• Plus: 4 ways to make online videos that sell; ad budgets migrating outside the U.S.; marketers fumbling with their big data; and more

    Tablet consumers rule, and here are eight ways to target them: Tablet consumers are the most valuable online consumers, spending 50% more per purchase than smartphone customers, and 20% more than desktop and laptop consumers, says a report by Adobe Digital Marketing. How do you reach these big spenders? Don't build a standalone tablet strategy, because other digital media still attract larger numbers of consumers. Instead, build an integrated online strategy that includes a strong tablet plan and dovetails with your efforts across other channels and devices. Here are eight ways to do that.

    Four keys to making online videos that sell: Stop making oddball videos and praying that they'll go viral. Less than 4% of videos on YouTube draw more than 100,000 views. Aim to make a video that reaches a targeted audience; wins them over with humor, creativity and good storytelling; and drives them to act on your message. Here are four tips from Ogilvy's Robert John Davis and Jeremy Sanchez for crafting videos that can draw a crowd for your brand message or product.

    Ad budgets shifting to emerging markets: Sixty percent of global marketers are shifting budgets to markets outside the U.S. for growth, says a survey by the World Federation of Advertisers. The U.S. remains a key player in digital marketing—especially in social media strategies---but other regions are becoming known as leaders in other disciplines. Asia leads the world in mobile marketing, the survey says, and Europe and Australia rival the U.S. in integrated marketing and creative advertising practices. Those surveyed think the U.S. is self-obsessed; 90% of marketers outside say they pay attention to U.S. marketing, while 11% said they thought U.S. marketers note what's going on in the rest of the world.

    Marketers are failing to use "big data": Advertisers are building mountains of data about consumers from social media and other digital sources, but they're largely failing to exploit this "Big Data," according to a study by Columbia University Business School. Much of the problem stems from how they handle that data: About 39% said they can't turn data collected from digital sources into actionable insights; 45% said they aren't using data to effectively personalize marketing communications; and 51% said there is a lack of sharing data across their organizations.

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  • Now offering each other's non-reserved display inventory to respective customers

    It's official---the ad partnership among Yahoo!, AOL and Microsoft that was announced last November is now operational. The three companies said today that they are offering each other's premium, non-reserved online display inventory to their advertising customers through their respective ad networks---Yahoo! Network Plus, Microsoft Media Network and AOL's advertising.com.

    The partnership was formed to help streamline the media-buying process by providing more efficient access to premium online ad inventory. The partnership is expected to extend the reach of the companies' advertisers, while offering better yields for their publishing partners.

    "We're thrilled to partner with Microsoft and AOL and bring to market what we believe will be a more efficient, effective and more effortless way to access true premium inventory and formats," said Ross Levinsohn, Yahoo! EVP of the Americas, when the partnership was

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  • Plus: ecommerce reaches $8 trillion; Taco Bell turns 50; newspapers "print" money online, and more

    $489 billion: Global ad spend in 2012, according to ZenithOptimedia as reported in AdAge. ZenithOptimedia had previously predicted that global ad spend would grow 4.7% in 2012. The firm recently revised that to 4.8%. If you think a tenth of a percent can't make a difference, you clearly aren't thinking at scale.

    Mmm... Tacos...

    $8 trillion: The current per-year revenue of all ecommerce, according to ARI Registry Services' CEO Adrian Kinderis. The number of Web searches performed each year, says Kinderis, is 131 billion. Kinderis was writing in CMO.com about the new top-level domains—".crisco," ".taco," ".pepsi," etc.—due to hit the tubes in 2013. He says that these are bound to shake up the world of search and search marketing. It may not be a Mayan calendar apocalypse, but one should be prepared.

    50: How old Taco Bell will be on March 21 of this year. We say happy birthday to the 6,446-store franchise and its more than 175,000 employees. To celebrate, Taco Bell recently went mobile with its Doritos Locos Tacos campaign at the SXSW fiesta in Austin, Texas.

    $19.4 billion: The total amount of print newspaper revenue in 2012. That's predicted to be down 6% from last year, according to eMarketer. The silver lining? Newspaper website advertising is expected to increase 11.6%.

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  • Let's play "guess the brief" with Republican campaign logos

    Editor's Note: The Yahoo! Advertising blog recently asked several agency leaders one question: "What are some key trends you're seeing in political advertising this election season?" Here is the response from JB Osborne, CEO of the Red Antler agency, who analyzes the Republican candidate's logos for their effect. The opinions expressed herein are those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Yahoo!, its employees or Scott Thompson's cat.

    I'm not an expert in politics. But as someone who runs a branding and design consultancy, I'm always curious to see how politicians position themselves through a brand experience. Traditionally, presidential campaigns have seemed to be a game of repetition and slogans. Visually, the experience for voters is like a blunt force trauma to the head while the candidates corral them toward a voting booth.

    Looking at the current Republican candidates while they fight through the primaries, I thought it would be interesting to try a game of "guess the brief." In short, what might the conversation have been like that led to the logo, color palette and identity experience that the candidates are presenting to voters, and does it connect with how they're positioned in the race?

    While I won't comment on their policy positions, here's my take on the four horses still in the race with regard to their logo and brand:

    Ron Paul: I know I'm a bit of a renegade, but I don't want to look too out there. So let's convey a sense of trust and authority, but at the same time, I want activation and energy built into the logo. Take the old system and breath new life into it. The 'A' in 'PAUL' is for America—the fireworks of progress.

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  • Infographic: Targeting Hispanics

    Half of U.S. Hispanics think your ads are just not right for them

    You can't ignore 48.5 million people. That's how many Hispanics resided in the United States as of July 1, 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 2015, Hispanics will increase from 13% to 16% of the U.S. population, and their spending power will increase from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion, according to recent research by Yahoo! and Mindshare.

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  • Digital Content NewFronts: News from Yahoo!

    AdAge and Cynopsis Digital talk with Y! execs about NewFronts

    As you may have read, "Digital Content NewFronts are the new Upfronts." This event, which begins April 19 and goes through May 2, lets digital content powerhouses shop their wares to the world's best brands. Yahoo!'s NewFront happens April 25.

    Needless to say, the media world is abuzz with, well, buzz about Digital Content NewFronts.

    AdAge's Michael Learmonth today posted a piece that told the story behind NewFronts and how our friends at Digitas helped bring it about. Learmouth quotes Yahoo! SVP, Media Network, Mickie Rosen. "We already produce nine of the top 10 shows on the internet," Mickie told Learmouth. "We have more unique views on our shows than Hulu has on its site. It's our chance to retell that story."

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  • New Ad Land Cartoon: Smartphone Strategy

    Should the smartphone take on even more. The smartphone says yes.

    Your phone is now your personal concierge -- it's your camera, your email, your walkie talkie, your telegraph, your personal tour guide, your G.P.S, your financial adviser, your music player and so much more. How much more can it take on? Can your phone also be your safe and secure wallet, eliminating the need for dead tree money? The phone says yes.

    See the full cartoon after the jump.

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  • The Five Best Things in Social Media

    This week: Evil warlord Kony gets the "tweetment;" Facebook co-founder on "superficial virality;" social's not all that political; social zombies and more

    1. Best campaign against an evil warlord

    KonyUgandan rebel warlord Joseph Kony has been all over the news this week thanks to social media and, more specifically, the documentary about him that has been shared, tweeted, re-shared and re-tweeted across the social mediasphere. As of the time of this writing "KONY 2012" has been streamed nearly 58 million times. Because of this digital outcry, things are happening, and fast. Some are saying it's a scam. The government of Uganda is calling for Kony's head. Regardless of which direction the scales tip, these events show that social media has power and, similarly, that your opinion counts.

    2. Best repudiation of clichéd social media ideals

    Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes recently acquired a majority stake in the troubled, century-old, left-of-center political sheet, The New Republic. What did the social media pioneer say about social media? "It seems that today too many media institutions chase superficial metrics of online virality at the expense of investing in rigorous reporting and analysis of the most important stories of our time." He said it. We didn't.

    3. Best underrated political news source

    According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, only 6% of Americans "regularly" get their political news via Facebook and only 3% via Twitter. Fact is, political junkies, cable TV still leads the hack pack, with 36% of respondents reporting that's where they get the lion's share of political news. But what of online? Well, Yahoo! News, according to the poll, is the #2 source for all things political.

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  • March Madness Brackets Become Big Business

    Yahoo! Sports leads the way with Tourney Pick'em contest, expert analysis and premium content that advertisers want to be a part of

    When it began in 1939, the NCAA basketball tournament was a quiet little affair, with just eight participating teams and the championship game played in a tiny gym on the campus of Northwestern University outside Chicago. Only 15,000 people in total attended the eight games of the tournament.

    In 2012, the games are still played by college athletes, but virtually everything else about the tournament has gone big-time. "March Madness" is a gigantic money-making enterprise that consumes a nation for three weeks and, during the first two days of wall-to-wall hoops, pretty much brings work to a standstill in offices all around the U.S.

    Tourney Pick'em, sponsored by DiGiorno

    Yahoo! has unapologetically been one of the catalysts of this growth. In 1999, we were one of the first websites to offer a "Pick 'Em" game in which users made bracket predictions and competed for bragging rights and prizes. This year, we expect millions of people to compete for the grand prize of $5 million (for a perfect bracket) and a guaranteed $10,000 for the best bracket.

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  • Infiniti draws inspiration—and color—from Yahoo!'s Homepage canvas to turn it into a digital showroom for the G37

    Infiniti would like to introduce you to its 328-HP G37 sedan with a GForce custom rich media experience front and center on Yahoo.com.

    The sedan starts out in the 300 x 250 unit on the right but then promptly revs up and zooms across, around, and through the homepage before pulling up to the curb right in front of you.

    In an original piece of custom wizardry you'll only find on Yahoo!, the G37 gives itself a paint job by absorbing the color from the rest of the page before peeling a U and parking inside the right-side unit.

    Read More »

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