StumbleUpon | marcporcelli's blog posts

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Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:03:28 -0800

I have spent the last few weeks digesting my thoughts and analyzing where I believe the online dating space is headed this year. After a very robust January of meetings with dozens upon dozens of online advertisers representing vast verticals in the space such as insurance, dating, diet, lead generation, continuity and subscriptions (as well as consumer goods and services all over the country) I believe I have a strong sense of where the opportunities of online dating lie.

Readers may initially be puzzled as to why lines of business outside of the dating vertical would impact my analysis on where the dating space is headed. The answer is distribution. Being that I work in the performance marketing space, representing hundreds of online advertisers (dating and non-dating) I would like to think I have a very strong grasp of what does and does not work for publishers. The publishers are the lifeblood of any online product/service by bringing it to the consumer.

Publishers promote specific products or services through the four main online channels. These channels comprise of websites & banners, email, search and social networks. For a product or service to get distribution in the performance space, it must be attractive to the publishers, convert for the publishers and (most importantly) be profitable for all parties.

Given that the online distribution has changed at a robust rate in the last six months or so due to the deepening global recession, so have the distribution costs. It is one thing to purchase distribution on a CPM basis; it's a whole other to purchase it on a CPA basis through performance networks. There is without a doubt more inventory available at affordable rates today than in recent years. These rates have opened up many more opportunities for publishers to promote at highly scalable and profitable rates on both a CPA and CPM basis. Due to falling CPM rates, publishers are finding creative, profitable and highly scalable ways to purchase on a CPM arbitraging the traffic back into an effective CPA.

With this highly scalable traffic, the publisher focus becomes specific to offers that not only are profitable, but that are consistent. Online dating in the performance marketing space for the past several months has been anything but consistent. This lack of consistency on the advertisers side has resulted in the dating vertical becoming far less attractive then it once was - or that it has been in years.

So why does this lack of consistency matter?

Traditionally, there have only been a few large online dating sites that have been successful in the performance marketing space. The sites that have been the most successful for the past few years are the ones that have built out partnerships with performance networks - this is an undisputable fact. Due to unforeseen circumstances many of these larger sites through unique circumstances have not been as active in their promotional methods.

This lack of activity has dramatically shifted the market share landscape in the last several months. Dating sites that have not traditionally been as active or successful at utilizing performance networks have realized huge surges in activity and membership. Many are attributing this upswing in activity due to the economic woes, falsely crediting that users have for the most part organically reached their sites. While this may be partially true, it is not the real reason for the increases.

The real reason why these sites have realized huge upswings is because the sites that were active in the performance network space have pulled back. By being active in the performance network space, you get what one search AOR can deliver times ten. It is like having one hundred "portal partnerships" but which are not portals.

By working in the performance network space, you may or may not have one single source of traffic as large as a single p

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/29413382/

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 06:06:12 -0800

Display Ad Prices Plummet: Huge Opportunity To Buy!

January 19, 2009 | By Marc Porcelli

Remnant display prices for a long time have just been totally out of hand. Fortunately the recession has brought these prices down back to more of a realistic level, half of what it was in Q4 of 2007 compared to what is was in Q4 2008.

So why are prices down so much this year versus last year? Simple. All the clueless media buyers out there spending on branding (another word for blind spending). Ok, clueless is to harsh, but coming from a performance perspective it is really all that makes sense to me, where all in this to get accountable and verifiable results, not theoretical results.

Looking further into the statistics provided this week by PubMatic, it’s clear that there are a few verticals in particular that have taken a nice hit.

Here are some of PubMatic’s key findings taken from there site:

* All sizes of websites (small, medium, and large) were down dramatically from Q4 2007; small, medium, and large sites dropped 52%, 23%, and 54%, respectively, from the previous year.
* All sizes of websites were also down from Q3 2008 to Q4 2008, but the drops were not significant, bucking the trend of larger drops from quarter to quarter throughout 2008; this may be an indicator that the online ad sector got just enough of a boost from holiday advertising to keep ad rates steady.
* Similar to sites by size, all vertical categories also experienced significant drops in their ad pricing from Q4 2007; the biggest drop by a vertical was Business & Finance, which fell from an average price of $2.13 in Q4 2007 to $0.83 in Q4 2008 - a 61% drop.
* Also similar to sites by size, no vertical categories dropped by a significant amount from Q3 2008 to Q4 2008, and some verticals even improved from the previous quarter; the Technology, Sports, Entertainment, Gaming, and Music verticals all had higher ad price averages in Q4 of 2008 than in Q3 of 2008.

*Source: Pubmatic http://pubmatic.com/adpriceindex/index.html

So what does this all equate to? Major opportunities to buy! There are approximately 400+ ad networks out there right now. These networks traditionally have not wanted to work with advertisers on a CPA (cost per action) because it was not as profitable for them. This started noticeably changing in the winter/spring of 2007, and now many of these networks are openly offering CPA pricing. You don’t have to push for it the way you did in the past.

Don’t be fooled into working on a dCPM model where the networks “try” and back out into a CPA. Advertisers no longer need to pay for the networks to “learn” where to place ads on this model. Instead, due to the decreased market demands, advertisers should demand that the networks solely take this risk – the technology supports this and networks focused on long-term relationships should just do it!

The most ironic thing is how so many networks that were so keen on the CPM model are beginning to show signs of turning into CPA or performance based networks. So why are these networks moving into this performance-based space? The answer is not all that simple.

Ad networks that traditionally priced on CPM models have some pretty impressive targeting technology these days; some using the right media exchange technology (amongst many others) which actually had the opposite desired effect - where the technology actually made the rates drop! But this rate drop due to the technology was not exclusive to the networks, many publishers that initially used this technology to manage their unsold or remnant inventory saw similar overall drops in ecmp’s.

Companies like The rubicon Project allow publishers to get the highest effective CPM for their inventory not only through one network, but hundreds of them. According to the Rubicon Project’s website there are 368 networks at the time of this posting. With all this technology came negative repercussions for those networks and publishers or individual site owners that relied too heavily on this technology for their unsold inventor (or even total inventory).

This robust technology, which can go by “hyper-targeting” can learn which creative performs best at which location and at what frequency (day-parting and view sequence, etc.) based on user information (age, location, sex, relationship status, browsing habits, etc.) advertisers found sweet spots. Many of these sweet s

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/29392205/

Sun, 18 Jan 2009 12:07:04 -0800

Affiliate Summit West Recap
January 17, 2009 – 11:33 pm

This year’s Affiliate Summit was hands down the most productive show I have attended in the last few years (and I have attended many shows)!� Ad:tech traditionally has been a great show, but the only one I find beneficial these days is ad:tech SF. In my experience, many decision-makers attend and more business gets done. The rest of the shows are either too small to justify the price, or in the case of ad:tech NY, way too big and busy.

The Affiliate Summit West took place at the Rio, where it did last year. It’s a cab ride from any of the hotels on the strip and veterans of the show know to be dropped off at the convention and not the hotel to avoid the long walk. This was my sixth affiliate summit and it’s going to be tough to top this one.

I had flown into Las Vegas on Saturday hoping to have a relaxing Sunday when I received a call on Sunday morning, the meet market was packed! For those that don’t know what the meet market is, it is a six-hour pre-show where merchants have tables to meet with affiliates to discuss their affiliate programs. The meet market has been growing in popularity of the past few years, but it’s safe to say now that it’s the best event at the show.

AzoogleAds, a division of Epic Advertising (the company I work for) was the Platinum sponsor, so we had the booth right where attendees for this event walked in. Needless to say it was very busy and provided a great opportunity to discuss new business and to meet with contacts from other business we work with. The attendees that came to the meet market where very qualified and eager to network. I had a chance to walk around when our table traffic eased up and it was very busy. I later found out there were one hundred tables, during the last show in Boston over the summer, there were seventy.

After the meet market it was off to a few meetings and then three consecutive dinners, two of which overlapped. My last meal at Tao was simply rice, I had no more room at that point. Following the dinners we hosted an event in a suite at the Palazzo for our publishers and then it was off to Lavo downstairs.

Monday began at the Azoogle booth followed by two lunches, meetings and then dinner at the Encore in Botero. Those that know me know I am a big fan of steak. This was the best steak I have had in sometime! After dinner it was off to Jet in the Mirage where Akon was performing. The venue was horribly over-packed which made it an early night. On the way back to the Wynn I ran into a few clients who convinced me to stay out and we ended up at XS which is at Encore. XS truly blew me away, it was one of the best clubs I have ever been to.

Tuesday at the show was much like Monday with many meetings, but not as many during the afternoon, which provided me with a much needed break. The show went strong until about 3pm when it started to wind down. I had two more meetings and by the second one, I was just totally exhausted. When it was time to leave for the airport for my red-eye flight back to Toronto I was ready to go, but felt very content with the trip and all that had been accomplished.

Going from this venue to the Affiliate Summit East venue which will be taking place at the New York Hilton on August 9-11th this summer in New York City will be quite the change. The New York Hilton brings back memories of an over-crowded booth and swarms of people during ad:tech in NYC.

Affiliate Summit has come a long way in the past few years. Affiliate Summit West had over 3000 attendees and is the affiliate show to attend! Overall the attendees seemed a lot more engaged in discussing business and capitalizing on all available opportunities. Now that the show is over, it’s all about following up on leads and moving forward with the business.

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/27597687/

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:59:52 -0800

Obama Online, 50 Mbps, Online Econonmic Woes & Facebook Verified Apps
November 18, 2008 – 8:46 am

The Marketing of a President by John Quelch | Harvard Business Review. “When the book is written on this election, it should not be titled The Making of a President but The Marketing of a President. Barack Obama’s campaign is a case study in marketing excellence.” Of similar interest, but with more of an online spin readers will be interested in McCain Camp Spent Fraction of Obama’s Online Ad Budget. Here is an expert from the article; “The McCain campaign spent just over $1.5 million on Web media, according to data representing campaign 2008 expenditures into September. Obama’s campaign spent around $8 million in ‘08 as of October. ”

President Elect Obama will also continue to utilize the internet via weekly YouTube video posts. The Washington Post ran an article about it today, “The YouTube Presidency.” Each weekly post will be about four minutes in length.

Comcast’s 50 Mbps service comes to OR, WA next month by Josh Lowensohn |cNet.com. “Starting next month, subscribers of Comcast’s cable Internet service in Oregon and southwestern Washington state will be getting their connections switched over to “wideband.” The upgraded service, which was announced late last month doubles the speed of residential and business connections as well as offering two faster, more expensive plans that bring the maximum download speed to 22 and 50 Mbps respectively.” It’s going to get very interesting for online business models as the size of the pipe continues to grow and end users are able to download at faster and faster speeds. The Netflix and Blockbusters of the world are anxiously anticipating its arrival.
On the note of faster download speeds, Microsoft opened the Microsoft Store online last week (domestically), The Death Of Packaged Software: Microsoft Store Opens On The Web For U.S. Shoppers. Clearly they are going more direct to the end user increasingly profitability, but also ease of use. I like the model and am sure we’ll see a lot more of it. It’s definitely not new, but can now be quantified as mainstream.

I couldn’t forget to mention the economy! There are a few different articles that caught my attention, Ad Woes Infect the Net and Crisis Hits Tech Sector With Layoffs as Sales Slump; which focuses more on Sun’s layoffs. Online Ad Growth Grinds To A Halt focuses on Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.

Here is the latest tech scorecard of all the layoffs to date. A “must read” for those who have been following the carnage in the auto sector is “Death of Detroit Would Wallop Ad World.”

Today Facebook rolled out their verified Apps program so perhaps their business model is looking a bit brighter. Facebook says “…developers must pay a $375 to ‘cover some of the operational costs of the program’. If every application applied, that would be $18 million in incremental revenue to Facebook. Our guess is half or more will apply.”

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/25211012/

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 19:23:51 -0700

Tracking Your Competitors Online, Geographic Performance, Recession Marketing, Special K
September 8, 2008 – 10:17 pm

Being that this is an online marketing blog and having a strong interest in competitive intelligence, it only makes sense to focus on competitive intelligence. I came across two articles recently that readers should find interesting. The first, Six Ways to Track Your Competitors Online offers some basic techniques to use. The second article, How to Track 500 competitors in 10 Minuets a day is a bit more technical. Related is one of the most popular articles on this blog, Competitive Intelligence and Online Marketing.

Google last week announced the Geographic Performance Report. The report helps marketers (Adwords customers) understand the geographic distribution of their impressions, clicks and conversions down to the ad group level. This is great if for example you are bidding on a term, say dating and you see a lot of conversions, say in Hanover, NH. You would then want to target the Hanover, NH area further to, in theory maximize you ROI.

Harvard Business Review published two articles that can be tied into recession marketing. First, In a Downturn, Discounts Can Be Dangerous and secondly, Unleash the Emotional Appeal of Your Product. Both articles provide great perspective and gave me plenty of ideas.

Lastly, an article that I hope we all see the likes of more frequently, Kellogg: Digital ROI Surpasses That of TV. It seems that there are tons of articles and studies that land in my inbox about the benefits of BT, and this online service, and that online service…most just selling a service. As an industry we need more practical case studies with large brand advertisers such as Kellogg. I’m switching to Special K for now on!

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/24582346/

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 15:29:31 -0700

Sponsered Text and Email Provide Awarness Lift, Recession Marketing
August 20, 2008 – 6:26 pm

Yesterday, Yahoo and MediaVest released a study that concluded there is a 160% lift in consumer awareness. The study found that there was a huge impact on brand awareness, perception and purchase intent - interestingly enough, even among consumers who never click on them. Also of note, was a finding that consumers were 20% more likely to have a positive perception of a brand if it appeared in the top of a paid-search position, rather than appearing in the second, or third spots. Consumers, are also apparently 30% more likely to consider purchasing a product when the brand was at the top of the paid search listings…I’m not so sure about that one, that seems high. Take a look at the lift awareness chart.

On the email side of things, Jason Oates, of Datran Media today writes about, Email’s hidden superpower. This, fresh of last weeks 2008 branding Study conducted with eHarmony and Dynamic Logic. Jason’s article summaries the 2008 branding studies findings, a must read.

Other areas of interest include, Kraft Foods CMO May Beth West discussing marketing in a recession, and on walking in your consumers shoes to understand their needs. I discussed marketing in an (online) recession, which readers may also find relevant.

Also in Today’s Online Marketing News

EBay: Amazon-ification Takes Hold by Catherine Holahan | BusinessWeek.com. “The online auction giant, hoping to boost inventory and revive growth, will imitate Amazon and court users who sell at fixed prices “

New Features in Website Optimizer by Google | Google.com. “Today, at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose, CA, the Website Optimizer team announced the launch of several highly requested product updates. For those unfamiliar with Website Optimizer, it’s Google’s free content testing and optimization tool. It allows you to test different variations of your site content to determine what will be most effective at getting you the results you want from your site.”

Wifi Coming to Domestic Flights by Brad King | MarketingShift.com. “The airlines may not be very good at getting flights off the ground in time or making sure your luggage reaches your destination when you do, however, at least one carrier has announced it would begin allowing people to connect to the Internet during some flights.”

Most popular young adult sites in UK finance focused by Helen Leggatt | Bizreport.com. “Apparently, it’s not all about having fun online. Research among young, British adults reveals that financial management is front of mind when it comes to their reasons for going online. “

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/24360733/

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:55:40 -0700

Singlesnet to Epic Advertising (AzoogleAds)

August 13, 2008 – 10:51 pm

As most of you know, I have returned to Epic Advertising - parent company to AzoogleAds as the VP of Sales. I was formally the CMO of Singlesnet.com for 16-months. I have taken a brief hiatus from writing this blog during my transition. I will be back in the swing of things soon, updating the blog more often.

Here is the release issued two weeks ago:

New York, NY - July 31, 2008 – Epic Advertising (http://www.EpicAdvertising.com ), the New York-based online performance marketing company, has appointed Marc Porcelli to the position of Vice President, Advertising Sales. Porcelli will be based in the company’s Toronto, Ontario offices.

In his position at Epic Advertising, Porcelli is responsible for overseeing advertiser sales efforts and forging key strategic partnerships for CPA-focused, North American advertisers of all sizes. He will manage the retention of key accounts as well as the development of new advertising relationships.

Prior to joining Epic Advertising, Mr. Porcelli served as Chief Marketing Officer for Singlesnet, a leading online dating site. During his tenure at Singlesnet, Mr. Porcelli was responsible for defining and executing the company’s marketing strategy, as well as leading online customer acquisition. Under his direction, Singlesnet became a leader in market share, a position they still hold. He also instituted an internal affiliate program, and closed several strategic multi-million dollar contracts with high-profile web properties. Prior to Singlesnet, Mr. Porcelli was the Director of Toronto Advertising Sales for AzoogleAds, now a division of Epic Advertising.

Mr. Porcelli holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the American InterContinental University as well as several post-graduate certificates.

“We are incredibly excited at Marc’s return to the team,” said Brett Lofgren, Senior Vice President of Global Advertising Sales. “We have experienced accelerated business growth in the face of broader economic challenges, and it sends a positive signal to the industry about our company’s strength that we were able to attract someone of his caliber back to the company. Marc brings to us a tremendous track record, deep industry expertise across a wide variety of marketing disciplines and a solid reputation. He will be critical to our group’s success and in continuing the company’s impressive growth pattern.”

About Epic Advertising:

Epic Advertising (http://www.EpicAdvertising.com ) is a global online performance marketing company that provides advertisers with measurable Internet advertising impact. Leveraging proprietary and patent-pending contextual and behavioral targeting technologies, and the over 35,000 publishers in its highly-acclaimed Azoogle Ad Network, Epic provides its advertising partners with performance and direct response marketing services, media planning and a targeted, worldwide reach.

A pioneer in both the online performance marketing industry and in Internet advertising integrity assurance, Epic Advertising brings an intense focus on achieving the highest ROI yield for its advertising partners via transparent display and search consumer traffic. Epic scales its solutions by leveraging vast quantities of data, enormous internet reach and unparalleled industry expertise.

Epic Advertising is headquartered in New York, with offices in San Francisco and Toronto. The company is privately held and backed by private equity firms TA Associates and Stripes Group.

Contact:
Cherilyn Earl
Epic Advertising
212.308.8509
Cherilyn.Earl@EpicAdvertising.com

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/19911395/

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:58:14 -0700

Online Privacy: The Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) And The FTC
April 11, 2008 – 6:34 pm

Online privacy concerns seem to be a very active topic in recent weeks, particularly the practice of Behavioral Targeting (BT). With April 11th being the deadline for comments due in to the FTC regarding BT and privacy concerns many organizations are weighing in.

As one would suspect the ad industry is arguing that new regulations should not be imposed – some argue that existing voluntary guidelines are overly restrictive. On the other side, privacy advocates argue that there should be rules that honor users preferences about whether they wanted to be tracked online or if they wanted to receive targeted ads.

The Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group are credited with starting the debate over BT. The original 50-page complaint filled with the FTC in 2006 can be found here. An overview on the topic can be found in PDF from the FTC’s website.

I feel the real issue is identifiable information, or PII. I have been writing a lot lately about Deep Packet Inspection or DPI that is a form of BT. The fear is that DPI is overly intrusive and although not PII, identifiable enough. One organization that has advocated the prohibition of sensitive personally identifiable information is the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI).

The NAI, as stated on their web-site about is a self-regulatory “cooperative of online marketing and analytics companies committed to building consumer awareness and establishing responsible business and data management practices and standards.” The NAI currently represents 15 organizations such as Google and AOL, including three recent additions such as; Yahoo’s BlueLithium, Mindset Media and Media6degrees. More on the NAI’s principles can be found here.

The NAI today released Network Advertising Initiative Proposes Updated Principles which included enhanced consumer protections. There are four main updates:

Clarified “sensitive” consumer segment prohibitions
New rules requiring opt-in consent for certain “restricted consumer segments

Prohibition against creating behavioral advertising segments specifically targeting children under the age of 13

Enhanced data security requirements

Saul Hansell of The New York Times today sums it up nicely. “If you’ve got AIDS, cancer or erectile dysfunction a group of big advertising networks are going to promise not to remember that you read sites about those topics and remind you (or others using your computer) of your condition with ads for related drugs as you surf the net.” Further perspective can be found by Zachery Rodgers of The ClickZ Network, Network, NAI Unveils Revision of Behavioral Targeting Code.

One thing is for sure; there is a lot of money at stake and many marketing decisions will ride on the FTC’s ruling. Comments relating to Behavioral Targeting are due into the NAI by June 12th, 2008.

The New York Times has excellent coverage of ISP data monitoring which readers will find relevant.

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/19866311/

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:01:18 -0700

Today In Online Marketing News – Thursday April 10, 2008
April 10, 2008 – 4:00 pm

Here are some of the articles that caught my attention today: Thursday April 10, 2008

Ad Nets to Proliferate By Brian Morrissey| AdWeek. According to the Rubicon Project there are currently some 300 ad networks. Growth is expected to continue, “particularly among specialized networks that cater to brand advertisers.” Basically this means the growth will be lead by vertical networks.

Yahoo Makes Ultimate Concession, Tests Google Ads By Zachary Rodgers | The Clikz Network. Yahoo is trying to increase their portfolio’s value by all means heading into their disclosure of Q1 results, which will be next week.

Yudu Freedom hosts your PDFs, makes them SEO friendly By Josh Lowensohn | Webware.com. Perhaps this could open up a new opportunity for advertisers to be organically listed?

News Corp. May Join Yahoo Bid With Microsoft By Andrew Ross Sorkin and Miguel Helft. The title here is self-explanatory – things are heating up!

http://marcporcelli.stumbleupon.com/review/19807148/

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 10:27:02 -0700

Agencies Look To Engage Consumers – A Recap From Agency Executives
April 9, 2008 – 12:25 pm

Ok, so I have been on an “engagement” kick lately. What better than to look at how the big spenders, the agencies are looking to engage users? I blogged about Saatchi & Saatchi’s Toyota Campaign with YouTube a few days ago – the campaign was very well done.

Below is a clip of an interview that Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi gave with Knowledge@Wharton of the Wharton School. A transcript of the interview can be found here, “
Saatchi & Saatchi’s Kevin Roberts: ‘It’s All about Getting to the Future First”

Paidcontent.org also interviewed Matt Spiegel, CEO of OMD Digital. Spiegel discusses OMD Digitals expansion goals.Finally in Today’s AdvertisingAge, Ira Teinowtz discusses, “Digital Engagement Top of Mind at IAA World Congress.” Discussed are the views of Interpublic Group of Cos. CEO Michael Roth; Microsoft President of Platforms and Services Kevin Johnson; Leo Burnett USA CEO Tom Bernardin; and Tribal DDB West President Elizabeth Ross.

The key pointers that I took out of these articles are that as advertisers we need to focus more on engaging and not just advertising. Perhaps all this “advertising” is to blame for the consistently decreasing click-through-rates which currently stand around .02%!