So, i guess this is my first post here, thanks Martina... and hi mom! :)

Not a project actually, but days after the launch of the very impressive Coke Zero Game my good friend Paulo found this really nice video about how's the life inside North Kingdom:

This is very cool. Using home-grown technology, a Chinese firm has upstaged the likes of Google and Microsoft with a mapping service featuring 360-degree street-level imaging of extraordinarily high resolution.

The service, which is similar to features found on Google's and Microsoft's online mapping sites, presently covers eight Chinese cities - including the capital Beijing and Shanghai. I can only imagine the advertising oportunities eg overlaying messages onto billboards etc

The company behind the technology, Shanghai-based Easypano Holdings, is working on expanding the coverage of its City8 website to another 12 cities by the end of the year.

It's part of a trend in online mapping towards providing users with ground-level shots to complement the satellite and aerial imaging that is already widely available.

In a press released just posted on Silicon Valley Biz Ink DoubleClick has announced a partnership with Tribal DDB Los Angeles.
Tribal DDB Los Angeles will use DoubleClick's DART for Advertisers product exclusively, in order to deliver, report on and measure online marketing and advertising campaigns on behalf of its clients.

Yahoo! will buy Overture. I'm telling you no big news. But as a blogger I'm "committed" to provide you with further information and perspectives so... Here a two articles published today that present the possible consequences of the fact above mentioned. One is on Business Week and talks about Yahoo! and its competition with Google (Why Google Should Be Worried) and the other is on IAR and focuses on how will MSN affected by Yahoo!'s move on the market (Yahoo! Overture Combo could hurt MSN).
Of course, you can get it all in one, just go on Reuters: Overture Deal Raises stakes for Google and Msn.

This news isn't exactly about online advertising, however I think I "have to" report it since it involves one of the main Italian brands. I'm talking about Fiat, the automakers, which is not doing very well in the market but in the last years have came out with nice advertising. Now they have appointed Publicis and Publicis will open a new office in Turin to fully support its client.
If you want to learn more about this and you have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal (which btw I don't have :-) you might want to have a look at today's article on the fact.

Ching ching! Yahoo! coins it in! Many web sites are talking about Yahoo!'s profit posting. Personally, I liked Silicon.com's article, not only for its nice title, but also because it reported interesting analysts opinions on the fact, especially for what concerns its partnership with Overture.
However, if you want to know more about the financial aspect of the story it you should read the article on the Washington Post.

Online advertising, with the help of traditional brick-and-mortar companies, is staging a comeback -- emerging from the prolonged dry spell that followed the dot-com bust.
Traditional advertisers are beginning to allocate more of their marketing budgets to the Web, helping the online ad industry take its first steps toward what analysts see as a sustainable recovery.
The news is reported today by Reshma Kapadia on Reuters Web site.

MarketingFix, the daily blog for everyone interested in online marketing issues, has just been bought by ClickZ co-founder Andy Bourland.
Good luck to Rick and the other guys involved in the project!

Internet ad spending is expected to rise 7.4 percent this year, according to mid-year estimates from TNS Media Intelligence/CMR. The research company attributed increased spending to the strong upfront season, the continued rise of Hispanic media spending, the active political environment and the steady growth in new brand spending. To learn more, read on the news reported on Ad Week.

eBay Inc. has signed a global, multiyear pact to use its marketing tools and ad-serving technology provided by DoubleClick.
eBay will use DoubleClick's online advertising solutions to enhance the efficiency performance of its online advertising programs, and to provide the ad serving and management capability for its new Keywords on eBay service announced yesterday.
You can read on the press release on DoubleClick's website.

Overture's business is getting serious and serious, but the skepticism still remains. As Michael Liedtke writes today on San Mateo County Times Online Wall Street is worried the 6-year-old company will become obsolete almost as quickly as it emerged as a pioneer.
Despite this premise, the article provides plenty of positive information concerning Overture's business, especially considering the fact that pay-for-performance search is expected to attract as much as $2 billion in Internet advertising this year, up from $100 million just three years ago.

As Anita Jain reports on Crain's New York Business Doubleclick has survived the dot-com bust and massive reductions in its staff, and is on track to post its first annual net profit.

Icelandic feminists and women in general have decided to take Icelandair to court. The Centre for Gender Equality and The Icelandic Women's Rights Association, are suing Icelandair for allegedly violating the recently-passed Equal Rights Act with its advertising. As reported today on Yahoo! News "Some of Icelandair's campaigns where Icelandic women are presented as sex objects obviously violate the laws. By using word games the company is suggesting that Icelandic women are loose or promiscuous".

Netratings presents AdRelevance 4.0

ValueClick buys Search123

Online advertising works

Millward Brown Strategic Partnership

Running for AOL

Online Ads Finally Click

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