Twitter

- We Can Do What Google Can’t

Twitter sees lucrative opportunities in search, albeit a different kind of search than what Google offers, and, as co-founder Biz Stone told Ad Age recently, “we’ll certainly be exploring those.”

It’s because of the potential it sees in search that the Twitter co-founders walked away from a $500 million offer from Facebook — not just the terms of the deal, said Todd Chaffee, an Institutional Venture Partners general partner and a new Twitter backer. He said contrary to some reports, Facebook offered not just stock but substantial cash in the deal.

Twitter’s search engine, purchased with the acquisition of Summize last summer, bills itself as a search of “what’s happening — right now,” and in Twitter’s small but growing world, it is.

Google’s Upward March Continues — but for How Long?

Search Giant Reports 26% Increase in Quarterly Income, but Is Vague About Category’s Strength Going forward

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The good news: Search is still a bright spot. The not-so-good news: There’s no clarity going forward. Search giant Google on Thursday indicated there’s still growth in the online ad space during a tough economy, notching a healthy third-quarter net income of $1.35 billion, up 26% from $1.07 billion during the year-ago period. But the company begged off any questions about what the outlook for search advertising could be.

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Microsoft, Once Again, Officially Not Interested in Yahoo Despite CEO Ballmer’s Continued Public Flirting

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — “Our position hasn’t changed. Microsoft has no interest in acquiring Yahoo; there are no discussions between the companies,” said a Microsoft spokesman in an e-mail. This latest statement, sent to Ad Age on Thursday, regarding the on-again, off-again courtship came just hours after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told the audience at a Gartner conference in Orlando, Fla., that the deal still makes “economic sense.”

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Subaru Gains Traction as Auto Industry Stalls

Carmaker Forgoes Reason for ‘Love’ in Ad Push That Led to 6% Boost in New-Car Sales

DETROIT (AdAge.com) — As the auto industry sputters through its worst sales year since 1993, Subaru of America is clipping along, and it’s doing so without an ad message touting price, performance or gas mileage. Despite offering the lowest incentives in the industry, the niche brand reported the industry’s biggest percentage jump in U.S. new-vehicle sales — 129,298 units through August, according to Automotive News, some 5.8% better than a year ago.

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The Ongoing Elusiveness of Measuring Online Search Panelists at Digital Talk Seemed Flummoxed by Putting Value on Engagement

Advertising Week 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Panelists at Ad Age’s Digital Bites Breakfast on Wednesday at New York’s Paley Center for Media spoke of the elusiveness of measuring the engagement value of online search and of the intricacies of search as part of a broader marketing campaign. But when talk turned to the need to coordinate reach and frequency targets with site engagement, the frustration punctuated the entire discussion.

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2008 Chevy Malibu vs. Honda Accord

Optimedia’s Antony Young Road-Tests Media Strategies to See Which Got the Most Mileage

There hasn’t been a lot of good news for the auto industry in 2008. However, one sector to emerge relatively unscathed is the midsize car segment.Two success stories in this sector were the 2008 model launches of the Chevy Malibu and Honda Accord.

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Why CPG Brands Better Buy Paid Search Yahoo/MediaVest Study: Sponsored Text Ads Increased Awareness 160%

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) — Package-goods and fast-food marketers: Ignore paid-search advertising at your own peril. That seems to be the message of new research by Publicis Groupe’s MediaVest and Yahoo that finds search ads have a huge impact on brand awareness, perception and purchase intent — even among consumers who never click on them.

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Publicis Acquires Search Agency Performics From Google

Firm Will Be Folded Into VivaKi

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Publicis Groupe has purchased Performics, the search agency Google inherited in its acquisition of DoubleClick. The deal gives Publicis a big boost in search-marketing capabilities.

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Who’s Most Likely to Buy Your Brand? Nielsen Connect CEO Jon Mandel Aims to Find Out

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — When he was one of the industry’s top media-buying executives, Jon Mandel needed the equivalent of a rifle to target consumers, but all he had was a bazooka. Now he’s gone from pressing the industry for better data to measure the effectiveness of commercials to building the rifle himself.

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Behind Nike’s Lawsuit Lies a Branding Story

Battle With EMS Is Latest Controversy Surrounding Google’s Search-Term Bidding Policy

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — There’s a fight brewing over the lightweight, wicking apparel technology known as Dri-Fit — but the battle is about search marketing and the right to bid on trademarked terms.

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The Pitfalls of Megabranding Consumers Don’t Necessarily Want More Choice

Al Ries on Marketing

The rampant proliferation of flavor variations has a downside. Consumers are getting confused. A number of research studies have shown that the more choices a consumer has, the more likely that consumer will be unhappy with the choice he or she does make. (The only people who are getting excited about the proliferation of product flavors and variations are the VPs in charge of slotting fees.)

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