Smartphones are starting to change the face of advertising. The next big step to this process is the iAd. This mobile advertising platform gives third party developers the freedom to directly embed advertisements into their own iPhone applications and it’s being launched today , July 1st.

Steve Jobs has put $60 million in for second half of 2010 from the likes of select brand names like Nissan, Sears, JCPenny, GEICO, Target, Best Buy, GE and Unilever, as well as longtime partners Disney and AT&T. Those brands represent 48% of mobile display ad spending the second half of the year.

When a new, … Continue Reading

A recent study by comScore MobiLens™ shows some rather startling numbers when it comes to the number of folks using Smartphone Apps. According to the study, from April ‘09 to April ‘10, the total number of mobile application users in the United States increased by 28%.

The fastest growing mobile app was for Social Networking/Social Media, which saw an increase of 240% during this time frame.

Among other apps increasing in popularity are weather apps, news apps and online retail, the latter … Continue Reading

I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid and I ripped a hole in my blue jeans or dungarees, (those over 35 will get that reference) my mom would simply sew on or iron on a patch to cover the hole. And before you knew it, I was back playing with my friends…

Nowadays of course, in the computer-driven world in which we live in, the word “patch” takes on a whole new meaning. A patch is a piece of software designed to fix … Continue Reading

On Monday of this week, the Wall Street Journal reported a corporate shake up was about to occur at Microsoft with the changes affecting divisions that focus on video games,  mobile phones and other consumer devices.

Today came word that the shake up had already begun as Microsoft replaced the chief of its division focused on mobile phones, video games and other consumer devices Robbie Bach, who will retire this fall.

The announcement  comes as the Microsoft Windows Phone is being passed by the … Continue Reading

The White House that is!

Each year a group of Cabrini College seniors are charged with bringing attention to a social justice topic via a multimedia website. This year’s topic was Domestic Violence, specifically the effects it has on children. So the group of seniors aptly named their campaign “The Children as Witness Project.”

In February, 2010, Cabrini came to Stream Companies to help create a website that would both educate elementary school teachers about Domestic Violence, and to give teachers ways … Continue Reading

In case you missed the news, last week IBM unveiled a new Social Media Analytics Tool. According to Mashable, where I first read about it, the tool “will use natural language processing (NLP) to analyze everything from product names and industry jargon to slang and emoticons.”

It’s called the SPSS Modeler Data Mining and Text Analytics Workbench. Here’s hoping someone comes up with a shorter name for it…

The tool is actually already being utilized by some well-known companies and organizations including Navy Federal Credit Union, Rosetta Stone … Continue Reading

You have to forgive me but I’ve been mesmerized by the Erin Andrews/Elizabeth Hasselbeck feud and I haven’t been following the news lately…

Did I hear right? Yahoo! is spending $75 to $85 million on a new marketing/advertising campaign?

Didn’t they just plop down over $100 mill on a marketing/advertising campaign?

So that comes to what, about $185 million in less than 10 months? My, what big ad budgets you have…

Hopefully the new campaign will fare better than the first.

According to comScore, after the $100 million plus buy in … Continue Reading

Adweek Media/Harris Poll recently conducted a survey that found that 86% of Americans think TV commercials are louder in comparison to regular programming. Not surprisingly, the older you get, the more it bothers you as 92% of those 45 and older reported noticing it, versus 79% of 18- to 34-year-olds.

The problem has become so prevalent that Congress is attempting to lower the proverbial volume on commercials with the recently introduced CALM Act (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation) which will “require the Federal Communications Commission to prescribe a standard to preclude commercials from being … Continue Reading

Recently Datran Media released the findings of its “4th Annual Marketing & Media Survey.” The survey revealed that more than 87% online marketers said accurate online audience measurement was at least somewhat important for driving increased brand awareness, revenues or performance.

Not sure I understand why they would use the phrase “somewhat important” cause in my mind, there’s nothing somewhat about it… it’s vitally important.

Reading about this survey though reminded me of something I read last week.

It had to do with a new study that was being released by the Nielsen Company called … Continue Reading

Twitter is of course a Social Media phenomenon. The number of users grows literally by the second. As for who’s tweeting, here’s a look at the demographics as of April 2010.

Now, I don’t know about you but I am somewhat disconcerted by the fact that 4% of kids ages 3-13 are Tweeting but be that as it may…

On any given day Twitter users are now now sending 50 million tweets which translates to an average of 600 tweets per second.

That’s a lot of Tweeting… with numbers so … Continue Reading