Patent number: 7,975,241
Filing date: Jan 21, 2005
Issue date: Jul 5, 2011

Patent Overview.: A system for modifying a cursor image, as displayed on a video monitor of a remote terminal, to a specific image having a desired shape and appearance. The system stores cursor image data corresponding to the specific image, and a cursor display code. The cursor display code contains information in response to which the cursor image is modified to the specific image. A server computer transmits specified information to the remote terminal. The information includes at least one cursor display instruction. The cursor display instruction is operable to modify, in conjunction with the cursor information and the cursor image data, a cursor image displayed by a display of the remote terminal in the shape and appearance of the specific image.

Lexos Media’s Solution

Picture this: a patented marketing vehicle that could deliver greater revenue to a publisher and greater returns to advertisers than any other piece of branded ad inventory ever created – online or offline. A vehicle that can be targeted to a specific user based on time or geography, contextual relevancy, or previous known interests … or better yet, all of the above in a manner that engages the consumer through sight, sound and touch. Through its business units CursorMarketing.com, AdBull.com, CouponsiWant.com and DidYouHearMe?, Lexos Media has launched the world’s first cursor based ad format, providing targeted marketing messages to Internet users on a global basis through brief transformations of their cursor.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008520

Marketers plan to extend social media ad investments

Social network marketing is now de rigueur for most brands. eMarketer estimates that 80% of companies with at least 100 employees conduct marketing activities on social networks this year. Fewer are advertising on social networks, but the number is growing.

May 2011 research from The Pivot Conference and Brian Solis found that two-thirds of marketers surveyed were already conducting social media advertising activities, and 18% more planned to do so in the next year. Most agreed that these efforts would prove very valuable, and 54% of those currently running ads were satisfied.

The success of these efforts so far—along with the continuing growth in consumer usage of social sites—may be leading advertisers to expand their plans to more social venues. Currently, Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter dominate. More than nine in 10 respondents have deployed campaigns on Facebook and 78% have done so on Twitter; eMarketer estimates these sites will make $2.19 billion and $140 million, respectively, in US revenues this year. But advertising on sites like YouTube, LinkedIn and foursquare will grow: at least 20% of survey respondents indicate they would begin campaigns on these sites in the next year.

Lagging social networks may have to do more for advertisers, however, if they want to gain share as the social ad market gains momentum. A majority of respondents rated Facebook’s ad offerings excellent or good, but no other social site received such praise. Despite Twitter’s No. 2 ranking in advertiser usage, just 11% thought its ad offerings were excellent. This, in particular, could change as Twitter is expected to roll out more products, including a self-service option, this year.

More education for marketers may also be needed. While many have adopted social media usage enthusiastically, their knowledge of socialadvertising may be lagging. Among respondents that don’t currently advertise on social sites but plan to in the next year, 83% believed that simply blogging or tweeting for a company was a form of social advertising. Just 69% cited paid placements or other paid visibility programs on the sites. Social networks that want to encourage uptake of those paid products may have to do more to make them visible and understandable for marketers.

Keep your business ahead of the digital curve. Learn more about becoming an eMarketer Total Access client today.

Check out today’s other article, “Mobile Users Expand Their Search Habits.”

http://www.dmnews.com/brands-embrace-the-social-media-aor/article/208048/

As social media encompasses a larger share of brands’ ad spending budgets, marketers are seeking social media AORs instead of a roster of firms for project work. Working with one agency, instead of many, eases the burden on brands by streamlining the social marketing process, industry experts said.

Asked if marketers need a social media AOR, Jon Bond, CEO of New York-based social agency Big Fuel, which was acquired by Publicis Groupe last month, replied, naturally, “Yes, and you need it more than any other kind of AOR, because social media is an octopus and invades everything and creates a huge mess for companies.”

Bond explained that many of the responsibilities of a social media AOR don’t even involve social media, per se. He added that the social world is littered with “a lot of small, cute little agencies that think it’s all just about tweeting — it’s not.”

“It’s about relationships, marketing, how to integrate [the agency's relat-ionship with other firms], legal and compliance issues and distribution,” he said. “The level of complexity is so extreme that it’s like brain surgery.”

Michael Knott, SVP and media 
director at Draftfcb San Francisco, said brands’ rush to hire agencies as social AOR suggests that “more clients see the need for social programs to be integrated into the overall marketing mix.” “We focus less on the social platforms themselves and work more on the strategic and operational approach that is required to create an ongoing presence for our brands,” he said.

Bond said Big Fuel has already surpassed budget for the year and will soon have to shut down new business because the manpower of his 170-person shop is maxed out. The firm is the social lead agency for General Motors and T-Mobile USA, while it conducts project work for Neutrogena Corp.

Other marketers have similarly tap-ped shops to manage social more formally. Pizza Hut named The Martin Agency its digital and social agency in June, two weeks after Weight Watchers International gave its social business to McCann New York.

While some recently hired social AORs had previous client relationships, many did not before winning AOR accounts. Wunderman’s Zaaz interactive agency had only managed project work for about one-quarter of the brands it works with as AOR, said partner and CEO Shane Atchison.

Likewise, skincare line StriVectin approached Havas shop Cake about becoming its social AOR this spring even though the companies had never worked together, said Greg James, managing partner at Cake. He added social AOR accounts require a much broader approach.

“It’s one thing to create a stunt, but it’s a different skill to understand and manage day-to-day the many touch points a brand might have across the social media space,” he said.

1. The Branded Cursor significantly builds ad awareness.Respondents exposed to the Branded cursor-enabled advertisement were overwhelmingly more likely to recall seeing advertising for the tested brand. Overall the addition of the Branded Cursor to the branded banner ad resulted in a ten-fold increase in advertising awareness (222% increase compared to a 22% increase for the banner ad alone).  This significant finding is underscored when compared to other online advertising, which has been seen to generate an average increase of 30% higher ad recall.  The implication: This finding shows that the Branded Cursor is an extremely effective for improving communications efficiency.  More people are likely to see Branded Cursor advertising resulting in an improved opportunity to communicate with the consumer.

2. The Branded Cursor builds brand recall.  Branded Cursor-enabled advertising banners were more effective at building brand recall than a simple ad banner alone.  Top-of-mind brand recall increased by 39%, on aver age, for a cursor-enabled banner ad compared to 17% for a banner ad alone.  The implication: By bringing the advertising front and center, Branded Cursor advertising has the ability to improve a brand’s “share of mind”.  People exposed to a Branded Cursor-enabled banner are more likely to spontaneously recall the advertised brand than those exposed to a banner alone.

3. The Branded Cursor increases click-through rates.  Cursor-enabled advertising significantly increased the click-through rates for both tested brands.  The Branded Cursor-enabled advertising generated an average increase of 97% over a banner ad alone. This significant finding is underscored by the fact that the ads tested are for packaged goods which seek to increase the branding opportunity rather than seeking to increase direct response. The implication: Cursor-enabled banners benefit from the increased visibility created by the BrandedCursor; this in turn increases the number of people who respond immediately to an advertisement by clicking through.

4. The Branded Cursor can improve a consumer’s perception of the brand.  The Branded Cursor-enabled advertising demonstrated an ability to affect perceptions.  Overall opinion of tested brands received greater increases as a result of exposure to the Branded Cursor-enabled banner, compared to a banner ad alone.  In a Pepcid AC case study, overall opinion of the brand increased by 29%. Perceptions of the Pepcid AC brand were positively impacted by the Branded Cursor-enabled banner ad showing significant shifts in the image of the brand.  The implication: With the advertising awareness increasing, the ability of the banner to affect consumers’ impression of the brand is enhanced.  Cursor-enabled banners help to leverage the banner advertising increasing its chances for success.

5. The Branded Cursor can increase purchase intent. The Branded Cursor-enabled advertisement for Pepcid AC generated a significant lift in intent to purchase. In the Pepcid AC case study, intent to purchase the brand increased by 26%, for a BrandedCursor-enabled banner, compared to no change for a banner ad alone.The implication: A Branded Cursor-enabled banner becomes more involving resulting in respondents paying more attention to the message, which can result in increases in their likelihood to purchase. The cursor provides the banner with a better opportunity for success.

While users are receptive to ad supported web content, they are also adept at screening out ad-based content. To be effective advertisers must communicate the brand name, its product value and make its presence patently obvious. To achieve this objective through typical banner exposure has become increasingly more challenging as users have grown used to looking past known areas of a site that support advertisements. This intentional avoidance is often referred to as “banner blindness.”Even when an advertisement is seen, most users only remember the most involving portion of an ad. This involving portion is what we refer to as the “magnifier.”  Research has shown that for advertising to reach a peak level of effectiveness it must integrate the brand name and message into the magnifier. In the case of the cursor ad, the cursor itself becomes the magnifier. Cursor ads allow online publishers to serve an advertisement (e.g. a logo, image, or short message) in the place of or in conjunction with the user ’s cursor. By utilizing cursor ads advertisers avoid ‘banner blindness’ and integrate their memorable brand-linked impression directly into the ad campaign’s magnifier. Since this magnifier is always present in the user’s field of view, the effectiveness of the advertising is greatly enhanced.

Cursor ads significantly increase ad awareness and brand recall over standard ad formats alone.Users exposed to cursor ads were overwhelmingly more likely to recall advertising for the tested brand. This study has shown that the addition of the Branded Cursor increased ad awareness and brand recall by ~250%. Further, the study showed ~315% increase in ad awareness and brand recall when coupled with a Cursor Companion ad. These findings show that integrating cursor ads in standard banner ad buys materially increases the effectiveness of online marketing campaigns. In conclusion, cursor ads have proven to be an extremely effective tool for improving all aspects of an online advertising campaign. Understanding the best uses and limitations will ensure that online advertisers receive the optimum level of efficiency from their online marketing dollars.

Newer outdoor ads drive more dollars from traditional to digital media

According to research from the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA), more than three-quarters of US media planners will incorporate digital place-based advertising in their marketing plans this year. That’s up more than 10 percentage points from 2010. By next year, it’s expected that 86.3% of media planners will be using digital out-of-home for marketing.

For the most part, budgets for digital out-of-home are coming from traditional outdoor advertising allocations. More than half of media planners said they would shift budgets from traditional to digital outdoor efforts. TV budgets were also a major source of additional dollars, but less than a quarter of media planners were pulling from overall digital budgets to fund place-based media.

In terms of overall outdoor ad spending, research conducted by Kantar Media for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America found that miscellaneous services and amusements advertisers accounted for the largest share of spending, followed by media/advertising and financial companies. According to Kantar, Verizon Communications was the single biggest outdoor advertiser in 2010, spending nearly $70 million. McDonald’s was close behind, with outlays of $68.5 million.

Not all ad impressions are created equal. That, in essence, is the key takeaway from new research scheduled for release today by Casale Media.

Above-the-fold ad placements displayed within the first screen of a user’s browser window were found to be the most effective. In fact, they are almost seven times more effective at generating a click-through than ads delivered below the fold.

Based on analysis of nearly 2 billion ad impressions in the first quarter of the year, Casale also found that users were three to four time more likely to act on an ad if it was the first or second one they saw during their session. From there, ad effectiveness plummeted as the user progressed through their online viewing.

Casale also noted that repetition does work — to an extent. For example, ads shown five times or more to a user were 12 to 14 times more effective than ads shown less than five times. However, marketers needed to apply frequency capping to prevent over-saturation.

“Relying on singular indicators, such as reach or hyper-targeting, does not tell you the full story,” Joe Casale, CEO of Casale Media, said of common ad placement practices. “Vigilance on the part of marketing managers and accountability from their advertising partners are vital to executing a successful campaign.”

Furthermore, Casale’s findings indicated that advertisers — and particularly those focused on brand penetration with consumers — should take into account a number of factors when considering the environments in which their ads will be running.

Campaigns often suffocate from reduced share of voice on cluttered Web pages. They are ignored when surrounded by engaging content like photo galleries. They may not even be seen by their audience when displayed on a Web site that inflates impressions through auto-refresh mechanisms.

All impressions sampled during the research period went to performance-based campaigns running Flash-based creative. All creative clicked through to simple, one-step actions like newsletter sign-ups.

While major publishers continue to drag their feet, agency display media buyers are investing big in both new ad products — from audience targeting to custom creative — as well as adopting new buying methods like real-time bidding, according to Forrester Research.

As such, Forrester analyst and report author Michael Greene recommends that publishers meet client needs by “investing in creative capabilities, complementing sales and ops teams with strong technology and focusing on developing high-quality audiences.”

This past June, Forrester surveyed agency media buyers about the current and projected state of their media-buying practices on behalf of their interactive-marketing clients.

It found that buyers rely on a range of media execution partners. “A strong majority of buyers buy through a variety of direct and indirect sales channels,” according to Greene. Indeed, 58% of display buyers reported that they buy through a mix of direct sales, ad networks and DSPs/trading desks.

Programmatic buying is also becoming a preferred buying method, Forrester found, as sales teams may be caught up playing phone tag with buyers, while buyers are quickly embracing the workflow efficiencies of programmatic buying — typically through real-time bidding.

In fact, 10% of buyers already manage a majority of their buys through programmatic methods, while another 48% of display buyers indicated they handle through an even mix of programmatic and conventional buying methods.

Also of note, substantial money is flowing to audience-targeted buys, per Forrester. Indeed, while content-based buys continue to make up the bulk of publisher display revenues, media buyers indicated that their budgets are shifting toward audience-targeted buys. In fact, 35% of buyers spend a majority of their display budgets on audience-targeted buys.

Forrester found that publisher scale doesn’t matter unless it delivers audience reach. “With the exception of perhaps Yahoo, no individual digital publisher can deliver the scale across all audience targets of network TV,” Greene added. Recognizing this, buyers care much more about a digital publisher’s ability to help them find a particular audience segment.

As a result, reach to a specific audience segment and audience targeting capabilities are the top two criteria buyers look for in a publisher partner.

Meanwhile, brand buying maintains a footing as many publishers associate innovations like audience targeting and programmatic buying with pure direct-response buyers — rarely a lucrative target for premium content providers, Forrester notes. But even when applying these new methods, brand building plays a major role. Indeed, 40% of buyers indicate that they buy primarily to meet branding metrics.

Going forward, buyers plan to spend more on targeting and high-impact creative. While 28% of buyers plan to rest on their laurels and leave their media relationships largely unchanged over the next three years, many are re-evaluating where they put the bulk of their display spending.

What’s more, 30% plan to focus the bulk of their buys on “high-impact” placements, like custom sponsorships and in-stream video, while 43% plan to push audience targeting to the forefront of their display plans.

Some high-priced cable networks forced some traditional TV dollars into the hands of big digital video players this upfront.

Speaking at the OMMA Ad Nets conference on Monday, Donnie Williams, executive vice president, chief digital officer for independent media agency Horizon Media, estimates some clients shifted 8% to 13% more dollars into premium digital platforms during the recent upfront sales.

Williams did not mention specific cable networks or digital video platforms.

Many senior broadcast and cable network executives forecast — and then claimed big CPM increases for this upfront period, anywhere from 11% to 13%. But Williams notes that some networks collapse from certain price points, where the CPM gap between cable and premium digital video sites closed significantly.

“Those [TV] guys drop their rates by an unbelievable amount,” says Williams. “So if last year we were looking at CPMs in excess of $30 [for some demos], let’s say they dropped their rates by 75%. It was a real land grab. As a result, tons of money went through our organization to digital channels.”

How much money? A lot. “We were writing deals 8%, 12% to 13% — that’s the increase spend on premium digital channels,” says Williams. More importantly, he adds: “We weren’t taking a hit on rates.”

Right now, Williams says, the marketplace for some specific premium digital video sites is solid. “There were guaranteed CPMs in the premium marketplace that sold for $10 — that’s guaranteed against audience,” says Williams. These CPMs are for all viewers, persons 2 plus.

He notes that the future looks bright for some digital video players. “It’s not going to be very long that dollars are going to be re-shuffled and people start to exhaust channels they feel are more in line with the offline [TV] channels they are purchasing.”

Ad agencies, take note: while marketers say they are boosting budgets this year, marketing chiefs are looking for integration, alignment, visibility and (of course) ROI, per the CMO Council’s fifth annual State of Marketing Report.

The Council, comprising 6,000 chief marketers in 110 countries controlling over $200 billion in annual spend, tapped over 600 of its members for the 2011 Outlook, Intentions and Investments report.

Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they plan to increase this year’s spending, and 26% say they will boost budgets between 1 and 5%, with social media getting the biggest percentage gain, although digital media will likely be 10% of expenditures. Most of the marketers polled said they will increase social-media investments by over 5%. The report said other areas likely to see the same degree of investment increase are search, online video, online banner and mobile. To fund that increase, marketers said they will cut at least 5% from print magazines, newspapers, television and outdoor/billboard placements.

The study also says marketers plan to beef up analytics, strategic planning and business development. One in four said marketing spend is being influenced by a shift to digital media and online marketing effectiveness. The organization says participants come from each major global region, with 64% saying they reported directly to the CEO, president or COO, while another 14% said they were accountable to a regional VP, general manager or division/business group head. Among the respondents, 34% held CMO or head of marketing titles, while 33% are VP or above.

Only 5% of respondents give themselves high marks specific to current online marketing performance capabilities, and those surveyed said they plan to boost staff in interactive design, online advertising, search engine marketing, Web analytics, and integrated campaign management.

Among the strategies in the crosshairs, 64% said they will improve customer segmentation and targeting; 43% plan to boost digital demand-generation programs; 42% said lead-generation and tracking will be a focus; 41% said they will be “exploring alternative media and new routes to market.”

But some strategies are getting downsized, including testing and piloting. This year only a quarter of those marketers surveyed said they will do heavy piloting. Only 18% said they will use online performance indicators like eMetrics, and only 15% said they would do statistical analysis and predictive modeling to measure impact.

There’s a problem in all of this, according to Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. And it looks a lot like a homeowner who eschews a contractor for piecemeal work that lacks coordination, and fills the house with people doing each other’s work. “While marketers have been focused on transforming their operations and customer engagements with hosted services and digital solutions, many have actually created a grab bag of siloed point-solutions that just proliferate ‘Random Acts of Marketing,’” he said in a release. “Today’s successful marketing organization is unifying its extended ecosystem, aligning more effectively with business and sales groups, and integrating campaign components to drive efficiency and more measurable outcomes.”

Some other findings: CMOs are having to do more work beyond the realm of brand stewardship, with many surveyed saying they are involved in strategic planning and forecasting, business development and collaborating, pricing, distribution/channel management, and product design and specification, as marketers are now expected to drive business growth and revenues. Forty-six percent said their purview includes driving top-line growth; 45% said they are responsible for growing and retaining market share; and 31% said they must handle “further crystallizing and defining brand value.”