Featuring a heart-pounding trailer, a rich media microsite and social features, the custom rich media ad grabs users’ attention while scaring them witless

The new horror film “Mama” concerns two sisters who vanished five years ago. Now they’re back, safe but definitely not sound. Where have they been, and what horror have they brought along with them? The interactive ad on Yahoo! Movies shares enough of the tale to hook users and keeps them hooked with special features like a “Mama” Twitter page where fans can virtually grab each other and hold on.

The film stars Jessica Chastain, recently Oscar nominated for “Zero Dark Thirty,” and marks both the English-language and feature film debut of Spain’s Andrés Muschietti. Based on Muschietti’s 2008 short film of the same name, “Mama” was shepherded to the big screen by executive producer Guillermo del Toro (“The Devil's Backbone,” “Hellboy,” “Pan's Labyrinth”).

Get ready for a wave of simple, handmade, authentic, humanely sourced marketing

First, “native advertising” hit the marketing scene late last year. Now with artisan products popping up everywhere you go---artisan cheese, bread, pickles, beer, jewelry, shoes, clothes, even underwear---our David T. Jones predicts that it’s only a matter of minutes before advertising goes artisanal, too.

The new Ad Land cartoon envisions how ad creatives will usher in a new world of simple, authentic, humanely sourced advertising. So drop that Twinkie and see how it plays out in David’s raw, handmade, and untransformed cartoon.

The chief investment officer at Starcom MediaVest Group Exchange talks about redefining scale, demonstrating results and accountability, and winning Chicago’s most esteemed advertising award

Editor’s Note: John Muszynski has spent his entire 32-year advertising career in Chicago, starting out as a media planner at Leo Burnett working on brands such as Kellogg’s and McDonalds, progressing to CEO of Starcom USA, and now serving as chief investment officer at Starcom MediaVest Group Exchange. The Ad Blog asked John about measuring results in a fragmented market, building new organizations from scratch, and sharing ad business lessons learned with students from his alma mater, Elmhurst College.

Yahoo! Ad Blog: Congratulations on receiving the Chicago Advertising Federation’s 2012 Silver Medal award. Looking back on your career, what are you proudest of? Is there anything you’d do differently?

John Muszynski: Thank you so much. It's an honor to be recognized by a community I've considered to be family for 32 years. When I look back on my career, there are really two achievements that make me proud, and both revolve around the people I've had the honor to work with over the years. It's humbling to know that I've been accepted as a business partner by many of the industry's top marketers---Kellogg, Allstate, Disney, etc.---and been able to work alongside these organizations and their leadership to help build their businesses. The second achievement that I'm most proud of is the ability to watch the people I've mentored and trained excel and become leaders of their own teams and agencies.

Now, in terms of something that I'd do differently, I'm not sure there is something I'd do differently per se, but perhaps more of ... and that is work on accelerating change in the marketplace. It's what I'm working on now and what we're doing as part of SMGx, so rather than say "do differently," I'd say "do more of" because we are certainly not done.

No longer a laggard, the U.S. will finally start gaining on rest of world in mobile commerce, says Rosetta’s Gary Scheiner

Editor’s note: Introducing “Mobile Matters,” where we seek opinions from industry leaders on the top issues, challenges and opportunities in the fast-changing world of mobile marketing.

What’s the biggest opportunity in mobile marketing this year? Here’s what Gary Scheiner, managing partner and chief creative officer of Rosetta, an interactive marketing agency, had to say:

I believe commerce presents one of the biggest growth opportunities for mobile in the next 18 months. It won't be easy, and I don't believe it will take off like wildfire anytime soon, but 2013 will lay a much more significant foundation for mobile commerce in the U.S. than in any previous year.

Here are a few reasons why. Statistics show that more and more people are watching TV with their mobile devices in hand. And shoppers don't go anywhere without their smartphones at the ready. Smart marketers will continue to capitalize on these trends by offering up opportunities to window shop (place products in carts for consideration later), research, and transact.

Make 2013 the year you tighten your ads, build your keyword lists, and firm up your SEM results

Editor’s Note: Chelsea Boryca, senior creative strategist at Yahoo! Search, shares proven ways that marketers on the Yahoo! Bing network can boost their performance and results in 2013.

Most people make New Year’s resolutions to hit the gym and get in shape. If you’re a search engine marketer, you probably added another vow: Make 2013 your strongest year in search ever. You have new search goals, budgets, and a steely determination to take your search campaigns to the next level. But where do you start? That’s where we can help.

Here are five tips that will help you whip your search campaigns into shape and beef up your results in the New Year:

Second-screen technology, 360° digital campaigns, and math class pay-offs

Editor's Note: What's on the minds of media planners? That's what our "Meet a Media Planner" series aims to uncover as we chat with media and search planners at agencies across the country. Today we’d like to introduce you to Syuzi Gorgoyan, a media planner at Universal McCann in Los Angeles. Syuzi has been working for UM since she graduated from college in 2010. She started as a group coordinator, but quickly moved up to assistant planner and then to her current role, which services the Sony Pictures Home Entertainment account. Although the number-crunching aspects of her job are immensely fulfilling, Syuzi admits that the free movie screenings she “has” to sometimes attend aren’t so bad either.

Yahoo! Ad Blog: Did you come out of college knowing you wanted to be a media planner?

Syuzi Gorgoyan: I knew I wanted to get into advertising, but I thought I would get into more of the creative side of it. To be completely honest, I just applied everywhere but when I ended up at UM, I immediately fell in love with the agency and the job. Even now, there’s rarely a day I don’t wake up and feel excited about coming to work.

YAB: What have been some of the most challenging parts of the job you’ve encountered so far?

SG: One challenge has just been finding ways to break through all the clutter and make sure our campaigns and the technology we use are as integrated as possible. I love how some of the second-screen devices and tablet second-screen opportunities really integrate everything together, especially with TV.

Two-thirds of consumers say they notice mobile ads, and one-third of mobile ad views result in a click

Mobile devices give shoppers the power to make purchase decisions on the go, and this week’s infographic shows marketers just how consumers are wielding that power, especially in the top three mobile search categories: autos, travel and dining out.

Based on the data presented in the infographic, you might say that mobile shoppers are:

• Locally focused – 50% of all mobile searches are local (versus 20% of desktop searches), and most search actions occur within a week
• Looking for grub – 30%-to-50% of all restaurant searches are mobile
• In want of wheels – 51% of mobile auto searches resulted in a purchase
• Need to crash – More than 60% of mobile hotel bookings were for the same day

The most surprising stats? That with all this action in mobile search, only 6% of the auto industry and 8% of the travel industry have mobile-friendly sites. Jump on over to see the whole infographic.

Dramatic ad lets users “unfurl” the homepage and try out Toyotas in a rich-media adventureland

Toyota is “Embracing the spirit of adventure. Not just for the sake of getting there, but for the sake of going there.” To bring that marketing motto to life, Toyota has made an adventure out of Yahoo!’s homepage canvas with a custom takeover that literally unfolds before your very eyes.

The ad-venture begins when the user lands on the page and sees a corner of the live page content peel back next to the 300x250 ad unit on the right. “Expand to Explore” kick starts the road trip.