Hamburg ist im Norden eine Ausnahme. Generell zeichnen sich vor allem süddeutschen Regionen durch eine hohe Gründungsneigung aus, während nord- und ostdeutsche Regionen in der Tendenz schlechter abschneiden. „Die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer Firmengründung ist in ökonomisch erfolgreichen Regionen höher als in weniger erfolgreichen“, schreiben die Autoren der Studie. In Verdichtungsräumen wie München, Frankfurt am Main und der Rheinschiene ist die Gründungsneigung daher besonders groß.

Im größten deutschen Verdichtungsraum – dem Ruhrgebiet – sind die Gründungsaktivitäten allerdings deutlich unterdurchschnittlich. Ein Grund hierfür sei die Betriebsstruktur der Region, so die Arbeitsmarktforscher. In vorwiegend großbetrieblich strukturierten Regionen sei die Kultur der Selbständigkeit weniger ausgeprägt als in Regionen mit einem hohen Anteil kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen.

Bildung fördert Gründungsneigung

Hochqualifizierte Personen gründen häufiger ein Unternehmen als geringer qualifizierte. Besonders gründungsfreudig sind Ingenieure und Naturwissenschaftler. Deren High-Tech-Gründungen seien wichtig für die Erneuerung der regionalen Wissensbasis, wird in der Studie betont. Unternehmensgründungen würden den strukturellen Wandel und das Wirtschaftswachstum einer Region fördern. Deshalb gelte es, das Potenzial an Gründern zu erhöhen und die Umsetzung der Existenzgründung zu erleichtern.

Die Zahl potenzieller Gründer sei nur mittel- bis langfristig zu beeinflussen, zum Beispiel durch Investitionen in Ausbildung. Dagegen könne der Anteil der Abbrecher, die ihr Gründungsvorhaben aufgeben, durch den Abbau bürokratischer Hemmnisse auch kurzfristig verringert werden, sind die Arbeitsmarktforscher überzeugt.

Die IAB-Studie steht im Internet unter http://doku.iab.de/kurzber/2008/kb1008.pdf zum kostenlosen Download bereit. Sie beruht auf einem Datensatz des Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) mit Angaben von 33.293 Befragten in Deutschland.

IAB/Bain Digital Pricing Study

This is interesting on two levels:

1. Clearly, there is a need for publishers to better manage the yield on their inventory. While it is still safer to let an ad impression go unmonetized than it is to let an airline seat fly empty, knowing when to make those decisions in order to maximize revenue is the next big challenge for online publishers. Very few ad servers (our AdConductor platform and 24/7 Real Media's OAS) work for the publisher in that regard.

2. Ad networks are sopping up excess inventory. The issue though is that they are sopping it up at bargain-basement rates. Publishers need to think about the options they have for ad networks, deciding between blind and transparent networks (for the publisher to see the advertiser), those who manage block lists well, and those that will sell the value of the remnant inventory to the right advertisers to keep advertising quality high. As publishers and ad networks learn to get along better to fill excess inventory, these trade-offs will become part of the discussion of where to place great, albeit not premium, ad space.

Op 30 september aanstaande organiseren Waddameeting en IAB Nederland voor het eerst een industry summit, geheel toegesneden op online video advertising. Tijdens deze Summit Online Video Advertising 2008 in de westerunie zullen een groot aantal sprekers uit binnen- en buitenland op de laatste ontwikkelingen binnen online video en online video advertising ingaan. Op deze dag wordt er volledig ingegaan op de effectiviteit, ontwikkelingen en best practises van Online Video Advertising. Er komen een tiental sprekers uit binnen- en buitenland die een diepgaand inzicht in alle need-to-know aspecten van online video advertising kunnen geven, zoals:

• Hoe ontwikkelt zich het kijkgedrag tussen de verschillende groepen internetgebruikers en wie klikken het meest door op online video ads?
• Welke video ad-formats werken het best voor welk type campagne?
• Hoe werken de onderliggende technologieën en wanneer zijn zij optimaal voor exploitant en adverteerder?
• Hoe ontwikkelt zich het aanbod van online video?
• Wat is de effectiviteit van online video ads?
• Waar liggen de kansen van online video ads voor adverteerder en exploitant?
• Hoe verhouden de kosten van online video ads zich t.o.v. de andere advertentie-kanalen?
• Wat zijn de creatieve dos en dont’s bij het produceren van online video ads en het creëren van maximale interactiviteit en conversie?
• Wat zijn de ontwikkelingen van online video binnen search?
• Wat zijn de belangrijke trends en kansen voor de nabije toekomst?

Al met al lijkt het een erg interessante dag te worden. Meer informatie over deelname en / of sponsor mogelijkheden vind u hier. Hopelijk tot ziens op 30 september!

Here are a few stats that I'll share next time I talk to a 'traditional media' marketer:

64% of US households answered "Computer with Internet Access" to the question "If you had to live on a deserted island and could only take one thing with you." 18% said books, 6% said TV, 6% said radio, 4% said cell phone and 1% said newspaper subscription.

General Motors, the 3rd largest US advertiser, is ready to shift half of its 3 billion budget into digital and one-to-one marketing within the next 3 years.

In a multi-advertiser cross media optimization study (measuring on-line and off-line effects) sales increased by 11% on average from customers who had been exposed to online advertising, compared to those who hadn't.

It cost about 4 times as much to increase purchase intention via magazine advertising and 11 times as much via TV - compared to online advertising.

There's a lot more to read, especially on ad formats, measurements, online challenges (oh yeah, it's not all honky-dory). You can find the full presentation here

Microsoft IE gaff

Highlights included a senior guy from Microsoft Advertising failing to understand the meaning of 'IE8', apparently 'that's a different department'....fair enough (not)

IAB online effectiveness

There was a great presentation from the IAB about the effectiveness of online and TV working in tandem. Not ground breaking as it mirrors the findings of the old Unilever Dove case study - but great to have some UK data to show my clients.  My only scepticism about this, is that whilst being great research - it's a million miles away from making it into traditional offline media planning models, and the monthly TV vs Digital debate I seem to have.  The challenge of forcing the reappraisal of planning models it appears still needs to be fought by the digital agencies.

Online PR

At swamp we're about to launch our formalised online PR offer together with our colleagues in Brahm PR.  It's going to be good harnessing the power of a well established and excellent PR team with our knowledge and experience in digital... but it is weird - we've being doing online PR in digital for years we just never called it that before :)

Anyway, there was a great presentation from Immediate Future about the online PR campaign they did for Sony Bravia.  It was very niche focusing on the management of the release of the 3rd Bravia ad (the one with all the bunnies.  Basically they manage to head off the advertising blogerati from giving it a panning and suppress an underground revolt from fans of the fantastic Kozyndan.   Job well done, but did it sell any more TV's?

Still it's made me appreciate the Kozyndan bunny poster I have hanging in my studio even more :)

 O Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) publicou seu primeiro report sobre mobile advertising .

Nele vc encontra tamanho do mercado; Comparação com web tradicional; perfil de uso; limitações de uma campanha móvel; cadeia de distribuição; Valores de campanhas; Retorno médio de ações; Oportunidades etc. 20 páginas sem enrolação.

Tb recomendo para quem não sabe nada do assunto e quer ter uma visão geral. O texto é bem claro e conta com uma lista de termos mais mais utilizados na área.

Clique aqui e baixe o pdf.

Actualmente con 115 empresas asociadas, entre las que se encuentran portales y medios on line, agencias de publicidad, centrales de medios, adnetworks, agencias interactivas, redes sociales, empresas de tecnología, y compañías comprometidas con el desarrollo de la publicidad y el marketing en Internet.

Este crecimiento del 100 % en la cantidad de asociados en tan sólo un año, se atribuye también al lanzamiento de nuevos sitios locales, al desembarco de grandes players en la Argentina como Google y MSN, y al surgimiento de nuevas agencias interactivas especializadas en publicidad on line y marketing interactivo.

Por otra parte, el IAB también promueve la participación de sus socios a través de las distintas Comisiones de trabajo: Comisión de Relaciones Institucionales, Comisión de Marketing, Comisión de Mediciones; y Comisión de Formatos en Internet.

Alcune considerazioni che mi girano nella testa, senza alcuna pretesa di essere per così dire "nel giusto".

La pubblicità sul mobile (che si legge "mobail" e vuol dire telefonino, non oggetto d'arredamento) al momento è ancora utopia. Si cominciano a muovere i primi passi, molte aziende stanno adattando i propri siti web per la visualizzazione su cellulare, Vodafone ha installato un adserver sul suo portale, ma pare che tutto si muova a rilento. Si dice che con l'Iphone anche questo settore subirà una bruciante accelerazione. A me pare che stiano facendo di tutto per far funzionare una cosa che ancora non sta in piedi, per quanto mi rendo conto che potenzialmente sia un'opportunità di business da sogno.

Il behavioural targeting: questo è davvero interessante. Montagna, amministratore di Yahoo Italia, dice che Yahoo è in possesso della tecnologia per applicare la profilazione comportamentale al suo portale.

Questa profilazione può sembrare invasiva; io non vedevo l'ora che diventasse realtà. Non ho mai sopportato quelli cercano di vendere tutto a tutti, quelli che temono che se vendono A, impegnandosi e sforzandosi in tal direzione, temono di non riuscire più a vendere il prodotto B. Temono la specializzazione. Vendono tutto e niente. Ognuno ha i suoi prodotti, e per ogni prodotto c'è un cliente.

Piuttosto, mi chiedo se non possa esserci qualche problema a livello di privacy, visto che si "spia" molto da vicino i comportamenti del navigatore, pur garantendogli sempre l'anonimato. Per me no, ma lascio aperto l'interrogativo.

La gestione delle campagne di mailing è stata trattata in maniera interessante da Fubini di Contact Lab

In particolare mi ha fatto molto riflettere la sua affermazione per cui "è inutile tenersi stretto un database di un milione di indirizzi" se poi non si fa un lavoro massiccio di profilazione. E ha ragione, in pieno. Grazie agli strumenti in nostro possesso, il Direct E-mail Marketing dovrebbe essere lo strumento principe delle vendite online.

Nei prossimi giorni vi faccio un bel riepilogo di cosa racconteranno domani gli organizzatori e i relatori. Intanto date un'occhiata al loro sito

Mi riprometto di non scrivere più post così pieni di parole da markettaro. Giuro.

But does social networking actually offer a measurable return on marketing investment for business? Does it help build brand equity? Should CEOs invest in 'the long tail' of niche products or, after reading this excellent article in the 'schools out for summer' edition of the HBR, should they continue to focus on a blockbuster approach? Many executives are pushing their marketing people to experiment with social media (aka have the agency build a Facebook page or a Twitter profile) only to find that after a few weeks, shockingly, no one has visited.

<cue: crickets>

Desperate marketer, now convinced job is on the line, frantically emails everyone in her Outlook address book to find a someone who, like Rumpelstiltskin, can magically spin a social media campaign from a paltry 'pilot' project budget that has already been half spent by the traditional agency (who built the Facebook page and set up the aforementioned Twitter account):

Looking to connect with a real social media marketing therapist. Charming and a good listener, you must be someone who actually knows what they are doing instead of just writing about it and hyping your book with lots of twits tweets. I must warn you that I love the advertising 'lifestyle': big, splashy tv campaigns, tickets to every imaginable sporting event, going to lots of parties where, as the client, I am the center of attention and everyone worships me. I share meals with my media reps more often than my kids.

I'm looking for someone really smart (but not smarter than me, obviously) who knows how to make social media work so I look great to my boss, become the envy of my colleagues and win an award or two (Cannes, sil vous plait). You need to be available 24/7 just like my psychotherapist and personal shopper because I travel constantly and will need reassurance regardless of my time zone. And if you do your job well, I will get a promotion next year.

Turn ons:

• Loves to shop
• Knows latest celebrity gossip
• Can get us into any restaurant/party/club
• Knows everyone
• Thinks a spa is a great place for a "strategy discussion"
• Doesn't expect me to pay ever
• Intelligent but doesn't act like it (no one likes a nerdy know-it-all)
• Rich, well-connected parents (in case the social media-thing doesn't work out for us)

Deal breakers:

• Always wanting to talk about <shudder> business or marketing
• Pressuring me for more budget
• Breakfast meetings <clarification: meetings before noon>
• Offices in a fly-over state, or one ending in an "A" (except LA, obviously)
• Wears a size 4 or smaller (if female)
• Wanting to link with me on Facebook
• Client list with brands I've never heard of (because if you are good at what you do...)
• Acting like mass media is dead

The latest research compiled by IAB Europe and analyzed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers has shown that European online ad spend has grown by 40% over the past year, reaching €11.2bn/£8.9bn (from €7.2bn/£5.7bn)

Predictably, the UK, Germany and France were the key markets - accounting for two-thirds of the spend. However, other markets are growing significantly - Greece grew by 91%, Spain by 55% and Slovenia by 49%.

The IAB forecasts that 10 of the 16 European countries studied will spend over 10% of total advertising budgets online by 2010 - currently 7 nations have reached this.

If these current trends continue, it is predicted that the online ad spend in Europe will overtake that of the US by 2010, which only grew by 26% to €14.5bn over the past year.

Según informa BrandRepublic, con esta propuesta el IAB busca, por un lado apoyar la industria del marketing en buscadores, brindando soporte técnico y estratégico a los anunciantes que deseen utilizar este medio. Por otro, la entidad busca generar normas claras para todos los competidores dentro de la industria, tanto para las plataformas publicitarias como para los anunciantes.

Los temas a los que el IAB busca darle prioridad es en la promoción del listado de palabras claves, el cuidado de la historia publicitaria de los anunciantes (para cuando cambien de buscador o plataforma), y el costo de cada click, elemento clave a la hora de anunciar a través de este sistema.

Mediapost link to article

Publishers dictate what file size limits are on ads and the IAB in UK and US state what "best practice" is (more on best practice in another post). What I don't understand is that the control is with the media agency as they are the ones which host the ads.

In a recent NMA report on Creativity, the Brand Comms manager for Mini said bandwidth is holding up creativity online, ie we would benefit from improved advertising if the file size limits of ads were better.

Firstly, the IAB UK says the recommended file size limits for "standard ads" link banners and MPU's are 30kb, and the US IAB 40kb.

I'm not a flash developer, but have you tried creating a good MPU for less than 30kb (you need 3kb for scripting, so you actually have 27kb)?

Like I previously said, the media agency hosts the ad, so they say what the limit is; it doesn't matter if the publisher doesn't approve - it is nothing to do with them and it won't delay their page loading as they've already prioritised that critical content gets loaded first (usually).

One of the first things I did as head of digital in my last agency was brief the creative teams with our maximum tolerance for "standard" ad serving which is 75kb. We even managed to fit a polar bear game in an MPU for 72Kb which improved performance 400% and kept media costs the same. Has to beat doing those crap animated ads for 30kb that talk whether you are listening or not, but that again is another post!

Article Link: http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6573869.html?industryid=47171

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/27/2008 12:39:00 PM

The Senate Commerce Committee rescheduled its hearing on the implications of online advertising to July 9.

CLICK HERE TO READ FULL ARTICLE