With the offering, premium publishers can leverage AdTech’s technology and AOL Networks’ cross-platform ad serving platform, mange blocks and transparency settings at an inventory level, and get “high-touch client service from setup all the way through yield evaluation.”

“Our goal at AOL Networks is to simplify digital advertising at scale and now, with the addition of Marketplace, publishers have a one-stop solution to manage every piece of inventory they have,” said David Jacobs, Senior Vice President, AOL Networks. “If you don’t have both supply and demand solutions, you are disadvantaged in this increasingly complex digital advertising ecosystem. With Marketplace, we give publishers a connected programmatic platform that is transparent and efficient as well as pre-loaded with demand.”

“Marketplace was built with an in-depth understanding of publisher needs – after all, we based it off of the needs of one of the largest publishers in the world: AOL,” Jacobs added. “Having partnered with thousands of premium publishers for over a decade on the buy side, we have developed significant experience and insights into how to drive demand and yield for publisher partners who are seeking to increase their revenues. We are excited to offer our Marketplace solution to drive value for our partners on a global basis.”

The announcement was made at ad:tech San Francisco by AOL CEO Tim Armstrong.

MRAID, which stands for Mobile Rich Media Ad Interface Definitions is an IAB project tasked with defining a common API for mobile rich media ads that will run in mobile apps.

“The mobile internet has fast become a popular communication medium and for many users, life can no longer be imagined without it,” says AdTech CEO Erhard Neumann. “As the number of mobile internet users increasingly rises, advertising on the mobile web becomes more and more significant. Our Mobile AdTech SDK opens up an additional sales opportunity by enabling publisher clients to monetize the advertising space in their mobile apps.”

AdTech says the SDK will make it easier for customers to manage display, video and mobile inventory from one tool, listing the key features as:

• Delivers ads even if the device is offline
• Simplifies banner creation through MRAID support
• Easy Rich Media handling across different mobile platforms
• Caching ads for accelerating rich media content
• Mediates Inventory through Network Partners
• Integrated solutions for Mobile Web & Apps, Display and Video

After a long gathering of online advertising companies, they’ve finally created a full-fledged advertising division. Or, perhaps they’ve just revamped all of their old ones and cobbled them into a new, single unit with a new headquarters.

To date, these acquisitions include:

• July 2007, TACODA, behavioral targeting ad network
• May 2007, ADTECH AG, ad-serving and e-mail marketing network
• May 2007, Third Screen Media, mobile ad serving
• May 2006, LightningCast, streaming video/audio ad serving
• 2004, Advertising.com, direct-response network

All of these acquisitions came under the Advertising.com branch of AOL. The new advertising unit, MediaPost reports, will be called Platform A and will reach 90% of Internet users. The former CEO of TACODA, Curt Viebranz, will head the division.

By finally and thoroughly coordinating its advertising lines, AOL hopes to revamp its fortunes. MediaPost says that media buyers have positive initial impressions of the new AOL ad division.

If perception is 90% of reality, at least one new aspect of the company is already working in their favor: the division has moved its headquarters from Dulles, VA, to New York City (which, while not a great city of origin for salsa, is a great city of origin for an advertising network).

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I know they’re difficult to compare because SES San Jose is quite a bit larger than ad:Tech Chicago and the target demographic is somewhat different, however I am sure there are marketers wondering which one they should attend. Here are my thoughts:

• From a cost perspective, both SES SJ and ad:Tech Chicago are priced similarly at around $1700 for a full conference pass.
• You’ll find three times more exhibitors at SES SJ. I found that both shows are getting more and more companies who offer Sponsored Advertising as well as Affiliate Advertisers.
• I found the sessions at SES San Jose gave companies strategies that they could take away and apply to their own businesses. I found that at ad:Tech there were less strategic opportunities, many presentations simply discussed the status of their companies and the conference was much more geared towards future strategies such as mobile (which is good or bad depending on what you’re looking for).
• From a networking perspective I noticed that it was easier to speak with people and discuss topics such as the conference, future bussiness opportunities, sessions and search marketing in general.
• If you’re into "after conference events" then I think you would appreciate both the Google Dance/Webmaster Radio Bash at SES and the networking party at Fulton’s on the River in Chicago. I do have to admit the SES events were geared more towards a younger crowd versus the Chicago event.

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What started out as a very dry session turned out to be a very insightful lesson on ways to create conversation and user engagement using the power of mobile. 2 of the most interesting uses of mobile campaigns were mentioned by Bob Weasley and Dean Macri.

Mr. Weasley described how his company partnered with Grocery stores such as Albertson’s to enhance shoppers’ experience. Initially there was a framework setup so that shoppers could be tracked (through their mobiles) as they walked through the various sections. Shoppers were also given the ability to scan and bag items instantly. Based on the person’s shopping behaviour and where they were located in the store they were served related promotions/advertisements. Dynamic advertising can also be served based on the weather as well as the season.

Mr. Macri spoke about a campaign his organization ran with their client BMW. Print ads with short codes (short number sequences which replace long URLs) were placed throughout various airports trying to entice users to find out more information on BMW’s vehicles. Once users entered the short code they were given a program which streamed videos regarding a specific type of BMW series. Users with older technology were offered pictures instead. Finally, users were given the location of the nearest BMW dealership at which they could make an appointment to visit a show room. The campaign was measured by the number of users "clicking in" using the short code, the types of videos/pictures viewed most, dealer popularity and appointments booked.

The session concluded with some brief lessons learned, here’s what the speakers said:

• The mass market is not completely up to speed on mobile advertising yet
• Mobile advertising is a very uncluttered environment
• In 2007 it is important for agencies to test and learn (otherwise you will lose ground)
• Consumers want to go beyond text messaging
• Mobile advertising should be kept simple
• You should always try to create strategies that add value for the end users

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One of Chris’ main objectives that he was trying to get across was that the era of the "Blockbuster" model has ended. As the Internet continues to provide limitless commodities of products to everyon, people are far less likely to purchase mainstream products/services. In today’s world people have more selection than they ever did before and enjoy selecting niche products/services. Anderson also made a great point in that selling products cannot be sold to a global, one size fits all market but rather have to be sold using niche or very segmented markets.

"What happens to the combined copy of all the millions of items that may sell
only a few copies equals or exceeds the value of the few items that sell millions each?"

Chris provides some great examples which proved his theory on the long tail:

• Since spring of 2000 there has been a rapid decline in the number of music albums that achieved gold status (or above) because of the Internet and it’s capability to share vast genres of music.
• The decreasing number in attendance for a movie’s second week: The Internet makes the sharing of conversation around movie reviews instant which can lead directly to less visitors attending movies on the second week.
• An online company like Rhapsody offers 1.5 million different music tracks vs. a typical Walmart with only 55,000 Tracks. Companies such as Rhapsody receive 40% of all music sales because of this.
• The highest rated TV show in the 50′s was I love Lucy, however nowadays you cannot single out one show as "top rated" because people have been given so many choices of TV programming to watch.

I really enjoyed Chris Anderson’s keynote and look forward to reading his book, The Long Tail.

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• Ebay Purchases StumbleUpon for $75 million
• FeedBurner Sold! for $100 million to Google
• Google Buys Panoramio, Photo Mapping Software
• Fox Interactive Media (NWS) Acquires Photobucket and Flektor
• Google buys GreenBorder Technologies for more security in Google Apps
• Microsoft buys aQuantive Inc, for 6 billion US dollars
• CBS buys Last.fm
• AOL Buys Mobile Ad Network
• Microsoft Buys CareerBuilder; Google Interested In SimplyHired
• AOL Buys German Ad Server Adtech
• Yahoo Fully Acquires Right Media (April 30th)
• Facebook Partners with Oodle for Classifieds

Google and Microsoft seem to be positioning themselves strategically in order to keep up with each other in the war for Internet dominance. I expect to see this trend of acquisitions continuing strong into the summer.

Do leave a comment if I have missed any major partnerships or purchases.

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"AOL has incredible momentum in the online advertising space, and our acquisition of ADTECH builds on this by providing AOL with a next-generation ad-serving platform, letting us deepen our relationships with publishers in Europe and the U.S. and provide them a more complete set of solutions," said Randy Falco, Chairman and CEO of AOL.

Adtech works with publishers in 25 countries. In the fall of 2006, they launched their U.S. operations to manage its U.S. customer base. Based in the U.S., Advertising.com has operations in nine countries throughout Europe and Asia.

Adtech will operate as an independent and majority-controlled subsidiary of AOL’s Advertisng.com division.

"ADTECH is a perfect complement to Advertising.com’s display, video and affiliate advertising networks, letting us provide publishers with a comprehensive solution for ad management and monetization," said Lynda Clarizio, president of Advertising.com.

"Through this acquisition, publishers will be able to better manage their own advertiser campaigns via ADTECH, as well as better monetize their available inventory via Advertising.com’s diverse solutions and extensive advertiser base."

Adtech will remain in Frankfurt. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.