• “This has never happened before,” noted Groves. “In prior years, we offered a big dose of data every 10 years, which became less and less valuable as the years passed.” He said the new product, The American Community Survey, is based on ongoing polling of three million households.
• He says this local data, free to advertisers, will be a valuable tool for targeted marketing. “If I were an advertiser, I’d study patterns in geographic areas and use those data to target messages and in-language media buys for areas with large non-English speaking populations.” (www.mediapost.com)

Top Value: Google #1; Coke Slips From Top 10

• Google has edged out Microsoft as the most valuable brand in the world, while Coca-Cola has dropped out of the top 10 for the first time, according to the BrandFinance Global 500 2011 rankings.  
• Google’s estimated $44.3 billion brand value as of year-end 2010 pushed it up from #2 in last year’s rankings, while Microsoft’s $42.8 billion pushed it up to second place from a #5 ranking last year. The two tech giants superseded last year’s #1 brand, Wal-Mart ($36.2 billion), now ranked third.
• Brand Finance, a leading brand valuation consultancy, calculates brand values using a discounted cash flow technique to discount estimated future royalties at an appropriate discount rate, to arrive at a net present value of the trademark and associated intellectual property. The firm also ranks brands by benchmarking their strength, risk and potential relative to competitors, on a scale ranging from AAA+ to D.
• Google’s AAA+ brand rating reflects its frequent engagement in “comparatively uncommercial” ventures, such as developing services to help rescue efforts following the disasters in New Zealand and Japan and growing its not-for-profit arm, reports Brand Finance. (www.mediapost.com)

Athlon Mags Launch Online Platform

• Athlon Sports is launching a new online group-buying platform that allows college sports fans to get their teams on the cover of Athlon’s college football preseason magazine.
• In partnership with Facebook and Moontoast, which provides the social media e-commerce platform, Athlon is offering fans the opportunity to do a group buy for a special print run using Athlon’s “Custom Covers” service.
• The “Custom Covers” service produces a number of limited-edition versions of its college football pre-season magazine, featuring teams that don’t usually appear on Athlon magazine covers. Schools do a group buy for a special “custom covers” print run. Fans make individual purchases right from Facebook, then Moontoast aggregates those orders into a single buy.
• The deal takes effect when at least 1,000 orders have been received for a particular cover, at a price of $8.99 per magazine. Athlon says it will donate $1 to each school’s general scholarship fund for every magazine sold with that school’s team on the cover. (www.mediapost.com)