The first of the adverts inserted into the news stream will automatically begin playback without the user having to click the play button, it’s said. However, if they choose to click to turn on audio, the clip will restart from the beginning.

Facebook will supposedly feature trial commercials from members of its advisory client council board, which also includes Unilver, Nestlé, and Diago. The social site established the group in mid-2011, with around twelve sitting members with which it experiments with potential monetization strategies.

In addition to defaulting to a volume-free experience, Facebook will also test the waters with a limited portfolio of ads. At least initially, the site will only show commercial video content from one advertiser in any one day; it will be charging brands “low $20s” per thousand views, whether or not audio was started, the insiders claim.

Although users may well be turned off by the new advertising content, the potential for strong returns may well prove too great for Facebook to resist. The company could see a $1.5m uptick in revenues each day when the system is rolled out, based on initial inventory, it’s said, on top of the existing income from standard image-based adverts.

[via The Inquirer]

In addition to the acquisition announcement that was made at the Brandcast, some information on YouTube’s audience was provided by Nielsen, which revealed that the video service pulls in more viewers in the 18 to 34 age range than any cable network out there, something sure to catch the eye of more than a few advertisers. The aforementioned AwesomenessTV is one such network that helps bolster those numbers.

Perhaps it is for this reason that the ANA Alliance for Family Entertainment revealed plans to buy media from 32 channels on YouTube. Specifically, it has made plans to purchase family-friendly content, though additional information wasn’t provided, such as which content that represents or when the purchase will take place.

The Alliance for Family Entertainment, more commonly called the AFE, is composed of almost 40 advertisers across the nation, all of which, when combined, represent 37-percent of all money spent on TV advertisements in the United States. What all of this boils down to, says YouTube, is the so-called Generation C, which is composed of an audience fully entrenched in social media and content creation, influencing billions of dollars in consumer spending.

[via YouTube Blogspot]

The ad takes place at a wedding, where everyone in the audience naturally pops out their smartphones (and tablets, in one instance) to take a picture of the moment. However, this leads to name-calling and sarcastic taunts to other guests. Obviously, an all-out fight ensues as people argue over what the better mobile platform is, while Windows Phone users casually stand there using their Nokia Lumia 920 devices.

Microsoft feeds off of the oft-forgotten mobile platform in the mobile wars, and uses that to their advantage, touting that if you have a Windows Phone device, there’s no need to argue over which mobile platform is the best, because Microsoft argues that you have the best in your hand in the first place.

It seems that more and more companies are aiming their sights at competitors and downplaying the features on these devices rather than market their own products and demo some of the features on their own smartphones and tablets. We get that Microsoft thinks they’re not included in the mobile wars because they’re already the best, but they fail to really list why they’re the best.

Tumblr is partnering with several companies to bring these sponsored posts to mobile, which include ABC, GE, Pepsi, and Warner Bros. The social blogging company says that these ads will get around the same exposure as posts that have been re-blogged by friends, although some of the ads will be animated, which makes us believe that they’ll be more obtrusive than users would like.

These new mobile ads also come almost a full year after Tumblr posted its first sponsored post. Since that time, Tumblr’s partners “have created some truly delightful blogs and racked up tens of millions notes on their posts.” Based upon “how well these creations can fit into our Dashboards,” the company decided to roll out the same thing for mobile today.

This is an expanded effort from Tumblr to create revenue growth for its business, and it’s said that the company will unsurprisingly continue to think up different ways to bring sponsored content to users, including giving users the opportunity to promote posts, but it seems anything is possible for social blogging platform at this point.

If you’re tweeting about an ice cold glass of Surge soda, you’ll quite likely be seeing an advertisement for Surge soon after. With this update by Twitter, Twitter will be allowing context to play a much bigger part in your everyday advertising adventures. The good news for regular users is that they’ll not see any discernible difference in the amount of advertisements that are popping up.

“Users won’t see any difference in their use of Twitter — we’re not showing ads more frequently in timelines, and users can still dismiss Promoted Tweets they don’t find relevant. In fact, we believe users’ experiences with ads will improve as a result of this feature as they see more relevant Promoted Tweets.” – Twitter

According to Twitter, it appears that advertisers that’ve been using the service thus far in test runs have seen much better engagement when their ads are targeted specifically. Users were “significantly more likely to engage” with these new Promoted Tweets when using keyword targeting then with any other form of Twitter targeting in timelines.

The image above is the screen advertisers will be seeing from this point out when they want to target advertisements based on keywords in your timeline. Make sure you tweet a bunch about your favorite kinds of foods and services!

Although the sources say that Brody has already resigned, it is worth noting that AOL still has him listed on its corporate leadership page. The sources are not certain that the former AOL employee has accepted Yahoo’s job offer, but report that the salary is of a generous nature, and word has it Yahoo will shell out cash to keep Brody on board with the company during his non-compete months – essentially paying him to take a long vacation.

Despite that attempt to take advantage of a loophole that may not exist in the non-compete, the sources say AOL has warned Yahoo it may take legal action in response. However, the former employer has not made any attempts to keep Brody on board, with reasons being cited as an offer from Yahoo that is too large for it to counter. The amount of that offer, however, is not known at this time.

The slot Brody would fill previously belonged to Ross Levinsohn, who left Yahoo in early 2012, leaving a hole in the company that has been temporarily filled by Mark Ellis and Peter Foster, both Vice Presidents of different divisions of Yahoo’s business. Despite the duration it has been without a permanent replacement, such a position is one of importance to the company, and should Brody accept its offer, he’ll become an integral part of helping boost Yahoo.

[via AllThingsD]

There’s three ad spots in the total, all of which are roughly just over 30 seconds long. The first one we see shows off the GALAXY S 4′s “Sound Shot” feature, which allows users to take a picture as well as record surrounding noise in order to give the photo more life and energy. Plus, it makes it feel like you’re actually there.

The second features shown off in the series of commercials is “Group Play,” which allows GALAXY S 4 users to share a song with other GALAXY S 4 users over a wireless connection. However, this method involves turning multiple phones into more speakers, allowing for louder playback of a song, since a single phone can’t output loud volumes all too well.

Lastly, Samsung shows off its S Translater app, which lets users who travel abroad communicate with the locals in the area without needing to know the native language. The feature lets users talk into the phone, and it will repeat the phrase back in a different language. It should definitely come in handy for all the globe trotters out there.

Android Central also got a hold of a one-minute-long GALAXY S 4 commercial that’s a bit different than the three ads above. This one guides you through some of the features of the phone, as well as showing off the exterior and the vivid colors that the display can produce. This ad spot hasn’t been uploaded by Samsung yet, but we should be seeing it show up fairly soon.

[via Android Beat]

General Motors surprised the online industry back in May 2012 by ditching Facebook from its advertising strategy, using only free company profile pages for user-engagement. At the time, sources inside GM claimed that the firm had found paid Facebook promotions “had little impact on consumers” despite rumors of a $10m advertising spend.

In the intervening months, however, Facebook has refined its advertising systems, including introducing its FBX ad-exchange which can push targeted promos directly into the user’s timeline. Another improvement is how mobile adverts are displayed, something which appears to have ticked off some of GM’s requirements too.

“Today, Chevrolet is launching an industry-first, ‘mobile-only’ pilot campaign for the Chevrolet Sonic” Perry confirmed, describing Facebook’s role as being part of “testing a number of mobile-advertising solutions.”

Although GM cut off its advertising drip to Facebook last year, that didn’t stop negotiations between the companies. ”We’ve had an ongoing dialogue with GM over the last 12 months” a Facebook spokesperson confirmed, “and are pleased to have them back as an advertiser on Facebook.”

Still unclear is how much, exactly, General Motors will be spending on its Facebook campaigns. Last year, the car company was believed to have a $40m budget for the social site, only $10m of which actually went on paid advertising.

If you’ll take a peek at our Facebook Phone vs Facebook Home article you’ll find that there are indeed a few differences between the two. With the app download you’ll not be getting notifications from all of your apps the way you will with the HTC first smartphone (see our hands-on here!) With advertisements popping up in the Question and Answer portion of the presentation today, we must assume there’s another big feature difference between the two.

“There are no ads in this [Facebook Home] yet, I’m sure that one day there will be.” – Mark Zuckerberg

After being asked about advertisements and hearing that response, another Facebook team member made it clear that ads would be coming to the Cover Feed portion of the Facebook Home experience. Soon after this, Zuckerberg was asked to repeat whether or not there’d be ads on the Cover Feed – responding with a resounding “yup!”, it was made clear that Facebook believes “[advertisements] are just another kind of content.”

Another question was asked during the Q and A session on searching:

Q: How will what I search for influence the ads I see?

A: Searches will be tracked in your activity log, and search won’t influence ads at all.

So no worries on having your activities tracked in Facebook Home… for advertising through the search bar, anyway. Sound reasonable to you? Let us know if you’re all about the Facebook Home experience right this minute!

Have a peek at our new Facebook Home tag portal as well as our Android Hub – we’re coming at you from all angles!

Because the Voice Ad is showing up on a mobile device, Nuance can offer more granular control over when, and where, it’s visible. That can include GPS positioning, so that advertisers know when you’re near, say, a store where you can buy their product. Nuance also uses automatic volume and microphone sensitivity, so that the ad still works even in areas of high background noise.

Nuance’s example is somewhat basic: the company has created a Magic 8 Ball app which tags on an advert for deodorant at the end. At the moment, it all feels a little stilted and artificial, though the speech recognition works well.

Nuance Voice Ads demo:

We’re probably still some way off from having Siri and other spoken assistant systems throw in a sales pitch for popcorn when they help us find the nearest movie theater, though Nuance says that there’s already significant interest from ad networks in the Voice Ads technology. It’s unclear when we can expect the first Voice Ads to turn up in the wild.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Apple is launching a new marketing campaign that is intended to try and win back some of the professional users who have abandoned Final Cut Pro X, and either went back to Final Cut Pro 7 or switched to a different video editing software entirely. The campaign will also be aimed at getting skeptical users on board with the new video editor.

Apple handled the criticism to Final Cut Pro X with great aplomb, giving users who bought the software a refund if they didn’t like it, and providing new users with free trials before they had to decide whether or not to buy. Many users have noted that Apple dumbed down the video editing software in order to cater towards larger audiences.

Apple will be posting confessional-type stories on its website, two of which will feature Tsui Hark, one of the biggest names in Hong Kong cinema, and TV Azteca, who produces thousands of telenovela episodes each year. It’s not said when exactly the campaign will go live, but it should be fairly soon.

[via Los Angeles Times]

The new service will be an add-on to Facebook’s current Page post link ads. Facebook has clarified that while it will be introducing ads directly to users’ newsfeeds, it won’t increase the total number of ads that appear on their page. As of right now, the new newsfeed ads will only appear on the desktop version of Facebook, and the mobile version should be seeing the changes sometime in the near future.

There are only a small set of Demand Side Platforms (DSPs) that Facebook will be working with at first. They include TellApart, MediaMath, and Nanigans, however more DSPs and advertisers will get their chance to take a shot at the service in the near future. While this new service will be an annoyance to many Facebook users, it will be extremely beneficial to both Facebook and businesses.

Facebook users aren’t going to be left out in the cold however. Facebook users should be receiving Facebook’s new newsfeed and timeline (a love/hate relationship) that should bring a nice, cleaner user interface to the social network. Facebook has also implemented conversation threads onto Facebook Pages so that people can carry out much more organized conversations and debates. There are a lot of new changes coming to Facebook soon, and we may probably hear about more new Facebook features soon. Stay tuned.

[via Facebook]

First off, T-Mobile sent actor and comedian Jason Jones out to Times Square in New York City to ask passers-by whether they would rather sign a two-year contract with a mobile carrier or get a root canal. In typical fashion with any advertisement, many of the people surveyed said they’d rather get a root canal.

Jones even points out how most mobile carriers are symbolically slapping around their customers, and Jones was kind enough to demonstrate such slapping by annoyingly hitting people in the face with his microphone. Either way, the lesson of the story is that most people seem to favor physical pain over paying a monthly fee for 24 months for mobile service. Who would have thought?

The other advertisement is set in the wild west, with a group of cowboys about to take over a small town, but one cowboy (representing T-Mobile) decides enough is enough and trades in his brown cowboy hat for a T-Mobile-colored pink hat and then sets off into the sunset. It’s quite an odd advertisement, but we think T-Mobile gets its point across in a straightforward manner. Do you think Verizon and AT&T are scared yet?

According to various analysts, it’s expected that advertisers are going to spend more of their ad dollars on cable television and web video outlets like Hulu. It’s expected broadcast networks’ dollar volume could drop by 2%, while cable television’s volume could rise about 5%. Of course, these aren’t huge gains or losses, but every percentage point matters, especially when you’re facing lower ratings.

However, CBS CEO Les Moonves says that ad demand for broadcast television (at least for CBS) is growing, and Moonves expects CBS to lead in “volume and CPM increases” this season. However, ratings have taken a dive at all four big television networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC) since the start of the fall season back in September.

Specifically, among viewers ages 18 to 49 ( which is the demographic that’s most prized by advertisers,) the average numbers for primetime audiences were down 23% at FOX, 7% at NBC, 3% at CBS; and 8% at ABC. However, CBS was the only major network to see an increase in overall viewership this season, with a 2% rise.

[via The Wall Street Journal]

Of course, we’ve already seen these efforts from HTC when Samsung officially announced the GALAXY S 4 earlier this month. The maker of the new HTC One greeted people waiting in line for the Samsung event and handed out free beverages. The company also took to Times Square to show off their new device just as Samsung was announcing their’s.

HTC hired Benjamin Ho as the new chief marketing officer for HTC late last year, and it seems his work is finally starting to show through for the company. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Ho said that the company will be dropping its “Quietly Brilliant” slogan, but he didn’t mention any plans on a new slogan, although we’re guessing that the company has a few clever tag lines up its sleeves.

Overall, Ho says that while the company has made a lot of innovations, they just “haven’t been loud enough” with their marketing and advertising efforts. Ho says that HTC’s new marketing approach will be bolder from now on. From that, it makes sense that “Quietly Brilliant” is no longer a relevant slogan for the company, but it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with in the future.

[via Android Community]

The trojan is detected as “Trojan.Yontoo.1” and it was discovered by Russian security firm Doctor Web. Of course, you have to an install a plugin or other piece of software in order for the trojan to activate, but hackers are making it easy for unsuspecting users to take the bait. They’re prompting users to install a plugin before they can watch a mobile trailer, for example.

Of course, we’ve all come across this scenario before, where we don’t have a certain plugin installed in order to view something, so we’re forced to download and install it before continuing. However, it looks like criminals are taking advantage of that tradition by implementing the same kind of system in order to get users to install the trojan.

It’s said that a Windows version of the trojan also exists, but it doesn’t affect Windows 8 users currently. Cross-platform malware isn’t rare most of the time, but this particular one uses its own code to target each specific operating system, as opposed to targeting a universal piece of software like Java, which we’ve heard plenty about recently.

[via The Next Web]

The first ad to make an appearance in the rebooted marketing campaign puts the Nokia Lumia 920 head-to-head with Samsung’s Galaxy S III in a photo-taking challenge in low-light conditions. The 30-second advertisement demonstrates the remarkable low-light capabilities of the Lumia 920′s PureView camera, while the Galaxy S III’s photo appears really dark.

Of course, it’s not really a fair fight to begin with. The Galaxy S III is almost a year old, while Nokia’s Lumia 920 just came out a few months ago. Of course, we’re not doubting the 920′s amazing photo-taking abilities (take a look at our full review), but how about Microsoft waits until next month when the GALAXY S 4 comes out for a true fair fight?

At the end of the advertisement, you see the Galaxy S III owner trade in the Android phone for the Lumia 920. Obviously, the commercial targets Samsung’s last-generation flagship directly, and suggests that the device takes “bad smartphone photos.” Of course, we’ll leave that judgement up to you, but we’d be more interested to see a Lumia 920 vs. GALAXY S 4 challenge more than anything.

If you didn’t happen to be waiting in line at the GALAX S 4 event at Radio City Music Hall, then you may not know that HTC showed up and passed out free beverages to those waiting in line. It’s the ultimate troll maneuver, but that’s not all. HTC posted a video on their YouTube channel showing off the HTC One to random folks in Times Square in order take attention off the GALAXY S 4 and put it on the new HTC One.

In the video (which is cleverly edited, of course) shows a handful of people getting the chance to play around with HTC’s new phone, and a few of the company’s PR folks were there to tell people all about it, saying that they “just wanted to make sure that people got a chance to see it,” among the Samsung festivities.

This isn’t the only time that HTC has downplayed the significance of Samsung’s new device. They called the GALAXY S 4 “more of the same,” and they haven’t been afraid to call out the company recently. Of course, when you make a really awesome device, it’s hard not to get a little competitive, and even a little snarky.

Whereas Samsung’s ad reads “Be ready 4 for the next Galaxy,” LG’s ad reads in a similar, but mocking tone with “LG Optimus G is here 4 you now!”. Of course, LG has occupied that billboard space for quite some time, while Samsung only recently bought the advertising space right below it, but it’s pretty obvious what LG is doing here.

However, we’re not sure if LG did a great job in this case, since both of the ads look almost identical, meaning that someone just driving by and glancing at the billboards may not notice that they’re actually different from one another, and due to Samsung’s viral marketing of the number “4″, most people may just quickly assume that LG’s ad is a Samsung ad at first glance.

Either way, while this may not turn the heads of most people walking along Times Square, it may certainly ruffle some feathers at Samsung headquarters in Korea. Plus, we doubt the ads themselves will persuade anyone from getting an Optimus G. Marketing and advertising is a tricky industry, and it takes more than just a few billboards to persuade someone to buy a specific smartphone.

[via Android Community]

Such popular ad-blockers that were pulled include AdBlock Plus, Adfree Android, Adaway, and a host of others. The reason? For violating the service’s Terms of Service. As such, Google is being trigger happy today and putting the kibosh on such applications. While developers are complaining, it is only fair to point out that Google was clear on what is not allowed.

According to the Google Play Store’s Terms of Service, any and all ad-blockers are in violation, the sole reason they have been pulled. Says agreement 4.4 in regards to what is not allowed, “Any app that interferes with, disrupts, damages, or accesses in an unauthorized manner the devices, servers, networks, or other properties or services of any third party including, but not limited to, Android users, Google or any mobile network operator.”

While it is a frustrating day for the developers of ad-blockers, the cries of which they are quite vocally voicing on Twitter and such networks, it is a good day for other developers who have lost revenue due to these applications. Many developers provide apps for free, relying on the money generated by the advertisements they utilize in the place of a flat-rate app fee.

[via Android Community]

“If a disclosure is needed to prevent an online ad claim from being deceptive or unfair, it must be clear and conspicuous. Under the new guidance, this means advertisers should ensure that the disclosure is clear and conspicuous on all devices and platforms that consumers may use to view the ad. The new guidance also explains that if an advertisement without a disclosure would be deceptive or unfair, or would otherwise violate a Commission rule, and the disclosure cannot be made clearly and conspicuously on a device or platform, then that device or platform should not be used” FTC

That means, if you’re using promoted Tweets, Facebook messages, pop-ups, or other types of advert, you have to fit both your marketing content and any necessary disclosure into them. If you can’t accomodate both, then you shouldn’t do it at all, the FTC warns, lest you fall foul of its rules.

Meanwhile, the updated guidance also toughens up the FTC’s stance on where disclosures should be positioned. Originally, it was considered enough that they be “near, and when possible, on the same screen”; now, they must be “as close as possible” to any claims made.

Hyperlinks must be labeled, and pop-ups should be avoided for delivering disclosure information, since the FTC recognizes that many people actively block them. So, in the sample advert at the top of the page, the FTC takes issue with the lack of contrast between the background page color and the text of the two disclosures.

For 140-character tweets, meanwhile, the FTC suggests the easiest way to flag up promotional content is to put “Ad:” before the body of the message. Other disclosures – such as links to a separate site detailing any marketing obligations, or the hashtag “#spon” – are likely to cause confusion, the commission argues.

RBC believes that Google’s advertisement revenue and cost-per-click will grow thanks to the growing amount of mobile smartphone usage. The analysts at RBC stated, “We have long believed that Mobile was incremental to -not cannibalistic of- Google’s Search growth.” Many analysts believed before that Google’s advertisement growth would deplete due to the “mobile bear thesis”, which states that the increasing usage of mobile phones, as well as the growing number of mobile ads, would eat into Google’s “core business”. The thesis was supported when Google’s average CPC fell 6% in Q4 2012 as mobile phone sales grew.

YouTube will also play a very important role in Google’s revenue. The company is expected to bring in $4 billion in revenue this year, with 100 advertisers increasing their spending by up to 50%. Google claimed the top spot in multiple positions in the online video category. It’s YouTube service garnered the most unique viewers, minutes per viewer, and video ads. Companies are expected to spend $3.9 billion on online video ads this year, a $1 billion increase from last year.

Google also has impressive exposure throughout the world, generating 54% of its revenue overseas. It’s one of the leaders in online advertisement, just falling behind Facebook. However this year, Forrester believes that Google will surpass Facebook in online display advertisement revenue, generating an anticipated $2.31 billion in revenue compared to Facebook’s forecasted $2.16 billion. According to a study done by Forrester Research, companies will spend about $12.7 billion on online display ads this year alone, a figure that is expected to grow to $28 billion by 2017.

[via Forbes]

After getting a peak inside the box at Samsung headquarters, the boy executive takes the box home in anticipation to get a better look at the shiny item that rests inside, but not after being chased down by a love interest and annoyed by his mother who brings him Oreo cookies. Of course, that’s where part two ends and we’re left with yet another “to be continued.”

However, we can only assume that the Galaxy S IV is comfortably nestled inside the box, as that’s what seems to be the consensus here, but we’ll ultimately have to wait and find out on March 14 to see what Samsung comes up with. Our guess is that we’ll see the boy executive on stage with that mysterious white box, where a Samsung exec will pull out the phone to show to all.

Of course, the announcement will come two weeks after Mobile World Congress, one of the world’s largest trade shows specifically focusing on mobile devices, but while Samsung made an appearance at the show, announcing a couple new products, they’ve decided to wait a couple of weeks to announce their flagship product. We’ll be there at Samsung’s event on Thursday giving you the play-by-play. Stay tuned!

By monetizing its mobile app, Tumblr hopes that it will make its first annual profit. The service will let companies pay to promote their posts through Tumblr’s app. Lee Brown, head of sales for Tumblr, stated that the average advertising purchase on Tumblr is a little under six figures. By implementing mobile ads, Brown says, “We expect that the monetization will lead us to profitability this year.”

Though the “promoted posts” advertisement seems a bit unconventional, Tumblr is trying to keep its user-experience pleasant for everyone. Brown said, “We’re not really selling ads, we’re just promoting their content.” The promoted posts is a perfect medium to get companies more exposure to their products while also preserving the Tumblr experience. Brown says that the marketers will have to provide their campaign that, like any other Tumblr user post, will be circulated throughout the network. He says, “Marketers have become accustomed to buying scale as opposed to earning it.”

Tumblr gets over 16 billion monthly views spread around hundreds of blogs. The company can see a huge increase in revenue by implementing its new mobile ads feature. It’s very thoughtful of them to take its users consideration in mind when thinking of how they can generate revenue from ads. Brown stated that Tumblr, “is not going to get into the regular ad network.” It has found a win-win-win situation for itself, companies, and its users.

[via Bloomberg]

TmoNews got their hands on some proofs that have already been sent to T-Mobile for approval, and the site claims that we could see the ads in newspaper as early as today, but there’s no word as to what newspaper the ads will show up in. However, we’re guessing that they’ll make an appearance in the same ones that AT&T used for their ads, including The New York Times and USA Today.

TmoNews also says that the marketing team behind these new ads is the team responsible for recent T-Mobile commercials, including the helicopter promotional ad that recently aired. As for the newspaper ads themselves, there are three total from the looks of it, and each say something different, including, “If AT&T thought our network wasn’t great, why did they try to buy it?”

Other phrases that T-Mobile uses in the ads include, “What keeps AT&T up at night? Apparently us.” and “Can you see the beads of sweat in this ad?”. Then below each clever phrase, T-Mobile addresses AT&T’s recent newspaper ad against the company, and notes that “someone is obviously worried.” Obviously, things are getting feisty between the two carriers, and we’re pretty excited to grab our pale of popcorn and watch this all play out.

[via TmoNews]

The EIA says that Google “has laudable policies that prohibit the promotion of endangered wildlife products including whale, dolphin and elephant ivory,” but the agency says that these policies “are not being enforced and that’s devastating for whales and elephants.” The EIA is unsurprisingly shocked by this discovery.

However, Google says that advertisements for these types of products are not allowed on their various sites, and a Google spokesperson said that as soon as they detect ads that violate the company’s advertising policies, they are removed immediately, but it seems the EIA and other activists aren’t satisfied just yet.

Most of the elephant ivory ads showing up on Google are for “hanko” Japanese name seals, which are high in demand. Other products being advertised on the Google Japan Shopping site include products made from various kinds of whale species. It turns out that poaching claims the lives of as many as 30,000 African elephants every year. At this point, Google hasn’t mentioned what they’ll do with the ads, but our guess is that they’re working to remove them as quickly as possible.

[via GlobalPost]

Image via Flickr

During an event hosted by the University of Arizona’s Department of Marketing, former Apple advertising head Ken Segall ended up discussing some of the behind-the-scenes antics when naming Apple’s smartphones. Surprisingly, iPhone wasn’t the only name that the company was pondering, and they actually had a shortlist of possible names for the phone before eventually settling on “iPhone.”

“Telepod” was a play on words with “telephone,” and by trading in “phone” for “pod” the smartphone would have a futuristic name of sorts, and it would also follow along with the iPod naming convention. As for “Mobi,” it’s simply a shortened version “mobile,” and it’s a name that sparks a bit of a personality.

“Tripod” was a play on words that deals with the three-legged camera stand that photographers used, as well as the idea that Apple’s smartphone was a triple threat, consisting of a phone, iPod, and internet communications device, which Apple used to market the iPhone when they announced it at WWDC 2007. As for “iPad,” Steve Jobs actually thought of the tablet before the smartphone, so while “iPad” may not have been picked as the name for the smartphone, the tablet eventually received the distinction.

[via 9to5Mac]

Speaking to TV and radio station KQED, Weitz says that the Scroogled ads running on television, in newspapers, and on social media are “about finished.” However, the company is still keeping the Scroogled website alive in order to warn users that Google is reading its users’ email and delivering biased results in Google Shopping, as well as sneaking around through their Gmail to deliver catered advertisements.

Of course, the end of some of Microsoft’s campaign efforts doesn’t mean that it wasn’t a success. The petition that the company started to “tell Google to stop going through your email to sell ads” received over 110,000 signatures, and Microsoft initially only set a goal of 25,000. So, in a way, the ads were a success.

However, Google is seeing no drop in userbase in both Gmail and Google Shopping, so in the long run, even if Google users have been paying attention to Microsoft’s campaign, it looks like it’s not enough to coax Gmail users from switching over to Outlook, or any other email service for that matter.

[via KQED]

The advertisement goes after T-Mobile, and it explains “the truth about T-Mobile’s network.” AT&T claims that T-Mobile customers experience double the dropped calls, double the number of failed calls, and 50% slower download speeds compared to AT&T’s own network. As a response to the ad, T-Mobile Chief Marketing Officer Mike Sievert said, “Wow. Looks like we struck a chord.”

Of course, T-Mobile has gone after AT&T before, so this could be regarded as a fair fight, since AT&T seems to just merely be dishing it right back. T-Mobile CEO John Legere shared some fighting words at CES back in January about AT&T, and it just seems that AT&T is glad to return the favor to the Deutsche Telekom-owned company.

However, it seems that T-Mobile is taking the attack ad very lightly, as it should. Sievert said that “AT&T doth protest too much. Glad they’re spending their money to print our name.” Of course, whether or not AT&T’s claims about T-Mobile’s network are true, I’m sure T-Mobile users are pretty excited about the cheaper bill they get every month, but everyone has their preferences, of course.

[via Bloomberg]

Facebook says that the acquisition will help advertisers keep track of their ads on the social network, as well as what sort of returns they are getting with them. Facebook says that marketers have been struggling to understand “how their efforts across different channels complement and strengthen each other.” This results in marketers adopting “siloed marketing strategies for each channel, leading to poor and inconsistent end-user experiences.”

However, Facebook says that Atlas is one of the only solutions to that problem. Atlas has capabilities that allow for marketers to get a “holistic view” of their advertising performance, which in turn will allow them to do a much better job at targeting audiences, and will give them a “deeper understanding of effectiveness.”

However, Facebook plans to also improve Atlas’s capabilities and they want to enhance the current tools available to advertisers on both desktop and mobile. Facebook’s end goal is to make Atlas “the most effective, intuitive, and powerful ad serving, management and measurement platform in the industry.”

While no one is really sure what the acquisition will mean for Facebook, it’s possible that Facebook is simply looking to bolster up its advertising prowess, something that it already has enough of anyway. In any case, both companies plan to make the news public tomorrow, but it’s also possible that the acquisition could see delays.

However, another possible use that Facebook may be after with Atlas, is the service’s analytics tools can allow advertisers to track what impact their Facebook ad has had on a given conversion, which could prove useful for both advertisers and Facebook. Atlas has that tools that can provide insight into how well Facebook ads are doing.

Microsoft’s Atlas actually started letting advertisers use its tools to keep track of its Facebook ads last year, but with a Facebook acquisition, Facebook will have total control, and they would be able to make Atlas tools available to all of its advertisers. However, we’ll have to wait and see what Facebook ends up doing. Both Facebook and Microsoft declined to comment on the situation.

[via AdAge]

Facebook says that while the actual delivery and reach were unaffected, the reports of how many people being reached were under-reported. Fixes for the Facebook system began rolling out on Friday,and will continue rolling out this weekend. Facebook pages should be reporting the correct information starting on Monday.

After the fixes are rolled out, your reported reach should increase compared to previous reports, however there is also a chance that your page’s reach was unaffected by the bug in the first place. Your organic reach should either increase or decrease depending on the number of subscribers to your Facebook page, as well as how often you make a post. For those who purchased a paid-ad campaign through Facebook, there should definitely be an increase in your reports. There has been a change in the metrics extracted from your Facebook page’s reach and impressions. Finally, Facebook has implemented new measures in order to prevent bugs from misreporting your page reach in the future.

Starting Monday, Facebook suggests analyzing your page’s data, including looking at your organic, paid, and viral reach in order to view how affected you were by these bugs. Since the bugs affected Facebook’s logging system, there’s no way Facebook can restore the real data in past posts. Despite this bug affecting your statistics, it might actually be a good thing, because your Facebook page, and your business, could be doing a whole lot better than you had expected.

[via Facebook]

There are 5 initial partners who have implemented Twitter’s Ads API into their marketing program. This list includes Adobe, HootSuite, Salesforce, SHIFT, and TBG Digital. By advertising using the marketing campaigns from these companies, marketers will not only be able to get their ads out through the company’s existing marketing program, but also to Twitter’s 200 million users as well.

The new API system will also be more targeted, providing Twitter users with ads that are most relevant to them. This new system was tested with the five partners back in January, and over several weeks, the companies were seeing very positive results. Adobe’s media optimizer was able to increase Adobe’s number of followers from 2 dozen new followers a day to about 400 new followers a day. By the end of the test, there was a steady rate of 115 new followers per day for Adobe.

Twitter is looking for new partners to add onto the list, and have placed an application on their blog. In the near future, you should see more promoted tweets, and more promoted accounts, but they should appear based on your interests. Twitter is also looking to launch a “promoted products” feature in its advertisement API soon.

Each of the ads, titled “Alive” and “Together”, go through various adjectives and show off an app that describes that specific adjective. Each of the adjectives are “randomly” selected from a fast randomizer of different words, similar to how you hit a question mark block in Mario Kart and it quickly cycles through items before it eventually lands on one.

It’s a slightly different vibe than what Apple has normally done in the past. We’re mostly used to cartoony piano music playing in the background while Jeff Daniels walks us through some of the cool features of a new iOS device, but this time around it’s a little more fast-paced, with a handful of neat apps being displayed.

We see quite a few apps actually, including GarageBand, iBooks, TED Talks, iMovie, Vimeo, iPhoto, and FaceTime. We’re also seeing both the iPad and iPad mini make appearances, letting users know that all of the 300,000 apps available for iPad, are compatible with both the full-size iPad and the smaller 7.9-inch iPad.

YouTube users voted on their favorite Super Bowl advertisement for the past two weeks, and it’s not too surprising that Dodge won the crown. Their ad was a bold step towards originality, using strictly photos and a voice-over from the late Paul Harvey, who was a famous radio broadcaster for over a half-century. While the ad may not have been comical or fast-paced, it tugged at the heart strings for many viewers.

Rounding out the top five Super Bowl ads on YouTube include Budweiser’s “Clydesdales” ad, Samsung’s “The Next Best Thing” featuring Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen, Jeep’s “Whole Again” ad, and Hyundai’s “Team” ad. All five of these adds have a combined 62.7 million views as of this writing, with the most being Samsung’s ad with 21.3 million views.

In total, these five ads made up more than 30% of all total views of Super Bowl ads and teasers on YouTube. Plus, the Ad Blitz channel itself had over 46 million interactions. To celebrate the end of Ad Blitz, YouTube is hosting a Google+ Hangout later today at 3 pm ET where they will chat with the “creative heavyweights behind these winning ads, along with ADWEEK editors James Cooper and Tim Nudd.”

Marin Software is a company that helps advertisers purchase Web-search advertisements. Google has offered no official comment on the report. Google has also recently increased the price that advertisers pay to show messages on mobile devices such as tablets. It also changed the ad system forcing advertisers to purchase ads on tablets even if they only want to reach users on computers.

Google says that this change was made because the line between computers and tablets is becoming less clear and performance between computers and tablets similar. The effectiveness of ads on tablets is also increasing with a gain of 31% during 2012. The report says that the conversion rate of tablet search ads was 3.3% versus 3.9% desktop search ads at the end of 2012.

The increasing conversion rate for tablet advertising will increase and prices for tablets to the same levels of those of desktop apps by the end of the year. Currently tablet advertisement rates are approximately 17% less than computer ad rates. Marin also noted that online advertisers are spending more of their ad budget on tablets in the are on smartphones.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Essentially the advertisement is a lot similar to past Surface ads we’ve seen, where the users perform cool trucks with the tablets, and in this case, breakdance with the tablet in hand. In the ad, we see what the Surface Pro can do for only a few split seconds, like take notes with the stylus in business reports, and even create music by plugging in a microphone.

However, the ad doesn’t really get the point across of what the main differences between the original Surface tablet and this new Surface Pro. Sure, tech enthusiasts like you and me (aka geeks) know the differences between the two, but everyday users really only know that the “Pro” tacked on at the end must mean it’s better, without knowing the details.

Of course, the tablet is definitely an improvement over the original model, and it seems Microsoft is just going to leave it at that. The Surface Pro is available now in stores and online with prices starting at $899 for the 64GB version and going up to $999 for the 128GB variant.

Google‘s focus on Google Now is a strong indicator that they’re looking to take on Apple’s Siri technology on the iPhone, and are wanting to win the affection of diehard Siri users. The ad itself doesn’t go into a lot of detail on the Nexus 4 — actually, there’s zero details given on the new handset, other than the fact that is has Google Now on board.

This makes for an interesting way to promote a smartphone. While many companies tout the specs and numerous features of a device, Google has been focusing on one single feature that takes the spotlight, and most recently it’s been Google Now. In the one-minute ad, you can see Google Now Google Now doing a whole host of things, like checking the weather, finding a restaurant, and setting up a Google+ Hangout.

Google definitely wants its ads to communicate with its viewers in a personal way, and they show off some of the things you can do with their devices in an everyday situation. Gone are the days of flashy commercials with smartphones doing flip tricks while a dubstep track plays in the background. At least we wish those days were gone.

Balsemao claims that search engines, like Google, get over 90% of revenues from online advertising, and a lot of that comes either directly or indirectly from news or entertainment content that’s available for free. He says that “this use is carried out without the authorization from copyright holders or without any payment in return,” which basically means that Google, and other search engines, should pay up.

The EPC represents 26 of the main media outlets that are operating in Europe, so that organization definitely has a some authority when it comes to this kind of stuff, and since ad revenue is falling throughout Europe, the group is wanting search engines to pay up a chunk, since the’re believed to essentially be taking ad revenue away from these European outlets.

Advertising revenues in Portugal fell by 90 million euros in 2012, down to 526 million euros, which is the country’s lowest since 1997. Google has declined to speak about on the situation, but according to TechCrunch, a source close to Google said that the EPC’s claim that the company gets over 90% of its revenue from web advertising is untrue.

[via Reuters]

Samsung ended up going all out this year for their Super Bowl ad, taking up a full two minutes of airtime, costing them around $16 million after it was all said and done. Actors Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd, as well as NBA all-star LeBron James made appearances in the commercial, and discussed some ideas on what Samsung’s “next big thing” could be. BlackBerry (formerly known as RIM) aired their first-ever Super Bowl ad, spending a few million dollars on an ad showing off the new BlackBerry Z10, which according to the ad, will light you on fire, so be careful.

Best Buy ended up airing their own Super Bowl ad as well, and it features SNL alum and Parks & Recreation star Amy Poehler, who is pretty much the most adorable and funniest woman in show business right now, so we have to give it up for Best Buy for pulling off such a cute and witty ad.

We knew GoDaddy would make an appearance at the Super Bowl, as they do every year, but this time they aired two ads, one featuring the typical sexy theme that you know and love, and then there was an ad that actually wasn’t that bad. The company advertised their .co domain names, and the ad rings true of anyone with an original idea these days.

As far as the automotive commercials, it was a hit or miss mostly. Audi’s “Prom” ad was probably our favorite one out of the bunch, with Dodge’s “Paul Harvey” commercial at a close second. Other car ads included VW’s semi-racist Jamaican ad, Hyundai’s adorable “Team” ad featuring kids with super powers, Kia’s “Hotbots” ad, Mercedes-Benz with their celebrity-filled commercial (as well as one featuring Kate Upton), Lincoln’s Jimmy Fallon ad and “Phoenix” teaser, and an awkward Toyota ad featuring Big Bang Theory star Kaley Cuoco.

Movie trailers were also hot stuff during Super Bowl commercial breaks. The Iron Man 3 trailer caught our eye the most, with Star Trek: Into Darkness also showing off a quick teaser for us. World War Z also made a quick appearance, and we also saw an extended teaser for Johnny Depp’s upcoming movie, The Lone Ranger.

Now we want to hear what you think. We know not every ad this year was amazing, and some were iffy at best. What was your favorite commercial from the Super Bowl? Which tech company blew it out of the park? Which one could’ve been better? What suggestions would you make to the creators of the ads? Sound off in the comments below!