The Online Publishers Association, a non-profit organization of brand name media companies, dropped a note in our inbox about their look at where marketers place their ads. Content is king, they suggested.

Even though certain brands may be perceived as having some kind of golden touch by virtue of their names, OPA said content sites outperform portals in a couple of ways.

A content site, like a media presence, helps raise “brand favorability” and “purchase intent” for people who view ads on them. Portals aren’t viewed as having the same depth, which detracts from the marketing message.

The group proceeded so far as to say sponsorships on sites with branded content are 36 percent more effective than a portal presence. Of particular interest for advertisers: the coveted 18-34 bracket as well as affluent audiences show they respond more to ads dropped on content sites.

We expect that little morsel will benefit astute advertisers, especially with the approaching holiday shopping season later in 2008.

Google’s move to open trademarks to competitive bidding in the UK and Ireland should yield a nice boost to the search ad company’s revenue stream. Prior to the decision, trademark holders could appeal to Google about ads driven by their brand names to have them removed.

“Good news for naughty affiliates. Nightmare for real brands,” UK-based PPC Blog said.

“They cannot, in most cases, display the trademarked term in the advertisement. But the term can be use to trigger the display of the ad in Google.co.uk,” Search Engine Roundtable noted.

The change has nothing to do with the fortunes of competitors or affiliates. By permitting the purcahse of competitor keywords, Google opened up AdWords to more aggressive bidding. Brand names horrified by the prospect of a competitor placing highly in paid search for their trademark may believe they have no choice but to bid for their own brands.

Meanwhile, Google sits back and collects the profits. This should help international revenues nicely for the company.