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.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Over the past couple weeks there has been a bit of excitement around the new iPhone and the resurgence of Palm with the release of the Palm Pre.

The Palm Pre is being looked at by some as Palm’s savior as it’s their first device equipped to compete with the heavyweights of today since the days of the Treo 600 & 700 models.  The Pre boasts a full HTML browser, email access, GPS, WIFI access, music, video and a host of other features on Palm’s new Linux derived operating system.  Analysts are forecasting about 100,000 units were sold in the first weekend of its launch.

The new iPhone 3GS is a an expansion of the previous model (iPhone 3G) with some new features such as video recording/editing, voice control, larger storage, and an upgrade to the processor making it two times faster than the previous model.  Apple has reported a million plus sales of the new phone since its launch this past weekend.  The new 3GS is available for $199 and the 3G model is now being offered for $99.

Continue reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Once upon a time a company called America Online (AOL) provided their customers with access to the internet, email, desktop wallpapers and some of the first social tools (chat rooms) through a simple portal.  Their web pricing model was “by the minute” and later became unlimited web plans.  AOLs’ most prized feature to users was easy access to the internet.  Users were presented with interesting sites to visit, their email was all in one place, and they could chat with friends on IM or in chat rooms.  In comparison to today it took longer to find what was desired on the web due to slow dial up speeds and pc equipment, lack of tools to find information, products and etc.  AOL was able to build a successful business around helping non text savvy people discover new content on the web, providing an internet starter kit, so to speak.  Later down the road the technology advanced, web content rapidly increased, users became more aware of the web’s potential, and pricing to access the web became more competitive.  These evolutions created the necessity for web browsers which allow users to move easily about the web and discover new areas on their own terms. Thus, the launch of Netscape and Internet Explorer in the mid 1990s made this concept of browsing the web a reality.   At this point user behavior started to evolve into what we see now, search engine navigation.  Starting from the mid to late 90s Yahoo and Google stepped in to assist users in finding the information they were accustomed to finding in libraries, newspapers, magazines, and etc at their beck and call (search query).

Continue reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

This post was written by Chris Copeland, CEO, GroupM Search – The Americas, and published in MediaPost’s Search Insider, Friday, January 16, 2009.

It’s become the vogue pastime to prognosticate trends and events to come in the new year. This year these crystal balls are met with inauguration balls, as the calendar not only flips to a new year, but to a new message of hope and change from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, for all the testimonials and affirmations that we can change, the economic future for the U.S. appears firmly entrenched in a deep recession. So, unless the events of next Tuesday create a spiritual revival of consumer confidence that coincides with an awakening of the consumer checkbook, it’s safe to say that from a business and marketing perspective this year will be one of great challenge.

In difficult times comes great opportunity — an opportunity for companies to take calculated risks in order to establish and grow market position and leadership. Risk is an inherent factor in life. The risk-adverse have given up looking at their monthly 401k, or 201k depending on your depth of losses, statements. Then again, those with low risk tolerance are likely best staying home with the lights off avoiding the news, peanut butter and low-flying birds.

So where in the search space are the opportunities for greatest calculated risk to be taken? I see a few areas for advertisers, their agencies and the media vendors alike.

New Media
Is 2009 the year of mobile? For the sake of our clients, I hope not. I say that because the value and insights our clients are gaining from mobile are in part possible because the inventory availability is so strong, with little cost pressure. Due to size constraints on devices, we will never see 10 blue links or top and side navigation advertising on mobile platforms. As such, whenever the year of mobile finally does arrive, one can reasonably expect that costs will increase as demand outpaces supply of real estate. Until that time, those into the pool are enjoying greater freedom to play and learn without cost pressures.

Continue reading »

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

From the editor:
Happy new year to all of you. The new year has started off well for GroupM Search as OMMA Magazine and MediaPost announced their honors for 2008 Agency of the Year, recognizing GroupM Search as Best Search Agency. This is a success to be celebrated not only by each of our search brands – Outrider, Beyond Interaction Search, Mediaedge:cia, Mindshare Search and Catalyst Online, but by each and every one of our clients and employees for their thought leadership, integrated search strategies and results, as well as driving industry innovation and conversation in the areas of paid search, SEO, mobile search, social search, local search and more.

Below is the article from OMMA. Cheers, and here’s to a successful 2009.

Best Search: GroupM Search
By Susan Kuchinskas,  Thursday, January 1, 2009

Mass appeal

We bestowed the bronze award in search to GroupM Search – which isn’t a search agency at all, in the traditional sense. And that’s part of the reason they won. As the line between digital and traditional blurs, and clients consolidate their media buys, GroupM has responded by breaking the walls between search, interactive and traditional.

GroupM manages WPP’s media properties: Maxus, MediaCom, Mediaedge:cia and Mindshare, as well as Outrider, a dedicated search division, and Catalyst. GroupM Search was developed by merging the search offerings of Outrider, Catalyst, Quisma and 24/7 Real Media. It gets our nod not only for the success of its companies, making the group as a whole the largest agency buyer of search in the world, but also for its innovation in the structuring of its business.

Search is not an isolated direct response medium, and traditional media are driving search, so GroupM wants its agencies to be able to work across the entire spectrum of media and communications, says Chris Copeland, ceo of GroupM Search in the Americas. “There’s an important connection between the mass scale of traditional media, the freedom of digital media, and search, where consumers express their intent,” he says. “When we combine search with other media, it makes all those channels more successful for the client.”

Mission accomplished. With another shuffle of the deck in 2008, GroupM created what is likely the largest search specialist agency. At the same time, it placed branded search units within each of its four agencies, while maintaining the Outrider brand to serve clients that are not also clients of one of the big four. The company’s proprietary bid management platform, Decide DNA, is part of the confederation that falls under the rubric of GroupM Search. The entire search work force, including the team that develops and distributes tools and technology to the agency brands, totals 600.

The approach positions the companies to take advantage of the trend toward client consolidation of media buying. Such wins began in October 2007, when Mediaedge:cia tore all of at&t’s media business away from WPP rivals OMD and Interpublic. Now, says Rob Norman, ceo of GroupM Interaction, “If a client walks through the door of Mediaedge:cia, for example, and wants to buy any kind of advertising, they can buy it through Mediaedge:cia.”

The system works. This year, Dell wanted to consolidate its business, which had been dispersed among scads of vendors. In a big pitch that included all the major holding companies, WPP won with a proposal to have MediaCom handle all media buying – including search.

The GroupM pitch is clear: You want it, we got it. And GroupM Search has integrated search strategy across the board.

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!