SES New York 2009

I attended the Search Engine Strategies conference in New York this week.  It was a very different show than last year.  The crowds were down, keynotes were less engaging and more people that ever are dressing up.  

One other notable change, there was no click fraud panel.  It was just a year ago that the Search Engine Watch said the top story coming out of SES Day 1 was "Yahoo cozies up its click fraud critics".  Too bad, because click fraud is certainly a topic on the minds of advertisers, agencies and publishers.  One blogger noted, " In these hard times, it's more fun to talk about silly tweets than evil cheats."  Maybe true but "silly tweets" are only wasting time, not advertising dollars...

I did enjoy participating on my panel titled, “Pay-for-Performance: Winning Strategies for Advertisers and Agencies.”   I've posted my presentation below.  Additionally, a video recap can be found here.
[slideshare id=1195434&doc=sesnyc090324-090325080029-phpapp01]

 

Tom Cuthbert

How Botnets Take Control

The problem of botnets is getting worse, not better.  In fact, over 30% of all click fraud comes from botnets, maybe even YOUR computer!  Ever wonder how botnets work?  The BBC has acquired control of 22,000 computers and have been demonstrating how it works.  The videos are easy to understand and  very interesting.

Cyber crime risk exposed
How cyber criminals attack websites
Is your PC doing a hacker's dirty work?

Click fraud is costing advertisers millions of dollars a year.  So how can you protect your computer from becoming a party to the crime?  Again the BBC site has an excellent article with practical steps called, "How to keep your computer secure".  Take time to read it and be sure you are doing your part to reduce click fraud.  

Tom Cuthbert

The Click Quality Council invites you...

Last week I wrote about the Interactive Advertising Bureau's release of the Click Measurement Guidelines.  This document is extremely important for advertisers, agencies and ad providers.  It defines the process that will be used to measure and deliver clicks to advertisers.  The Click Quality Council is hosting a call to discuss the guidelines, describe the process used to develop them and the impact for the industry.

The call will be Wednesday March 18th at 4 PM ET/ 1 PM PT and is open to all members of the online advertising ecosystem.  We will have  George Ivie of the Media Rating Council as our speaker.  George worked directly with the IAB in facilitating discussion and building the guidelines.  Registration is available by clicking here.

Tom Cuthbert

Saying Hello to Rascal Flatts

Several years ago I was in New York City on business staying in Times Square.  I woke up early and wandered toward a Starbucks for my caffeine fix.  I ended up in front of ABC's Good Morning America studio on Broadway.  There was a guy out front trying desparately to get people in the studio which was less than half full.  At that time apparently no one cared that Rascal Flatts was about to perform.  I certainly didn't... in fact I had no clue who they were.  On top of that, even though I am a lifelong Texan, I don't particularly like country music.

Having a full cup of coffee and a little time on my hands I wandered in to listen.  While waiting I remembered that my daughter had mentioned Rascal Flatts before.  I called her at college, woke her up and explained where I was.  She went from a bleary eyed hello to screaming "OMG you are with Rascal Flatts?!"  She was a fan I so I promised to have my picture made with them.  I stayed to listen and did in fact get my picture made (feeling like an idiot!).

Jump ahead to today and I admit, I am a big fan!  I have since gone out of my way to see Rascal Flatts at GMA again when they premiered an album and taken my daughters to a concert.  So needless to say, I am looking forward to the new album coming out April 7th.  They were nice guys, the lyrics are compelling and the music is exceptionally good.  Their new song, "Here Comes Goodbye" is another hit waiting to happen.

So take a listen.  Maybe you'll get hooked like I did!

Tom

The Lens We Look Through

On a recent trip to New York, I was asked by an ad provider executive, “Which side are you on?”  At first I didn’t know what he meant, but he clarified it for me by saying that in the world of advertisers, ad networks, publishers, and ad providers, it’s important to know whose side you’re on.

When I told him that we are on the side of the advertiser he paused, thought about it and then the light bulb went off.  What’s good for the advertiser is good for our entire industry.  100% of the over $24B spent on search advertising comes from advertisers.  They pay the bills for search engines, ad providers, parked domain companies publishers as well as those of us that are working to provide tools to improve traffic quality.

Despite our diverse client base, the lens Click Forensics looks through for every decision we make is that of the advertiser.  While Click Forensics works with a number of advertisers and agencies, we also have many clients that are ad providers.  This list includes search engines, ad networks, publishers and even parked domain companies.  The reason these companies choose to work with us is that we provide insight into the traffic quality they are selling to advertisers.  They are able to use this information to route, block, price and value the traffic to help advertisers get a better return on their ad spend.

Smart sellers look through this lens too.  Companies like Yahoo that asked advertisers how they could improve communication. The result was the cooperative development of the FACTr system enabling advertisers to communicate concerns to Yahoo.  Companies like Lycos, who realized early on that “quality matters” and began working to enhance their quality using traffic insight tools.  And industry organizations including the Click Quality Council, while made of all parts of the ecosystem, is always advertiser focused.

Advertisers drive our industry and that reality will become even clearer in the future as mobile grows more important and display begins to look like search.  We are proud of our involvement and the work of the Click Quality Council.   The CQC is an example of an industry organization that is not dominated by one constituency.  The over 100 members include companies from every corner and every perspective of the eco-system.  They sit around the virtual table as equals, all understanding it is the lens of the advertiser that matters. 

So as the IAB releases the Click Measurement Working Group Guidelines, it is important that they are reviewed through the lens that matters, that of the advertiser.  We should be asking, are these guidelines fair?  Do they have enough substance to improve traffic quality and help ensure advertisers get what they pay for?  Do the guidelines improve transparency and enhance trust between buyers and sellers?

I attended the IAB’s annual conference in Orlando last week and have a clear picture of their lens .  We applaud the IAB’s leadership and the work of the Media Rating Council and task force members who produced a foundational document.  Our hope now is that we can work together to build on this foundation to build trust, enhance transparency and accelerate the growth of online advertising.

Tom Cuthbert

Is Google Watching You?

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you”  Kurt Cobain

Data is the driver to growth and profitability for the online advertising community.  No one knows this better than Google.  Every day, they are gathering more and more data on consumers and many consumers are completely unaware of this fact.  While lots of folks are sitting at home shredding mail, cutting up old credit cards and proclaiming that they will “never shop online”, Google sits by quietly watching every move they make online.

USA Today recently featured an article titled, “Google's G1 phone makes it easy to track surfing habits” written by Leslie Cauley.   The article goes into great detail as to the data that Google has (or will have) on consumers.  One key driver to the acquisition of this data is the G1 Mobile phone.

The G1 makes things much easier for Google to watch your every move.  Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy says, “It’s like a walking surveillance device”.  Cell phone and mobile devices are generally not shared; they are just used by one person.  This means that the data collected from that device is highly personalized to that individual and incredibly accurate.

Think about the power of an advertising company (yes, Google is an advertising company) would have knowing who your friends are on Facebook and MySpace, or tracking the videos you watch on Youtube.  Go beyond that and understand that Google would know where you bank, where you shop and even how you are feeling.  By using Gmail, Google Calendar and Docs applications Google sees your contacts, email, documents, instant messages, phone calls, online browsing habits, calendar, downloads, music selections and even your specific location at any given moment.  The GPS enabled smartphone can send location information back to Google servers tracking every move you make… spooky, huh?

Sure there are other location based services like Loopt and Brightkite but they don’t have the ability to tie that information to every other aspect of your life.

So why does Google care about you and me so much?  Easy… money.  Mobile advertising will quickly become “locally relevant”.  This means that if you are strolling through Bryant Park on a warm summer day in New York, an ad for the Jamba Juice across the street may show up on your phone.  Click it and Google makes money.  Mobile advertising today is only about $800M annually.   By 2012 it will swell to $2.2B driven largely by “locally relevant” advertising and targeting based on your interests, connections and habits.

Today Google falls only under their self-imposed privacy guidelines (This from a company not exactly known for its transparency).  In 1999 legislation was passed that allowed consumers an “opt-in” choice for phone and cable companies controlling the use of personal data for commercial purposes.  Trust me when I tell you this will be a hot topic in the months and years to come on Capital Hill.  Consumer privacy is a big deal and something we should all be concerned about.

So if you have a G1 remember the minute you turn it, Google is watching you.  Tracking every move you make and, unlike other consumer data, you can’t see what information has been collected nor is there a way to modify it.  But don’t worry; we can always trust Google to do the right thing… right?  

For information on how Google and others will be using locally relevant data read this excellent article from by BW's Steve Baker and watch the accompanying video.

Google recently joined me and millions others by setting up a Twitter account.  Their very first tweet said, "I'm 01100110 01100101 01100101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011 01111001 00001010" binary code meaning "feeling lucky".  Well Google, I'm 01110111 01100001 01110100 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 :)

Tom  Cuthbert