If newspapers and magazines and TV stations and web sites get paid to communicate brand messages, why not brand fans? Millions of people talk about and endorse brands in social media every day – and more and more brands are exploring ways to encourage more such sharing.
With the remarkable credibility of personal endorsements, there should [...]
Tagged 'company of the day' 
Start-Up Watch COD: MyLikes rewards influencers for taking brand messages viral
Posted by Jim Nichols on May 3rd, 2011at 12:01 am
Start-Up Watch COD: Analog Analytics “democratizes” daily deals with a white label solution for media companies
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 28th, 2011at 12:01 am
Billions of words have been written about the financial troubles of traditional media companies. While most of these entities have established websites with growing traffic, the declines on the traditional revenue side are very hard to make up with digital. How many billion banners do you need to sell to make up for the full [...]
Start-Up Watch COD: Adventive raises the bar on in-banner interactivity with drag and drop app integration
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 19th, 2011at 12:01 am
Banners are a much maligned advertising medium, and not without reason. Click rates for standard gif or Flash banners are just a hair above zero, and there appears to be validity to the idea of consumer banner blindness. Good creative, of course, can combat those sobering facts. Some online advertising delivers gangbuster clicks and the [...]
Start-Up Watch COD: Retailigence Connects Mobile Apps to Local Retail Inventories
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 18th, 2011at 12:01 am
Local shopping apps are increasing in number and popularity. Essentially what they do is help consumers understand where they can obtain an item in their immediate vicinity.
A company called Retailigence helps retailers, brands and agencies communicate local availability of products to web and mobile apps via its free and open API. It connects inventory management [...]
Start-Up Watch COD:Encore Media Metrics provides measurement, attribution, and reporting for paid, earned and owned media
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 15th, 2011at 7:39 am
Over the past several weeks I have put up a number of posts on attribution and the role of earned media in overall marketing performance. I am convinced that BOTH will be recognized as critical considerations by more and more brands in the months and years ahead.
Encore Media Metrics is a New York- and Texas-based [...]
Start-Up Watch COD: Buysight delivers retargeting KPIs at real scale
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 14th, 2011at 12:01 am
We’ve all done it: gone to a site looking for info, or even ready to buy, and then gotten distracted by something. Maybe we wanted to check just one more online store for pricing, or visit Consumer Reports. Maybe the baby started crying and you had to leave the screen to tend to its needs. [...]
Start-Up Watch COD: Flite delivers a cloud-based dynamic ad platform that may help restore the “big idea” to marketing
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 8th, 2011at 12:01 am
I think we’re moving into an era in which “static banner” is going to be a description we use for more than just gif backups. Here’s what I mean. Just because the content in a Flash banner wiggles around, that doesn’t mean that the essence of its content isn’t static. If it’s the same words, [...]
Start-Up Watch COD: Expo TV empowers people to make videos about products they love
Posted by Jim Nichols on April 7th, 2011at 12:00 am
People. VOLUNTEERING. To Endorse. Your Product. Sounds pretty good, huh? Well you can get it right now if your brand partners with EXPO TV.
I could bore you for thousands of words reviewing all the research. But we all know that personal endorsements are the most powerfully persuasive pieces of info for consumers considering a purchase. [...]
Start-Up Watch COD: Order up! Village Vines offers a different take on group couponing
Posted by Jim Nichols on February 21st, 2011at 12:00 am
When I first read the concept for Village Vines, I was intrigued because they seem to have a distinctive spin on the mega hot group couponing trend. It's different in part because it's vertical -- delivering offers focused on fine dining restaurants. Foodies can join the site and get daily offers from some of the [...]
