Week of July 2, 2007

Off To Live Earth

Friday, July 06, 2007

As one of the producers of the Live Earth concerts, practically our entire company is out of the country working on the upcoming shows. We hope you enjoy the concerts and take a minute to think about the message they are meant to highlight.

Classifieds: Newspapers Cash Cow Drying Up

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Just when newspapers are trying to dig out from under the devastating impact of Craigslist on their classified business, news comes out that even more high profile classified ad services are launching, including Ebay's Kijiji, a site now online in 220 cities across the U.S. One of the interesting things is that Ebay owns 25% of Craisglist.

This is another indication of how Internet companies are trying to procure the huge local revenue pie.

Happy Independence Day!

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Celebrating July 4th!

Mobile Marketing Continues To Grow

Tuesday, July 03, 2007

If you want an indication of the possibilities that mobile marketing and advertising can have, check out Borders, which is launching a campaign to send free chapters from books to cell phone users before the books are released. The campaign to seed free content along with vouchers or coupons to users is one we will see more and more of as the mobile content space matures. One thing is certain: The usage base is already there.

Kids And Online Roleplaying Gaming

Monday, July 02, 2007

One of the burgeoning sites online is also becoming one of the most competitive: Roleplaying games and communities for kids and teens. Club Penguin was a pioneer in this place and has led to Disney, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network to launch or plan their own cartoon communities. While Club Penguin uses a subscription model, Disney is transitioning its own subscription site "Toontown" to an advertising model thanks to pressure from Nickelodeon's "Nicktropolis," which is free and surpassed Toontown in usage in less than six months.

All in all, the usage of the collected sites is in the millions, and users tend to stay online at the communities for a long time, which is exactly the profile that advertisers want. While it is already competitive, look for more youth brands to launch similar sites soon, making the space even more crowded.