Editor’s Note: SearchFuel is like trick or treating. You never know what you’re gonna get. In the spirit of Halloween, we decided to break away for a moment from search, mobile, social and industry discussions and dress SearchFuel up with with this post from one of our regular contributors.  Hope you have a wonderful and safe Halloween. You can find me in the pumpkin patch waiting for The Great Pumpkin. (After I stop by his desk and raid the candy jar, that is.)

Halloween.  What a holiday!  We aren’t celebrating the life or accomplishments of anyone, there is no major historical event that happened on October 31st, no celebration of a flag, no country gaining its independence, etc.  At one time, I’m sure you would have easily called it the scariest of holidays.  Nothing even comes in a close second.  Arbor Day? Cinco de Mayo?  Get real.  The Halloween holiday has its historical roots in pagan rituals, harvest celebrations and protection against the souls of the dead coming back to earth.  That was some freaky stuff to be “celebrating.”

Not anymore though.  Nope, Halloween is not really that scary.   How about this for self-administered therapy?  You get to dress up and pretend to be someone or something else. Plus, you get to flat out go door to door and beg for food (albeit candy), and people willingly give it to you.  I bet if you asked 100 people, half couldn’t tell you why we celebrate Halloween anymore (I’m not even completely sure I know and I looked it up).

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If you’re in Los Angeles or can get to LA tomorrow, we have plans for you!

SearchFuel and GroupM Search are doing a blitz giveaway today on Twitter, giving four (4) people a free VIP pass to MediaPost’s OMMA Mobile, a one-day event where advertisers and industry leaders come together to talk all things mobile marketing. This pass covers your registration for the event, plus the breakfast and lunch on-site.

But you have to act quickly! OMMA Mobile is tomorrow, Thursday, October 29 at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza from 8am til 5:30 or so.

For your chance for a free pass, follow these three simple steps by 3pm CST today:

1. Send a Reply or Direct Message (DM) to @SearchFuel on Twitter
2. Tell us you want to go to OMMA Mobile
   
3. Tell us your company name (Sorry, I do need this. Not for marketing purposes – but when we got these passes I had to agree they’d be used for brand advertisers only, so I need to keep my promise.)
   

We’ll draw 4 names from all of the Tweeps who DM us and I’ll DM you back by 3:30pm CST if you’ve won a pass. From there we’ll connect by email or phone to get you registered.

So why should you see and be seen at OMMA Mobile? For starters, it’s a gathering of more than 200 advertisers and mobile marketing experts which makes for a great day of networking and conversation about where the industry is going. GroupM Search is kicking off the day by hosting the breakfast session, featuring a round table discussion with Google, Microsoft, Joule, Outrider and JumpTap about current challenges and opportunities facing the mobile marketplace today. The day unfolds from there as MediaPost’s mobile columnist Steve Smith emcees the event, and a handful of industry leaders take the stage, including a keynote address by John Zehr, SVP and GM of ESPN Mobile. Other speakers and panelists include Kodak, Paramount, the AP and the Weather Channel, as well as  Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, and many more panelists from across multiple areas of mobile expertise.

You can check out the full agenda here.

SO GET TO IT! Pull up your favorite Twitter client and send us a tweet to enter to win your pass to OMMA Mobile. See you in LA.

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The Brief

Google Local Listing Ads have been launched in Beta for the San Francisco and San Diego areas.  These are not to be confused with Location Extension Ads, formerly known as Google Local Business Ads (LBAs).

Previously, Local Business Ads were managed through the Local Business Center Interface.  Now that LBAs have been converted to Location Extension Ads, they are managed through the AdWords interface.  For more information on Location Extension Ads, click here.

The new product, Local Listing Ads (LLAs), is in Beta, will be managed through the Local Business Center interface, is free only for the first 30 days, and the listings will be shown in Google.com search results as well as Google Map results.  You can view a short LLA tutorial on YouTube here. 

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This post was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Friday, October 23, 2009

If you walked out of your home to find graffiti on the outside, what would you do? If you got to your office building to find more of the same, but from different “artists,” how would you react? Regardless of the quality or spirit of the message, your initial reaction would likely be violent to find your personal property defiled, your professional workplace violated. Now, imagine if the suggested course of response was to not cover it up, but rather to add your own graffiti to the wall.

Your emotions would then be of outrage, right? Well, let me introduce you to the business conundrum that is Google SideWiki.

Debuting to industry fanfare less than a month ago, the toolbar application allows any user to “tag” opinions about any Web site for other toolbar users to see. In one recent case, a pharmaceutical manufacturer witnessed the proclamation that its product made a man’s arm fall off. In other examples, brands have watched competitors attempt to siphon off traffic through covert messaging and mentions of alternatives to such poor products. Many savvy Internet marketing professionals have taken to the Web to show how SideWiki can be gamed by using Google profiles to move comments up and down.

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“[Social media] is giving us another way to help influence people’s propensity to search.”

Barbara Basney, Director, Global Advertising, Xerox
Wall Street Journal, 10/22/09

The Wall Street Journal reported today in an article, “Shift in Search-Ad Tactics Seeks More For Less,” a shift in thinking and strategy around search marketing for advertisers as they seek to capture a broader audience online with greater efficiency. The shift, which includes more relevant targeting and the integration of search and social media, is evident in the marketing strategy of three leading advertisers highlighted in the article.

For example, the WSJ reports telecom giant Sprint Nextel is prioritizing keywords based on where the consumer is in the purchase funnel, including tying to “phrases consumers tend to search for when they are close to making a purchase.”

Volkswagen, whose advertising in the few decades of my life has always seemed to capture the essence of the changing generations, is “driving” efficiency by coordinating the brand’s search marketing program with hundreds of dealers at a local level. They’re also using search and social to support the launch of their 2010 GTI hatchback, bringing mobile, Twitter and YouTube together with an innovative racing game for the iPhone and iTouch.

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