Highlights brought to you by Search Lately @SMGSearchUK this week include:
Outsourcing For Creative Ideas
Encrypted Google Search by Default Coming to Firefox
App Search Engine ‘Appolicious’ Introduces “AdWords For Apps”
New Display Interface For Google Adwords
Browse last week’s Search Lately for more details and initial reaction from industry experts on recent hot topics.
Outsourcing For Creative Ideas – 29th Mar 2012 The responsibility to provide the creative ideas and initiatives for a brand are traditionally placed on the media agency running the advertising for a brand, however, this does not always need to be the case. The ideas behind recent advertising campaigns for the new Sony Xperia S smartphone and Domino’s new bread bite have not come from media agencies. When the ad agency, MaCann Worldgroup, was enlisted to provide the creative ideas for the launch of the new Sony smartphone, they outsourced this to children and interviewed 75 kids in New York for inspiration. The final concept of tiny robots in their adverts was drawn from the inspiration of an 8 year old boy called Jack Ryan. The ideas for the new Parmesaen Bread Bites actually came from a franchise of Domino’s in Ohio and not directly from the brand itself nor the advertising agency in charge of generating new ideas. These examples highlight the potentially of outsourcing for creative ideas and messaging. Looking beyond the advertising agency or company itself can help provide inspiration for your next big project. Thinking outside the box and looking for inspiration from a wider range of sources from children to a brand’s own employees may generate the inspiration needed for the next award winning campaign for your brand.
– Kevin Ting More details: www.businessinsider.com/sony-used-this-8-year-old-to-write-its-new-xperiaphone-ad-2012-3 www.businessinsider.com/how-dominos-bread-bites-were-created-by-afranchisee-2012-3
Encrypted Google Search by Default Coming to Firefox – 27th Mar 2012 Sometime in the next few months, after a period of testing, Firefox will implement HTTPS encrypted search by default for all Google search users. Firefox is the first to do so, beating even Google Chrome to the punch. "We are currently testing the change to use SSL for built-in Google searches in our Firefox nightly channel," a Mozilla spokesperson told InformationWeek. "If no issues are uncovered, it will move through our Aurora and Beta release channels before eventually shipping to all our Firefox users. This will include migrating the changes to our non-English version of Firefox, as well." Earlier this month, when Google took SSL search as the default global, some webmasters were already reporting the loss of keyword data as high as 20 percent. They should expect further loss of referrer data from an organic perspective, as Firefox, the browser which enjoys about 25% market share, rolls out the changes.
– Blair Liu More details: searchenginewatch.com/article/2164077/Encrypted-Google-Search-byDefault-Coming-to-Firefox
Google Wants To Get Even Closer – 27th Mar 2012 Google have just this week been awarded a patent for “advertising based on environmental conditions”. As Google look to get more and more targeted with their ads, this latest patent may allow ads to be tailored towards what we are seeing and hearing. The advertisements would potentially be served to the consumer based on sensors that detect temperature, sound levels, humidity or air composition near a device. A simple example of this would be that during hot weather it may serve up ads related to cold beverages, while in warm weather it may well target the consumer with winter related clothing. While this technology may well materialise later rather than sooner, Google clearly see this as the future of online advertising to offer even more targetable ads. It will allow ads to be even more targeted than they already are and save on wasted advertising space, offering a cheaper and more profitable approach. Advertisements will be delivered to consumers that will potentially have a higher propensity to convert and deem much more valuable to the brand. Only time will tell how close to this future advertising technology we are, but it will definitely cause more concerns over privacy policy and anti-trust as recent Google changes have revealed.
Will this mean we will benefit from more of information and advertising at the most appropriate time, saving us valuable time and money spent looking? Or is this one step to far into our lives and generate even more controversy for Google? – Kevin Ting
More details: www.businessinsider.com/google-plans-to-eavesdrop-on-you-to-target-ads2012-3
App Search Engine ‘Appolicious’ Introduces “AdWords for Apps” – 27th Mar 2012 Appolicious, an independent apps marketplace and search engine, has introduced “AdWords for Apps”: a new PPC advertising system for app developers and publishers. Between iOS and Android there are more than 900,000 apps. App discovery is now a major problem for both consumers and developers — hence the new advertising option on Appolicious. It is currently the only app engine or marketplace where developers can bid for placement in search results. A considerable amount of mobile display advertising is devoted to promoting app downloads. Paid-search ads on Appolicious are more targeted than those more broadly distributed mobile display ads.
– Blair Liu More details: searchengineland.com/app-search-engine-appolicious-introducesadwords-for-apps-116693
New Display Interface For Google Adwords – 26th Mar 2012 Over the next few weeks Google will be introducing changes to the display network interface within Google Adwords, offering a smoother experience for the advertiser. As Google have developed the interface and technology behind the traditional paid search ad feature, the display network functionality has been somewhat neglected until recently. One of the key developments that this update brings is the improvements to the contextual targeting engine that will allow users to monitor performance on a keyword level like never before. As well as an interface overhaul, these updates are expected to make it easier to manage and optimise for the display network much in the same way that traditional paid search is currently operating. Being able to run display activity will become a more viable option for advertisers with access to tighter and more manageable controls.
– Kevin Ting More details: searchenginewatch.com/article/2163413/Google-Integrates-New-DisplayInterface-Within-AdWords