Foursquare’s CEO Dennis Crowley announced that the company will try to make money outside of its app via check-in data, according to an article from AdAge. The company’s strategy involves a new ad product that uses the app’s location and psychographic data to contextualize ads on other platforms, giving advertisers the ability to use the data to target ads that are bought through ad exchanges or networks even when the individual isn’t using Foursquare.

From a revenue standpoint it makes a lot of sense for Foursquare to go this route but it’s a little surprising that it hasn’t happened sooner. Already Facebook and Twitter offer similar location-targeting ads and smartphones can be geo-located by apps and ads without Foursquare data. So the question is whether or not agencies and other marketers consider this data to be valuable enough to pay for it. That’s the real make or break for Foursquare.

Do you think that the ad world will respond well to this strategy?

We’ve added updated Scarborough Newspaper Penetration reports to the new Local Market Info link in SRDS.com. DMA Profiles & Maps will also be housed in this drop-down menu, which can be accessed by all SRDS.com users.

The reports offer valuable media planning data for local newspapers and their e-editions, including daily average reach and percent reach as well as Sunday average reach and percent reach. Log in now, explore the data and let us know what you think.

What a fitting title "The Collaborators" is for this episode of Mad Men as every character collaborates with someone on some level.  

Let's start with the extremely insensitive Pete. He and a neighbor’s wife have a tryst in his NYC apartment. She is fonder of Pete than he of her and suggests several secret signals to let him know she is thinking about him. He clearly wants none of it. Later that evening when she shows up beaten and bloody at the Campbell home, Pete knows he is busted. He tries to rush her off to a hotel and callously offers to call a cab for her. He’s less than thrilled when Trudy drives her. Women talk and sure enough by the time she returns home, Trudy knows all about the affair. Trudy goes on to prove that she is no shrinking violet. She reads Pete the riot act and throws him out of the house the next morning. Pete can't win at the office either as he and Don don't see eye-to-eye on the Jaguar account.

Unforgettable Herb, the local Jaguar dealership owner who played a key role in SCDP landing the coveted Jaguar account, still thinks he's all that. He makes a pathetic come-on to Joan, saying "I know deep down there's a part of you that's happy to see me." Her quip, "And I know there's a part of you, you haven't seen in years," was one of my favorite lines of the show.

At SCDP, Herb tries to throw his weight around to alter the Jaguar buy from national to more locally-focused. Herb pitches Don and Pete an idea for radio spots, touting his dealership over the national campaign, even though everyone (including Herb) has already signed off on national. Naturally, the men at SCDP will increase the campaign for more money. But that’s not what’s going on here. It would just be a shifting of dollars.

Don is masterful in the meeting with Herb and the British gentlemen representing Jaguar. Herb tries to push the idea of a local focus as that of SCDP. Pete is jovial as he's onboard with Herb's idea. Then Don begins his pitch as only he can. His tone, demeanor and smooth presentation make it sound like going local is the best thing for the client – a witty and effective use of reverse psychology. Anyone can afford a Jaguar. The guy driving a truck should just go down the road and get a new Jag. He says it so earnestly you almost believe he wants this campaign switched. Everyone at that table, with the exception of the two individuals that matter, knows what he is doing and is powerless to stop it. Naturally, Don and the Brits won and the campaign remains national as intended.

Later in the episode, the Heinz folks "Beans" and "Ketchup," make a “non-visit” to SCDP. Ketchup is curious about the increase in sales of beans since that division signed on with SCDP. The Ketchup division’s upstart is happy with his current agency, DDB, but wants to see what Don and his team can develop. As soon as "Ketchup" leaves the room, their client "Beans" stresses that this meeting did not happen. He emphatically insists SCDP forget this meeting as he doesn’t want the Ketchup division to be even more successful than it already is. So Don tells them to back off from Heinz Ketchup even though, "Ketchup is the Coca-Cola of condiments."

Stan relays this humorous story to Peggy on one of their late-night calls. Peggy then tells Ted about it because she thinks it's funny. Surprise! The next morning Ted insists she go after the Heinz Ketchup account since they're shopping around for a new creative agency. I must admit, I was very excited about all of the advertising discussions this episode. I have no doubt there are still some closed door dealings and client loyalty issues going on today.

Speaking of Peggy, she's still navigating her way through the good ol' boys way of doing business. There aren't many women creative directors and she's uncertain how to manage her mostly male team. She doesn't want to seem too bossy or shrew or motherly. Her little pep talk doesn’t incite any excitement among the team because it seems flat and false. The team in turn plays a practical joke on her to not-so-subtly highlight her overly-critical tendencies.

Viewers were also treated to some flashbacks into Don's earlier life this episode. Since his formative years were spent living in a brothel, it's little wonder why he treats women the way he does. To offer Sylvia money (whose husband is a surgeon) is very insulting. Even more disappointing was that she happily took it. Their relationship is interesting and though Sylvia may not realize it yet, she has the upper hand. The restaurant scene between those two was ripe with subtext and undertones. Sylvia later expresses a fear, saying they can't fall in love. But I'm afraid it's too late for Don. Sylvia is his drug of choice and lucky for him she's only a floor away.

Mistress and wife meet in the laundry room and Megan has an emotional breakdown. The two ladies have a heart-to-heart conversation as Megan shares she recently had a miscarriage. She is upset and feels guilty because she wasn't sure she wanted the baby and hadn't even told Don. She finally tells Don and he of course wants what she wants. I'm sure what she really wants is for him to be faithful. Don is a playboy and being faithful isn’t in his nature. So yes, we had collaborations of all sorts this episode.

In the world at large, the Vietnam War is definitely heating up. Did you notice any time there was a TV or radio in the background the news was about the war? It'll also be interesting to watch how that major event is woven into the storyline. 

Until next week!

Attention Users: We made a small enhancement to SRDS.com over the weekend, combining Business classifications “Industrial Purchasing” and “Industrial Purchasing Directories & Catalogs” into a new, single class called “Purchasing.” 

We hope this consolidation makes searching easier for you and as always if you have any questions or other ideas for updates, please let us know.

We often post interesting insights from our colleagues on the healthcare research side of Kantar Media. Now the healthcare team has some big news.

They’ve just launched their own blog for media companies, marketers and agencies. Posts will focus on the latest research and insights into professional and consumer healthcare media markets.

• Insights into the media usage of consumers and healthcare professionals
• Attitudinal and behavioral findings about brands and media
• Multimedia audience measurement data and ad intelligence
• Comments on related industry news

There will also be white papers, infographics and more. Check it out now and subscribe!

Only Don Draper would choose "Dante's Inferno" as a beach-read while in paradise. The book’s opening line – "In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost" – sums up Don and the entire cast in this episode of Mad Men. The episode was all over the place and bear with me as this recap may be as well.

We begin the episode around Christmas with Don and Megan on a work junket at the Royal Hawaiian hotel. Blue drinks on white sand, a luau, leis; who could ask for anything more? Yet Don still seems a little morose as he heads to the hotel bar in the wee hours of the morning. He meets Pfc. Dinkins, a drunken soldier on leave and about to be married, who notices their matching army-issued Zippos and strikes up a conversation. Pfc. Dinkins persuades Don to give the bride at the wedding away as she has no family in Hawaii. Don reluctantly agrees after the young soldier says in a pay-it-forward style, "One day I'll be the man who can't sleep and talks to strangers." Did anyone else notice we were almost 10 minutes into the show before Don spoke his first line and it was in conversation with a total stranger?

Meanwhile, back in New York, the offices of SCDP are decked out in garland, snowflakes and Christmas decor that just looks sad and tired. There is false cheeriness about. It's the week between Christmas and New Year’s and it’s very busy. Specifically, the new team is working on creative for Dow Chemical and Don also has to create an ad for the Royal Hawaiian. 

On to Roger, who is seeing a shrink. Time will tell how helpful that will be. Roger’s beloved mother has died and the funeral scene is both funny and not. His mother's friends dote on him, his ex-wife shows  up with her new husband, an upstart from the agency sends oodles of unwanted food Roger, and a drunken Don throws up in the corner of the deceased's opulent home. Distressed Roger throws everyone out, while classic Roger makes a move on ex-wife, Mona, who wisely pushes him off. The next day, Roger walks in the office and finds a shoe shine kit left to him. He learns that his shoe shiner died and because Roger was the only person asking about him, the kit was brought to him. Alone in his office, holding the shoe brush, Roger bursts into tears. Now, Roger didn't even cry when his mother died. I have to believe the overwhelming grief stems from more than just this death, but rather his personal regrets.

Needless to say, all of this gloom impacts the SCDP creative team. The ad they create for Royal Hawaiian includes a suit coat, tie and shoes on the beach with foot prints leading into the water. The tag line reads "Leave it All Behind." The client is underwhelmed and quite put off by the implied suicidal messaging. "Where's our hotel? Where's Diamond head?" he asks. Don's reply: "Anyone can do that. This is thought-provoking advertising." Yes, thoughts of death. Don honestly seemed surprised by the negative reaction. It appears death is going to be a predominant theme this season.

Peggy is now at her new shop in crisis mode. The ad she and her team created for KOSS headphones includes a play on Shakespeare with the tag line "Lend Me Your Ears". Clever, but like today's campaigns, sometimes current events can transform your ad  from incredible to insensitive. In this case, there was a comment from a comedian about American GI's in Vietnam cutting off the enemy’s ears and making necklaces of them. A more recent example is the controversial Tibetan Groupon Super Bowl ad from a few years ago.  Understandably, the client is up in arms, as is Peggy's manager. But Peggy keeps her cool for the most part. She does seem a trifle power-hungry and bossy though.

On a different note, I was struck by how times have changed when Peggy was unable to reach the top boss Ted. Today he'd be reachable via cell phone, texting or email no matter where he was. At any rate, on NYE she and her team work to resolve the issue at hand. Ted comes into the office to see who could possibly be working on NYE. He slightly chastises Peggy for keeping the team when she has developed a brilliant solution. There’s a big difference in Ted and Don as managers, in that Ted had no problem complimenting Peggy. Clearly, the move from SCDP has been beneficial to her.

Betty is another lost soul. She can't relate to Sally at all anymore; although most of that is due to Sally's teenage angst. I still don't know who Sandy is but she seems to represent Betty's youth. She's a 15-year-old girl, staying at the Francis house and set to go to Juilliard to study violin. However, she wasn't accepted to the school after all. She and Betty have quite the conversation where she tells Betty she would rather go live in "the Village" in an abandoned house with others who are just doing their thing. I also liked her line to Betty, "Why don't you just be the way you are," when Betty mentions watching her weight.

It seems Sandy just wants to be herself so she runs away to the Village. Betty searches for Sandy in a decrepit, rat-infested shamble and finds several guys, making goulash and living in filth. She hangs around long enough to discover Sandy had been there. She sold her violin for $10 to one of the guys who has some choice words for up-tight "Blondie." Betty returns to her established home and acts like nothing happened. She continues to provoke Henry, this time by initiating a rather disturbing conversation. There's bound to be trouble ahead for these two.

Speaking of trouble and love, Don is back to his old tricks. A while back, Don, Megan, Dr. Rosen and his wife are coming in from separate evenings out when the doorman has a heart attack. The doctor saves his life and the two couples become friends. Don invites the doctor into SCDP and is very curious about what it's like to have the power to save a life. Don tells him that he hopes Rosen conducts the first heart transplant in the States. New Year’s Eve finds those four and others celebrating at the Draper’s penthouse. There's a snowstorm raging outside when Dr. Rosen gets a call and must go into the hospital. He and Don go to storage to locate a pair of skis so Rosen can get into work. While the good doctor is off saving lives, Don sneaks into bed with Mrs. Rosen.

Yes, as Dante says, the forest is dark and in this case, the straight forward path Don had been on is lost. There's no turning back and more doors to open.

The buzz word “SoLoMo” is a combination of the words “social,” “local” and “mobile.” Solomo represents a concept which is a tidal wave in our evolving society: the convergence of social, local and mobile technology. Our lives are changing dramatically as technology becomes more mobile, empowers deeper social connections and becomes localized.

What is SoLoMo?

• —Is it using social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?
• Or is it local like Foursquare, checking in on Facebook, advertising on my phone?
• What about the “mo” – is that mobile like seeing ads in my ipad or my browser if I search on my phone?

In short, the answer is yes to all of the questions above, and how they all work together and why it matters to consumers or to marketers. SoLoMo is a heady combination that when used well can dramatically improve lives and help companies increase their ROI on ad spends, and connect with consumers in a meaningful way.

SoLoMo is must for digital marketers because it allows them to target and communicate with your prospects in new and unique ways because technology has evolved in such a way that it allows us to intereact with consumers throughout the sales cycle.

How are you seeing marketers and agencies use SoLoMo effectively?

Digital marketing intelligence provider AdGooroo recently announced it added search marketing intelligence data on the Yahoo! Bing Network for clients. As part of this news, the team also published a special report on the performance of Yahoo! Bing that's essential for any digital marketer.

Full disclosure: AdGooroo, like SRDS, is part of Kantar Media.

Recently, a user asked why we deleted our Quick Station Search function in the SRDS.com radio database. We were happy to let her know that the search ability definitely had not been eliminated. It just looks a little different.

You can still get the results you want by using the open search. For example, you can enter call letters, frequency or code call and get all the results that match your search criteria. Take a second to make a search selection that will yield more accurate results. For example, when conducting a call letter search (shown below), you should click Title Only.

Also, you can use the search options to search against only radio and/or only title (which contains the call letters and frequency).

If you have any other questions or would like to sign up for a 30-minute training session, please let me know. 

Our team understands the value of current media planning data and they work hard to update listings every single day. In March, the team updated 8,045 SRDS.com listings bringing the 2013 total to 32,581 updates.

Here’s how last month breaks down:

• 2,757 business publications updates
• 2,080 newspaper updates
• 927 TV & cable updates
• 918 consumer magazine updates
• 887 digital updates
• 381 radio updates
• 95 out-of-home updates

We know that current data matters, so take a moment to log in and check out some of the changes!

We asked SRDS.com users, “What advice would you give to new graduates looking for a media job at an agency?”

We found out that the most marketable skills of today's students aka tomorrow's media directors are:

1. Media research knowledge
2. Digital/mobile/social media advertising savvy
3. Adaptability and flexibility
4. Proficiency in Microsoft Excel
5. Excellent communication

Media professionals also stressed the importance of willingness to learn and openness to new opportunities. As the media landscape continues to evolve, it’s important that we continue to evolve with it. At Kantar Media SRDS, we're dedicated to providing the information and data needed to compete in to today’s advertising world.

As we’ve shared before, our team always reads industry sites and newsletters to find the latest media trends, news and tips. Here are a few of the online advertising stories that caught our eyes this week. Enjoy!

What Marketers Should Know About Ad Servers – Ad servers are the tools that place advertisements on websites. Sounds simple, but the truth is that without them, the unique capabilities and precision of digital advertising might not exist. So then why do so few marketers understand how ad servers function? Over at iMedia Connection, Eric Picard, CEO of Rare Crowds, shares the basics of the all-important ad server, arguing that better decisions can be made once a marketer has a handle on how this tool works. This is a piece you’ll want to re-read and then bookmark.

Enforcer of the Online Ad Opt-Out - Genie Barton, VP and director of the Council of Better Business Bureaus' online behavioral advertising and mobile marketing initiatives, is the enforcer of the bureaus' Digital Advertising Alliance’s AdChoices program, which requires brands to place a small, triangular blue icon on their ads. When consumers click on the icon, they are sent to a page where they can choose to opt out of targeted ads. In a Q&A with Adweek, Barton discusses online privacy and ad targeting. You’ll want to read what she has to say.

Are Your Online Ads Viewable? - Ad management company DG just released its Global Benchmark Report for 2012, which pushes to make viewability the chief metric for online ads – not clicks. In order for an ad to be counted as viewable, half of its pixels have to be in view for at least one second. Their argument makes a lot of sense and is very convincing. Click here to read more and download the report.

Digital Now Makes Up Bigger Chunk of Agency Budgets - U.S. ad spending grew 4% during the first two months of 2013 vs. that same period in 2012, with digital accounting for the second-largest share of media spending. Digital made up 22% of ad agency buys, according to data from four of the six agency holding companies compiled by the Standard Media Index. Digital media buys also rose 16% during the January and February, with a 23% increase in ad networks and 12% increase in premium display.

What online advertising stories made you click this week?

Here at Kantar Media SRDS, we’re obsessed with all forms of media. That’s why this brand-new infographic from research company Scarborough caught our eye.  It’s the first in a series of analyses about the evolution of cross-platform media consumption over the past decade with data on social, traditional and digital. Here are five things we learned:

1. Social media grew 238% between 2009 and 2012.
2. 42% of U.S. adults agree the Internet is their main source of entertainment.
3. Consumption of media on traditional platforms is declining or flat, but 68% of adults still read a print newspaper.
4. In 2006, 8% of U.S. adults lived in a household that owned a smartphone. That number rose to 44% in 2012.
5. Austin, Texas, has consistently maintained its position in the top three local markets for social media usage in both 2009 and 2012.

You can view these results here or see more in the infographic below.

 

• Click here to listen and subscribe for free in iTunes (Featured by Apple as a "New and Noteworthy" podcast!)
• Click here to download the mp3 of this episode
• Click below to listen in your browser

About Tim Bingaman

About The Media Mic

The Media Mic is an interview series from Kantar Media SRDS with leaders in the media business about the roads they’ve taken, and the stories and people that make up our vibrant industry. Bandwidth and hosting for The Media Mic is provided by Wizzard Media and Libsyn.

Remember when March Madness basketball brackets were on paper and took hours of the coordinator’s day? This is one thing the Internet has obviously made easier for us. (OK, there might be a few others, too.)

Now the office basketball brackets are online. Phew.

Over the last three or four years, more alternative interactive brackets are popping up. In addition to capturing all the eyeballs that make March Madness a huge advertising event, it’s expanding to all different interest groups. Sure they don’t all involve winning money, but it’s a fabulous way to bring together a community for a few weeks. The objectives are different for each – traffic, ads served, collecting voter info. And hopefully fun.

I did the Allstate BFF brackets on Facebook in 2011. It matched up random FB friends of mine and pitted them against each other to end up my BFF. Friends met friends from different parts of my life, which as you know can be good, or bad. (High school crush vs. Aunt Helen vs. work mentor.)

The ‘GoFugYourself” authors, Jessica and Heather, have put out Fug Madness  for a few years. Anyone can vote on different celebrities based on just how badly you think they’ve dressed in the last year. With links to different outfits throughout the tournament that review the year. You can watch voting live, just like the real games. The 2012 champion Vanessa Hudgens barely beat Lindsay Lohan, in a contest that surged back and forth for hours.

I’m always excited to see how our industry jumps in, both for our clients and our work.

Today I got an invitation to fill out brackets tied to our advertising world – one that pits cereal mascots against each other. It’s from Thrillist via Facebook.

Of, course I had to login to Thrillist and see all the ads, before I could get to FB and vote. And vote I did, via “Like” or “Comment.”

(I do think they skewed the results by switching up if a mascot on left got a like or mascot on right from pair to pair. Maybe it’s their seeding process?) And now I’m hungry for cereal, the ‘good’ kind.

Best of luck to the marketers behind each mascot,. I’m sure you’re hoping for the trophy. Or at least bragging rights.

One list of 11 alternative brackets is going around, and you can check out a list of 12 alternate brackets here. Famous beards? Boy bands? Saddest movies?  Beer? Careful, some are NSFW.

And if I don’t answer your email quickly in the next few weeks, you’ll know I’m busy watching my brackets.

Have you worked on an alternative March bracket for a client?

Tell us which brackets you’re doing.

If you missed the first-part of my Season 6 preview of Mad Men covering the ladies, click here. This time around I’ll discuss the men.

If you watched "Mad Men" last season you’ll probably agree with me that the gentlemen certainly provided some quality viewing. Let's start with one of my favorites: Roger Sterling.

Oh Roger, Roger. From tripping on LSD, to leaving Jane, to standing naked at the window—what are you going to do next? At least Roger doesn't pretend to be something he's not; although he was desperate to keep up with the young hot shots this past season, I'm hoping he'll finally wise up and pair up with "Red" this year; although I wouldn't be surprised if he went back to Mona.

Pete, well he is something isn't he? As I said in an earlier post, he's no Don Draper. He had his affair, secured some accounts and wormed his way to the big boy’s table as a partner. His character is becoming a little more sinister especially since he's the one who designed the grand idea to garner the Jaguar account using Joan. Even though the other men, Don and Roger, have divorced their spouses, I doubt Pete will go that route. He and Trudie are too high-brow. Honestly, I don’t have any predictions for him other than he'll continue to be pompous and self-serving. Maybe he'll try to track down his baby that Peggy gave up for adoption.

Lane Pryce certainly tried his best to be everything to everyone last season, didn't he? He struggled to be a salesman and secure the Jaguar account. He cooked the books and got burned when Don discovered the discrepancy. Were you stunned when he hung himself in the office? Poor Lane, there can be no predictions for him.

This brings us to Don Draper. Don is clearly enjoying his marriage with Megan as well as working with her. In fact, he was so hands-off at work initially, the company seemed to falter. He went from the guy with everything (again) to the guy with a few big losses (again) in his life. Guilty over Lane's suicide; mixed feelings over Peggy leaving for greener pastures; and faced with a young wife looking to make a name for herself. All of these events don’t sit well with Don. I cannot wait for April 7.

What are your predictions? Will we start off in a new decade?

I hope so because the appetizers and cocktails for my kick-off party are better suited to the 70s than the 60s. Let's look for some avocado appliances, bell bottoms, mini-midi, maxi skirts and color TV ad plans.

(image source)

We live in a world where transparency spans all facets of our lives. So when I read about a new website where agencies and other “vendors” can be reviewed by CMOs, it really struck me as a natural progression for the industry.

What will this mean if you’re an agency? That remains to be seen. It reminds me of AMC’s “The Pitch,” which has been renewed for a second season. Though the first season had low ratings, and many in the agency world had plenty of negative things to say about how inaccurately the show depicted the pitch process, the series is still moving into another season.

In short, we can’t predict how this review site will pan out either.

CMOs and other top marketers have always shared their opinions of agency partners with their peers; this just gives them a transparent way to do so – if you are a member. The Ad Age article didn’t elaborate if membership is by invitation, paid or any other details as to how to join. I’ll be curious to see how that will work.

However the article did indicate that the intent of the site isn’t to bash vendors and that the posted reviews won’t be anonymous. So you own your reviews and have to stick by them, which I think gives the site and the actual reviews higher credibility.

Nothing about this development is going to rock the agency world; in fact, it screams opportunity for solid partnerships that generate impressive work to be highlighted in a new way.

Let’s face it; we live in a society where we are inundated with big data and personal information is shared in almost every way imaginable. It was only a matter of time before this hit the agency world.

Will this be a flash in the pan, or will it truly become the Yelp of the agency world? Only time will tell. But here at Kantar Media SRDS, we’ll be watching.

Over the weekend, we launched a new feature to SRDS.com that helps you organize your radio station search results by metro and non-metro markets. 

The new “Group by Market” option is available in any search that includes radio stations (look under the sorting options).

After conducting your search (make sure you’ve filtered to radio stations-only), simply click the “Group by Market” check box and your results will organize into two sections:

1. Metro Markets – Displays an alphabetical list of all the Arbitron-defined MSA’s  in your results.
2. Non-Metro Markets – Displays an alphabetical list of states, broken down by an alphabetical list of non-metro market cities in your results.

Don’t forget you can also apply useful search filters to help you identify stations by format and primary demo!

Unfamiliar with the markets you're planning? The Market Lookup tool can help.

Simply Click the "Find Market" link at the top of the Markets area in the Radio database. Enter a ZIP Code, city and state, county and state or just the state to see what markets match your search criteria, plus see all the SRDS listings in these markets.

While the majority of online publishers, such as ClickZ, allow advertisers to publish sponsored content on their sites coupled with display ads, The Huffington Post offers a much more innovative approach. According to Digiday, the HuffPo’s social marketing team assembles content from the site concerning a topic that relates to the advertising brand or a campaign the brand is running. Then staff curates the content onto a brand-owned news landing page stamped with brand ads. When you click on one of those articles, the ads appear on that page as well, seeming to position the brand as a thought leader around this topic and type of content.

For example, Glad’s sponsored page is all about celebrating everyday heroes that are making small changes and big differences in their community. Articles range from a six-year-old boy who writes a book to raise $30,000 for a friend with a rare disease to a father with advanced lung cancer who does a charity Polar Plunge. When the visitor clicks on these articles, they are taken to the article page jam-packed with Glad ads around its “Small Change. Big Difference” campaign.

This strategy requires a tremendous amount of aggregated content and a focused team of socially-minded people to execute. But for a culturally pervasive and extremely popular site like HuffPo that pushes out content like faster than new YouTube videos popup, it’s entirely possible.

This model appeals to an advertiser and even a site visitor because the brand isn’t writing the articles. Since they are actual news stories around a certain topic, it doesn’t feel like the publisher or the advertiser is trying to completely deceive the users.

Janet Balis, the Huffington Post’s publisher, told Digiday:

“We are empowering brands to take ownership of the real-time stories they want to tell by putting in place the right content strategy, by connecting it deeply to social to maximize earned media, and by strategically aligning content and paid advertising strategies.”

Social is probably one of the most critical components of this branded content strategy because these pages mix together content with sharing. It’s the cycle that never ends. As more users share these articles, there are more site visitors and so those people will be more likely to share the piece, and so on. More visitors to HuffPo and more impressions on these ads equal a win-win for advertiser and publisher.

Balis says:

“There are plenty of people embracing the idea of organic ad placements and intelligent advertorial strategies, but we’re focused on producing content, and connecting to social landscape and be analytical about science that can inform how to make these stories bigger.”

HuffPo offers up an impressive example of online advertising creativity, but for now this model may too challenging for smaller online publishers.

What do you think?

So who is Peter? He’s someone you’ll want to get to know because chances are, you and he have very similar challenges and opportunities.

Our global team is currently attending to Peter’s every need, putting time and energy into determining his marketing and media problems and finding solutions.

Watch this exclusive video to find out more about this mystery man!