Mediaboss Marketing

By John Consoli -- Broadcasting & Cable, 5/16/2012 2:25:50 PM One of Turner's messages to marketers and their media agencies at its Wednesday upfront presentation was that spending ad dollars across the company's assorted digital platforms, which offer proven entertainment and news content, will be a better bet than putting promotional dollars into neophyte video-streamed content being offered by myriad social networks and former search engines wanting to become programmers.

Greg D'Alba, president, CNN and Turner Digital Sales, and Walker Jacobs, executive VP, Turner Digital Sales, spoke with MBPT prior to the presentation about the media company's strategy, offering an overview of how they plan to market digital in the upfront.

What is the main message you want advertisers to take with them regarding Turner's digital offerings?Greg D'Alba: The notion that content is king exists, and we have moved our content to where, when and how the consumer wants to watch it. There are so many new video options coming into the marketplace, but premium content is the best place for marketers to surround their ad messages. It's going to be the best brand of video content that draws the most dollars. Some platforms selling only digital video have touted their ability to offer specific audience targeting and have said content is less important than reaching the target audience. They will find out that content and trusted media brands are really the most important. The best content is going to be the driver of digital sales in this upfront. We are looking forward to having buyers compare our content to these digital video-only companies.

Walker Jacobs: There has been so much talk in the past month about the digital NewFront and the emerging digital marketplace. We've watched it unfold and we haven't seen any robust demand by marketers to buy any new digital video content from online companies through a NewFront marketplace. But we have seen demand to buy television across multiplatforms and multiscreens and that is what we offer. We feel this is the way the market will buy video, through traditional TV companies that are offering their quality content across all screens. I believe the leadership in digital spending will come from traditional TV buyers who will want to buy more across all screens in one buy and in doing so, will move some TV dollars into digital.

How do you view this upfront in terms of potential digital ad spending? D'Alba: We anticipate this upfront will be strong and there will be significant growth in video ad spending outside of traditional television. There is no doubt about it; our intention is to grow our digital ad revenue substantially in this upfront. We have made the infrastructure changes to make it easier to buy and easier for us to assist the buyers. On top of our entertainment sales, the presidential election year will make our digital sales even stronger on the news side.

How has the Turner's digital operation evolved?Jacobs: About five years ago, the Turner entertainment, news and sports businesses each had a few digital people who worked with their ad sellers. But we recognized the need to develop more scale when selling digital, so we combined Turner Entertainment and Turner Sports to sell digital together. Then we recently restructured again, adding CNN Digital to Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital to create Turner Digital Sales.

D'Alba: We have reorganized ourselves to make it easier for clients who work with us, and to be able to respond to what they are asking us for. We have attached our digital unit to the hip of our entertainment, news and sports divisions.

Jacobs: We are being more collaborative with our clients about where they spend their money and how they plan their campaigns.

D'Alba: When Turner brought Donna Speciale in to head up sales of our entertainment inventory, and put me in charge of news and digital, that specialization brought our units closer together. We are not selling by screen but by content opportunity and we are cooperating across all of our divisions.

What are some examples of the synergy across digital platforms?Jacobs: There's a TeamCoco.com, the Conan show, TBS synergy. The Team Coco tablet app, presented by launch sponsor AT&T, allows advertisers to connect with fans of Conan O'Brien's show on TBS. The app provides synchronized content delivered in real-time, while Conan's hyper-connected fans watch the show. Conan has about 7.7 million followers across social media and we have opportunities that tap into that audience. Each episode of Conan on TBS features up to 25 different pieces of bonus content delivered through the Team Coco app and synchronized with elements with the show.

Read more:
Turner's Digital Execs Bet Their Content Will Draw Big Upfront Dollars

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Until now, the digital advertising field has lacked professional benchmarks such as the legal worlds Bar Exam and Wall Streets Series 7. That situation changes with todays announcement by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) establishing the first-ever educational standard for digital media sales forces with the launch of the IAB Digital Media Sales Certification.

To receive the certification, digital sales professionals must complete an examination, which will be administered through Pearson Testing Centers. Registration for the certification exam kicks off today, with applications available at http://www.iab.net/certification. The inaugural exams are scheduled for Monday, June 11, 2012 and will be held at Pearsons Test Centers worldwide.

The certification program will help raise the level of professionalism in the digital field by allowing salespeople to demonstrate their knowledge of the complex interactive environment, said Michael Theodore, Vice President, Member Services, IAB. Much like examinations in other fields, this test will give current job holders and job seekers a score card to prove their understanding of the most important concepts, guidelines, and best practices in digital advertising. Businesses also benefit by ensuring that they have the most competent sales teams possible.

"The IAB's program to create new educational standards for the interactive industry is an exciting step forward for advancing the field of digital advertising sales," said Patrick Dolan, Executive Vice President & COO, IAB. "Once the digital media sales certification program is launched, we will develop similar training and certification programs for other related professions in the industry, which will both teach and recognize the knowledge and skills needed for success."

There is no formal coursework required for the IAB Digital Media Sales Certification examination. Designed for salespeople with 2-5 years of experience in the digital industry, it is recommended that candidates have a strong command of current industry issues, players, and operations, as well as a broad understanding of every major digital platform. The test costs $350 for IAB members and $450 for non-members.

Before creating the certification program, IAB conducted extensive research into the knowledge gaps in the field, including the IAB Interactive Ad IQ Industry Survey with Ernst & Young, and a series of in-depth interviews with sales professionals.

The findings showed that many professionals on both the sell-side and buy-side are struggling to keep up with the rapid evolution of interactive advertising platforms, technologies and capabilities. Yet, they agree that a deep understanding of these areas is critical to their success and the growth of the industry.

As a result, the certification exam will cover general comprehension of the digital advertising ecosystem, selling digital media and analyzing campaign performance. Specific topics will include:

The IAB worked with the fully accredited test development company Professional Testing, Inc. to create the content of the exam, alongside subject matter experts from IAB member companies:

See more here:
IAB Launches Digital Media Sales Certification to Set New Professional Benchmark for the Interactive Advertising ...

The NHL Playoff Recap gives you THN's take of what happened in each game of the night and what the consequences will be for the rest of the series.

We also provide our Three Stars of the night, which will be tabulated after each round. First Star is three points, Second Star is two points and Third Star is one point. Be sure to vote on who you think the first star was as well.

Of course there's the other side of the coin: The Black Hole is a piece of the lineup that just couldn't get it going on a given night and contributed to a difficult evening for the team.

THNs Take: The question is no longer whether or not the Los Angeles Kings will advance to the Stanley Cup final. The only thing to determine now is whether or not theyll actually break a sweat getting there.

With their seventh straight road victory of this years playoffs, the Kings are on the verge of becoming the team to play the fewest games to get to the final since the 1988 Edmonton Oilers. The fact they are doing it in such a dominant fashion is a testament to how incredibly well they are playing, combined with the realization that the feel-good Phoenix Coyotes have hit a brick wall.

And by all accounts Phoenix isnt the least bit happy about it. The Coyotes are simply becoming unglued playing against a superior opponent. Well give Shane Doan a mulligan on his hit from behind on Trevor Lewis, but Martin Hanzals hit from behind on Dustin Brown and Derek Morris kneeing infraction on Rob Scuderi were inexcusable. All three will undoubtedly be reviewed, as will the offsetting minors on Brown and Coyotes goalie Mike Smith when Smith whacked Brown on the back of the legs on what might have been the worst call of the playoffs.

Like the Kings needed it. They finally got some production from the missing Jeff Carter, who scored a hat trick and was a menace in front of the Phoenix net all night. This is the team that couldnt score goals during the regular season, right? In a season when the post-season has defied all sense of logic, the Kings have scored an average of 3.18 goals per game in 11 games. During the regular season, they were the second worst offensive team in the league with 2.29 per game.

But thats what happens when a team is too big and too strong and too good for its opponent and is able to put everything together. When the Kings play the way they did in Game 2, combined with the goaltending of Jonathan Quick, theyre all but impossible to beat. Particularly for a team that knows it is hopelessly overmatched.

The Kings best players, unlike for long stretches during the regular season, have emerged to play enormous roles. The Coyotes best players are either invisible or conspicuous by their errors in judgment.

Continued here:
Kings outmatch Coyotes, poised for Stanley Cup final

Meter mess also in NOTL. Parkers beware, one and two dollar coins from 2012 are not being accepted in parking meters and pay and display meters across Niagara-on-the-Lake. Stickers have been placed on the meters to notify those paying for parking. The new design of the coins, rolled out earlier this year by the Royal Canadian Mint, makes them lighter than previous versions and as a result parking meters are not recognizing the coins.

Finding change for the parking meter just became a little bit more difficult.

At a time when people are more likely to reach into their wallets and pull out plastic when paying for something, finding change to drop in a parking meter can sometimes be a hard feat to pull off.

Now, people putting that change into parking meters or pay and display machines in Niagara-on-the-Lake will have to look closely to ensure the loonies and toonies arent from 2012. The problem? New $1 and $2 coins do not work in parking meters or pay and display machines around town. In fact, its not just Niagara-on-the-Lake thats experiencing this problem. Other municipalities, like St. Catharines, and beyond, are facing a similar problem.

The new coins, dubbed as a new generation of one-dollar and two-dollar circulation coins by the Royal Canadian Mint, feature leading-edge security features combined with a multi-ply plated steel technology. The end result is meant to create a more resistant, long-lasting coin that will also increase cost-efficiencies for the federal government.

The new coins weigh less than previous years editions, whereas in the past one-dollar coins weighed 7.0 grams, they now weigh in at 6.27 grams. Two-dollar coins previously weighed 7.3 grams and now weigh 6.92 grams. On its website, the Mint said it has spent several years preparing vending equipment manufacturers and operators for the change and anticipated the great majority of vending equipment will accept the new coins by the time they enter circulation.

However, Niagara-on-the-Lake and other municipalities across the country are finding out thats simply not the case.

Stickers have been placed on parking meters and pay and display machines across town, notifying people not to use the new coins.

Dawn McInnis, Niagara-on-the-Lake communications and customer service project manager, said staff is working to address the problem. Replacing the machines isnt an option, she said noting it would cost an estimated $28,000 to do so. Meter manufacturers are being consulted, but in the meantime drivers are being reminded to avoid using the coins.

Aside from looking at the year on the coin, people will be able to recognize the coins by several visible changes. The one-dollar coin will still feature its iconic loon image, but now the loon will be joined by a maple leaf in a circle. The two-dollar coins will feature two laser marks of maple leaves, each within a circle, at the bottom of the side with the polar bear design. There will also be a virtual image of two maple leaves at the top of the coin, with a different image produced as the coin is turned from side to side. The words Canada and 2 dollars will be engraved along the coins outer edge.

Originally posted here:
Meter mess also in NOTL

PLATTSBURGH Shelly Pitcher and her 12-year-old son, Chase, never pass up loose change.

"We have done it since Chase was real young," she said. "Anytime we saw a coin on the ground, we would pick it up."

Those nickels, dimes and pennies add up, especially around the holiday season. The two have enjoyed treating themselves with the free money they had collected.

"Eventually, we were finding quite a bit, so last year we came up with the idea to save it up for a whole year," Shelly said.

By the end of summer, Chase began thinking about the best way to spend the money. The Pitchers have always been animal lovers they have both cats and dogs as pets.

And since he has volunteered at local animal shelters, he thought it would be money well spent to donate everything they found to those places.

The pair called their effort Coins for Cats, Dollars for Dogs.

ACTIVE SEARCH

For the first time, they actively went out of their way to find coins. The two specifically went to the mall and other locations where people tend to drop money.

The goal was to reach $300, in order to split it evenly among the Adirondack Humane Society and St. John Feral Cat Fund, both in Plattsburgh, and the Elmore SPCA in Peru.

Excerpt from:
Coin collectors for a cause