Los Angeles-based integrated production/postproduction company Trailer Park has acquired Goodness Mfg, the Venice, Calif-based boutique agency founded by Crispin alums Tom Adams, Paul Keister, Bob Cianfrone, Brian Rekasis, and Rupert Samuel.
The Goodness team will remain an advertising agency under the Trailer Park umbrella, Goodness Mfg. at Trailer Park. It will relocate to its own floor in Trailer Park's Hollywood offices, bringing its advertising expertise to the 300-strong production shop, which has served the entertainment and film industries since 1994. The terms of the deal were undisclosed.
With the combined forces, the new entity is positioned to extend Trailer Park's creative and production reach across a broader spectrum of clients. Goodness brings with it a solid advertising pedigree. Since its founding in 2007, the shop has served clients like Lucas Arts, Nestle, American Cancer Society and also recently led the website launch of Google's Nexus One. Among Keister, Adams and Cianfrone's past creative credits are BK's Subservient Chicken, work for MINI, Truth and Ikea's "Lamp." Brian Rekasis had been director of Crispin's nontraditional division Area 51 and Rupert Samuel led production on many of Crispin's celebrated campaigns as director of integrated production.
http://creativity-online.com/news/trailer-park-acquires-goodness-mfg/142047
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Local Ad Firm Webvisible Gets $20 Million in New Funding
http://paidcontent.org/article/419-local-ad-firm-webvisible-gets-20-million-in-new-funding/
Webvisible, the Irvine, CA-based online local ad tools provider, has received a big $20 million third round of funding, according to an SEC filing. From the filing, it seems the round was led by Chicago PE firm Adams Street Partners, with David Welsh from the firm on Webvisible board now; more as we get some confirmation from the company. Its last round was $12 million led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with previous backer Redpoint Ventures. This brings the total amount raised by the company to $37 million.
WebVisible markets software to small businesses with the promise of better management of their online ad buys. The company’s management tools operate across a range of platforms, including search engines. The company also has various relationships in the yellow pages industry, so that its services are re-sold by various players, including AT&T (NYSE: T), British Telecom, European Directories, Intuit, and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Company.
Webvisible, the Irvine, CA-based online local ad tools provider, has received a big $20 million third round of funding, according to an SEC filing. From the filing, it seems the round was led by Chicago PE firm Adams Street Partners, with David Welsh from the firm on Webvisible board now; more as we get some confirmation from the company. Its last round was $12 million led by Sutter Hill Ventures, with previous backer Redpoint Ventures. This brings the total amount raised by the company to $37 million.
WebVisible markets software to small businesses with the promise of better management of their online ad buys. The company’s management tools operate across a range of platforms, including search engines. The company also has various relationships in the yellow pages industry, so that its services are re-sold by various players, including AT&T (NYSE: T), British Telecom, European Directories, Intuit, and The New York Times (NYSE: NYT) Company.
QuinStreet completes IPO
Quattrone’s Comeback IPO Of QuinStreet (QNST) Disappoints Buyers
http://www.benzinga.com/markets/company-news/131540/quattrone%E2%80%99s-comeback-ipo-of-quinstreet-qnst-disappoints-buyers
QuinStreet (Nasdaq: QNST - News), the online media and marketing holding company, debuted on Nasdaq this morning, and fell flat in more ways than one: firstly it wanted to issue 10 million shares at $17-$19, but was only able to price at $15. And then through the day, the price only rose up to $15.50 and then fell at closing back to $15. The offering, which raised about $140 million for the company, was managed by Credit Suisse, BofA Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan. At one point the company had hopes of raising as much as $250 million, but cut the amount down to $165 million by late last month and now the final amount came even lower.
This was Bay Area's first IPO this year—QuinStreet is based in Forster City, CA—and was also gained some buzz because the once-almost-disgraced tech banker and financier Frank Quattrone, through his Qatalyst Partners, was QuinStreet's financial adviser and marked his return to the IPO market
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/QuinStreet-IPO-Falls-Flat-Day-paidcontent-3869891209.html?x=0&.v=1
http://www.benzinga.com/markets/company-news/131540/quattrone%E2%80%99s-comeback-ipo-of-quinstreet-qnst-disappoints-buyers
QuinStreet (Nasdaq: QNST - News), the online media and marketing holding company, debuted on Nasdaq this morning, and fell flat in more ways than one: firstly it wanted to issue 10 million shares at $17-$19, but was only able to price at $15. And then through the day, the price only rose up to $15.50 and then fell at closing back to $15. The offering, which raised about $140 million for the company, was managed by Credit Suisse, BofA Merrill Lynch and JPMorgan. At one point the company had hopes of raising as much as $250 million, but cut the amount down to $165 million by late last month and now the final amount came even lower.
This was Bay Area's first IPO this year—QuinStreet is based in Forster City, CA—and was also gained some buzz because the once-almost-disgraced tech banker and financier Frank Quattrone, through his Qatalyst Partners, was QuinStreet's financial adviser and marked his return to the IPO market
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/QuinStreet-IPO-Falls-Flat-Day-paidcontent-3869891209.html?x=0&.v=1
Monday, February 15, 2010
Study: Spending On Email, Social And Search Rising
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=121930
Email service provider ExactTarget released a study this week showing marketers plan to boost spending in email, social media and other non-traditional outreach channels this year. Advisory firm Econsultancy conducted the research along with the Indianapolis-based ESP.
The study of 1,000-plus marketers shows 54% of marketers said they will boost budgets for email marketing, and about 66% in social media (even though about 80% of those acknowledged the difficulty in tracking ROI in the medium).
Delving deeper in social media, the research showed the medium is the "fastest growing digital marketing channel." That includes venues from Facebook pages to blogs.
More than 70% are boosting spending on so-called "off-site" social media offerings such as Facebook and Twitter, and about 65% in "on-site" areas such as "blogs or ratings and reviews."
Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy, stated: "Social media marketing is the area where companies are most likely to be spending more money during 2010, but areas such as search engine marketing and email marketing will remain buoyant."
Fifty-one percent said they plan to increase paid-search budgets, and 56% in mobile marketing.
Also, 13% plan to decrease their overall marketing budget, and 42% to keep it flat
Email service provider ExactTarget released a study this week showing marketers plan to boost spending in email, social media and other non-traditional outreach channels this year. Advisory firm Econsultancy conducted the research along with the Indianapolis-based ESP.
The study of 1,000-plus marketers shows 54% of marketers said they will boost budgets for email marketing, and about 66% in social media (even though about 80% of those acknowledged the difficulty in tracking ROI in the medium).
Delving deeper in social media, the research showed the medium is the "fastest growing digital marketing channel." That includes venues from Facebook pages to blogs.
More than 70% are boosting spending on so-called "off-site" social media offerings such as Facebook and Twitter, and about 65% in "on-site" areas such as "blogs or ratings and reviews."
Linus Gregoriadis, research director at Econsultancy, stated: "Social media marketing is the area where companies are most likely to be spending more money during 2010, but areas such as search engine marketing and email marketing will remain buoyant."
Fifty-one percent said they plan to increase paid-search budgets, and 56% in mobile marketing.
Also, 13% plan to decrease their overall marketing budget, and 42% to keep it flat
Traditional Shops' Digital Skills Deemed Unimpressive
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/agency/e3ief7f94880dc0982e5c91d396dccf42a3?imw=Y
Traditional Agencies are continuing to invest in digital talent and services but, based on a new survey from RSW/US, clients aren't that impressed with the results.Ask to rate their traditional agency's digital skills on a scale of 1 to 10 -- with 1 equating to "poor" and 10 meaning "excellent" -- only 3 percent of the 277 client executives polled chose excellent, and almost half - 47 percent -- ranked their shops between 1 and 5.The finding in the latest study, "A Client's Perspective on Agencies," mirrored that of a September RSW/US report, which illustrated a disconnect between how clients and agencies view their skills in social media. In the previous report, less than half of the client respondents agreed that they are "cutting edge" in the use of social media, compared to more than three-quarters of the respondents from public relations agencies and two-thirds from ad agencies.
Traditional Agencies are continuing to invest in digital talent and services but, based on a new survey from RSW/US, clients aren't that impressed with the results.Ask to rate their traditional agency's digital skills on a scale of 1 to 10 -- with 1 equating to "poor" and 10 meaning "excellent" -- only 3 percent of the 277 client executives polled chose excellent, and almost half - 47 percent -- ranked their shops between 1 and 5.The finding in the latest study, "A Client's Perspective on Agencies," mirrored that of a September RSW/US report, which illustrated a disconnect between how clients and agencies view their skills in social media. In the previous report, less than half of the client respondents agreed that they are "cutting edge" in the use of social media, compared to more than three-quarters of the respondents from public relations agencies and two-thirds from ad agencies.
Omnicom CEO John Wren: 'Worst of the Recession Behind Us'
http://adage.com/agencynews/article?article_id=142032
Despite another double-digit profit decline last quarter at Omnicom Group, CEO John Wren believes the ad industry has finally made it through the worst of the recession.
"As economies improve, we believe the worst of the recession and its impact is behind us," Mr. Wren said on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call this morning. "While not all of our clients have finalized their 2010 budgets, we anticipate that many will at least modestly increase spending in the second half of this year."
Despite another double-digit profit decline last quarter at Omnicom Group, CEO John Wren believes the ad industry has finally made it through the worst of the recession.
"As economies improve, we believe the worst of the recession and its impact is behind us," Mr. Wren said on the company's fourth-quarter earnings call this morning. "While not all of our clients have finalized their 2010 budgets, we anticipate that many will at least modestly increase spending in the second half of this year."
For ads, social media still a niche buy
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13577_3-10451769-36.html
Considering all you hear about social networks finally starting to convince the advertising industry that they're a worthwhile destination for dollars, it's a bit surprising to see new numbers from eMarketer that put social networks' share of the digital-ad marketplace at a paltry 5.5 percent last year.
That's up from 5 percent in 2008, the stats released Thursday say. The good news is that, unlike some other sectors of the ad world, it's not shrinking--but it's also not growing exponentially by any means. After plunging from a 61 percent rate of growth in 2008 to 12 percent in 2009, the rate of growth is projected to crawl back up to 14 percent this year and stay about the same at 13 percent next year.
Part of the reason for the relative stasis is the fact that one of the big destinations for social-network ads, the News Corp.-owned MySpace, is on the decline. Ad spending on MySpace is expected to drop 21 percent from 2009 to 2010--a 23 percent drop in the U.S. offset a bit by a 3 percent gain overseas. In 2009, according to eMarketer, MySpace was the destination for $490 million in worldwide social-network ad spending; in 2010, it's projected to be $385 million.
The same numbers indicate that from 2009 to 2010, Facebook will surpass MySpace for the first time in terms of U.S. ad spending market share. MySpace is down from 38.4 percent to 27.8 percent; Facebook went from 27.7 percent to 34.7 percent. Meanwhile, ad spending on other social networks grew slightly from 26.8 percent to 27.4 percent; spending on ads within widgets and other social apps went from 7 percent to 10.1 percent.
And next year, non-U.S. ad spending on social networks is expected to eclipse the U.S. market share for the first time.
eMarketer's numbers were put together in December, before Facebook made the announcement that not only was it ending its longstanding display ad contract with Microsoft, but that it was also getting rid of banner ads altogether. It's made the choice to focus instead on the "social ads" that have garnered it a lot of attention, but with Facebook doing away with the ads that are the most familiar to Madison Avenue buyers, and MySpace in an apparent state of turmoil, it's unclear what this will do to the rest of the market.
Amid the recession, eMarketer cut its online ad spending estimates several times.
Considering all you hear about social networks finally starting to convince the advertising industry that they're a worthwhile destination for dollars, it's a bit surprising to see new numbers from eMarketer that put social networks' share of the digital-ad marketplace at a paltry 5.5 percent last year.
That's up from 5 percent in 2008, the stats released Thursday say. The good news is that, unlike some other sectors of the ad world, it's not shrinking--but it's also not growing exponentially by any means. After plunging from a 61 percent rate of growth in 2008 to 12 percent in 2009, the rate of growth is projected to crawl back up to 14 percent this year and stay about the same at 13 percent next year.
Part of the reason for the relative stasis is the fact that one of the big destinations for social-network ads, the News Corp.-owned MySpace, is on the decline. Ad spending on MySpace is expected to drop 21 percent from 2009 to 2010--a 23 percent drop in the U.S. offset a bit by a 3 percent gain overseas. In 2009, according to eMarketer, MySpace was the destination for $490 million in worldwide social-network ad spending; in 2010, it's projected to be $385 million.
The same numbers indicate that from 2009 to 2010, Facebook will surpass MySpace for the first time in terms of U.S. ad spending market share. MySpace is down from 38.4 percent to 27.8 percent; Facebook went from 27.7 percent to 34.7 percent. Meanwhile, ad spending on other social networks grew slightly from 26.8 percent to 27.4 percent; spending on ads within widgets and other social apps went from 7 percent to 10.1 percent.
And next year, non-U.S. ad spending on social networks is expected to eclipse the U.S. market share for the first time.
eMarketer's numbers were put together in December, before Facebook made the announcement that not only was it ending its longstanding display ad contract with Microsoft, but that it was also getting rid of banner ads altogether. It's made the choice to focus instead on the "social ads" that have garnered it a lot of attention, but with Facebook doing away with the ads that are the most familiar to Madison Avenue buyers, and MySpace in an apparent state of turmoil, it's unclear what this will do to the rest of the market.
Amid the recession, eMarketer cut its online ad spending estimates several times.
Agencies Partner to Serve Hesitant Digital Pharma Marketers
http://www.clickz.com/3636483
Digital agency Zemoga and pharma agency Palio have officially launched Pixels and Pills, a joint service they hope will assist drug marketers in the scary, yet increasingly critical world of digital marketing.
The goal of the Pixels and Pills service is to provide pharma clients with one point of contact to simplify the campaign process and better assist clients in integrating digital and traditional channels. Much of what pharma brands need to do is bridge the online-offline gap, and that means not only reaching out to consumers, but to doctors. For example, the agency service might run a digital branding campaign that reinforces drug usage recommendations in addition to managing dialogue with physicians.
Digital agency Zemoga and pharma agency Palio have officially launched Pixels and Pills, a joint service they hope will assist drug marketers in the scary, yet increasingly critical world of digital marketing.
The goal of the Pixels and Pills service is to provide pharma clients with one point of contact to simplify the campaign process and better assist clients in integrating digital and traditional channels. Much of what pharma brands need to do is bridge the online-offline gap, and that means not only reaching out to consumers, but to doctors. For example, the agency service might run a digital branding campaign that reinforces drug usage recommendations in addition to managing dialogue with physicians.
Mergers, Buyouts of Media, Entertainment Firms Dip
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/08/business/AP-US-Entertainment-Media-MA.html?_r=1&dbk
The number of media and entertainment media and acquisitions deals fell by 49 percent in 2009, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The accounting firm's 2010 U.S. Entertainment & Media M&A Insights report said the deals totaled $77.4 billion last year, the lowest level since 2004. There were 714 deals, down 29 percent from 2008 and the smallest number in seven years.
Completed entertainment and media transactions comprised 12.3 percent and 13.3 percent of total mergers and acquisitions in value and volume, respectively.
Deals continued to favor online media and there was continued interest from private equity investment firms, with a total of 126 transactions completed. These investors were interested in companies in advertising and marketing, publishing and Internet software and services.
The report also said that several companies in the sector were struggling under heavy debt and seeking to restructure or file for bankruptcy.
In 2009, Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings among U.S. entertainment and media companies tripled to 30. These are companies with pre-Chapter 11 liabilities of more than $100 million.
Investors will be bargain hunting in broadcasting, cable, casinos and gaming and certain publishing businesses.
The number of media and entertainment media and acquisitions deals fell by 49 percent in 2009, according to a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The accounting firm's 2010 U.S. Entertainment & Media M&A Insights report said the deals totaled $77.4 billion last year, the lowest level since 2004. There were 714 deals, down 29 percent from 2008 and the smallest number in seven years.
Completed entertainment and media transactions comprised 12.3 percent and 13.3 percent of total mergers and acquisitions in value and volume, respectively.
Deals continued to favor online media and there was continued interest from private equity investment firms, with a total of 126 transactions completed. These investors were interested in companies in advertising and marketing, publishing and Internet software and services.
The report also said that several companies in the sector were struggling under heavy debt and seeking to restructure or file for bankruptcy.
In 2009, Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings among U.S. entertainment and media companies tripled to 30. These are companies with pre-Chapter 11 liabilities of more than $100 million.
Investors will be bargain hunting in broadcasting, cable, casinos and gaming and certain publishing businesses.
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