Industry Insights

EXPERT INSIGHTS

ADTHINK What's Emerging in Tech & Advertising

The first installment of this ongoing series took place April 2nd in NYC, the marketing and media capital of the world.  The format featured an all-star cast of panelists and 5 hand selected start-ups with innovative solutions.  In several quick fire rounds. the start-ups presented, the panelists evaluated each business, asked the tough questions, and provided thoughful feedback. Check out the footage.   

HIGHLIGHTED SPEAKERS

Matt Weiss

 Chief of Staff, Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners

All About New Business

• Would Yahoo or Facebook Make a Better Tumblr Parent?
  While Yahoo seems near a deal to purchase Tumblr for as much as $1 billion, reports today suggest other notable players are kicking the tires on the growing blogging platform—namely, Facebook. So Adweek asked marketers this afternoon to weigh in on whether Yahoo or Facebook would make a better parent for the site. Responses were split, with slightly more of the small sample contending that Tumblr would thrive more under the stewardship of Mark Zuckerberg's digital giant. "My instinct tells me that an Instagram-led Facebook team [would] work better for the future of Tumblr than a Yahoo team," said Ian Schafer, the CEO of Deep Focus. "Tumblr reminds me more of Instagram than anything that Yahoo has ever done. Tumblr users would also categorically reject classic display advertising, which is Yahoo's bread and butter." Corey Gehrt, strategy director for brands at Code and Theory, concurred. "Facebook has stronger equity in the feed on both desktop and mobile," he said. "The reason that something like the Instagram acquisition made sense is because Instagram can more or less serve as a content generator and [content-management system] for the Facebook feed. Tumblr could act in a very similar fashion. The direct integration would be a stretch in Yahoo's current form." Both interactive platform firms could work as a Tumblr overseer, suggested David Clark, marketing vp at global strategy firm SDL. "Facebook may have the edge based on culture and the customer experiences they focus on creating," Clark stated. "However, Yahoo seems to have the will to make it work given where [CEO] Marissa Mayer is taking the company." But again, other digital industry players favor a Yahoo-Tumblr scenario. Henry Cipolla, CTO of Localytics, said Yahoo would be the better parent because it has a firmer grasp on content than Facebook. "Yahoo is better suited to manage Tumblr than Facebook because its bloggers are more likely to get value out of the integration," Cipolla explained. "Unlike Yahoo, Facebook is not a long-form publishing platform, and Facebook's ecosystem is more closed than Yahoo's. As a result, Tumblr's content would fit better with Yahoo and reach a wider audience." Yahoo might win out in a potential bidding war—if Tumblr decides to sell—simply because it needs a boost more desperately than Facebook, contended Paran Johar, CEO of the Mobile Media Summit. "Their need to extend their footprint aggressively into social and mobile and become a 'Web. 3.0' company is essential if they want to compete in the new-media landscape," Johar said. "Their ability to manage Tumblr will also be a natural as they can use their premium content to drive consumers deeper into specific blog subject matter and vice-versa." If either company ends up with Tumblr in its portfolio, it's likely going to have significant challenges in terms of monetizing the property without turning off the blogging platform's young and notoriously anti-commercial audience. For instance, when recently asked about ads becoming a bigger part of the site's experience, Erin Dooley, a 27-year-old digital content manager at happylucky, which runs Adidas Neo's Tumblr efforts, said, "I really hope they don't go in that direction."    
• Weather.com Develops Real-Time Data Ad Targeting
  Weather.com has begun using audience segmentation data from Lotame to develop real-time ad targeting services based on weather conditions, time and interests for companies like Home Depot, Toyota, Disney and others. The platform relies on the potential of weather data as a powerful predictor of consumer purchase intent.
• MetroPCS Drops Challenge To Neutrality Rules
  T-Mobile's newly acquired MetroPCS withdrew its challenge to the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules on Friday. But Verizon, which also challenged the rules, is continuing with its appeal.
• Obscure Direct Response Brands Dominate Facebook Chatter
  Even though Facebook's deals strategy has involved hits and misses, it appears that its 800 million users love to either comment about or share low-priced offers. How else to explain DealDash—an auctions-based Web player focusing on heavily discounted items—beating out the likes of Coca-Cola and Walmart when it comes to the social platform's People Talking About This PTAT rates brand posts according to how many interactions they generate, such as likes, shares, comments, mentions, check-ins, etc. Facebook introduced the metric in late 2011, attempting to give marketers a clearer view of the effectiveness of their messaging on the social site. When asked about PTAT in the last year or so, most brands speaking with Adweek have said they pay close attention to the stat. And, per research from SocialBakers exclusively shared with our publication, DealDash is reigning supreme. It seems remarkable that the New York-based company—with roughly 1.2 million Facebook fans—creates more interaction than Coke (65 million fans) and Walmart (29 million). Also according to SocialBakers, a body-conscious garment marketer called 45 Minute Skinny is doing a superb job creating Facebook chatter. Check out the full Top 10 lists for U.S. and global brands in terms of PTAT, per SocialBakers.