As we’ve written on our blogs before, new technologies are profoundly improving display advertising. In the last few years, there’s been a technological Big Bang, creating new ways to buy display ads across the web: exchanges involving real time bidding, demand side platforms, improved ad networks and more.

These technologies are enabling marketers to seize the digital moment and run far more effective campaigns, but just as the universe changed dramatically following the Big Bang, the digital buying marketplace has changed forever, requiring some new “laws.”

The three laws of display advertising physics

1. The Theory of Relativity: What’s better, a demand side platform, or an ad network? It depends

Our clients often ask us if they should use our DSP (Invite Media), or our network (the Google Display Network), especially as the distinction between the two platforms blurs. We often answer with an analogy from the world of stock investing (it’s not perfect, but it’s a first step). The first question is whether to buy and sell yourself, or engage someone else to manage your portfolio:

• The online broker model: For buyers looking to manage the details of their ad buying and use their own technology and data, a DSP like Invite Media is often the best option. This is similar to an online broker that lets you log in and closely manage your investments (and, as with Invite Media, get access to special trading features, market intelligence and expert advice).

• The stockbroker model: Some marketers have a desired campaign result (such as a target reach for a new car campaign, or a number of conversions for a sporting tickets campaign). They want to outsource the details and have a customized, transparent media solution designed for their campaign. The Google Display Network most often fits this bill—it’s like having a stock broker manage your portfolio to meet your investment goals.
  

Both platforms enable access to huge pools of ad space, deliver the same types of ad formats and facilitate similar ways of targeting ads. Again, it’s like buying stocks—whether you choose an online broker or stockbroker, you can select from thousands of types of stocks, markets and investment products.

2. Fusion Theory: Why contextual and audience buying release more energy when combined

Some have suggested that audience buying (delivering ads based on users’ interests) and contextual advertising (targeting ads to content) is an either/or proposition. However, we believe it’s the combination of the two that is most powerful.

• With effective contextual advertising, you can get the maximum reach while delivering your message in highly relevant locations—like news articles related to your products—in the precise moment a person indicates interest. Contextual advertising is vital to building brand awareness and reaching new prospects at relevant moments.

• Audience buying—such as remarketing—enables marketers to reach people who have already shown an interest in a particular topic or brand. This is especially effective for re-engaging consumers.

Marketers combining these types of buying can reach a broad range of people, then hone their messages to particularly good prospects to maximize the impact of their campaigns. We’ve seen that this approach drives better campaign performance; third party studies back it up.

3. The Law of Perpetual Motion: Why marketers should embrace a rapidly moving industry

Display advertising is in a state of constant motion, caused by the acceleration of online media consumption and the explosion in new technologies.

• Advances in computer science are driving changes in advertising. To illustrate: creativity has always been at the heart of good display advertising. But look at what’s become widely used by marketers in just the last few years—rich media technology, new mobile and video formats and dynamic creative technology that can take a creative ad concept and automatically bring it to life over millions of websites.

• The industry is literally moving faster as media buyers start to increase their use of real-time bidding (RTB) technology, which allows them to evaluate and bid on ad space on an impression-by-impression basis. We recently undertook an industry study with Digiday, surveying more than 300 digital media buyers, agencies and intermediaries about their thoughts on RTB in the year ahead. Some revealing findings:

• 88% of buyers plan to buy via RTB in 2011, up from 75% last year.
• 47% of media buyers say that the benefits or RTB will increase their overall digital advertising budget this year (16% said it would not, 37% were unsure).
• Spending on RTB is quickly moving out of the "test budget" range: 79% of buyers estimate that more than 10% of their digital display budgets will go to RTB in 2011. 33% estimate that 50% or more of their digital display budget will go to RTB. And 7% estimate 90-100% of their digital display budget will go to RTB.
• 29% of media intermediaries (such as DSPs, ad networks, and exchanges) anticipate their volume of real-time bidding will increase by 100% or more versus last year. 19% believe it will go up by at least 200%.
• More formats are moving to RTB: 34% of buyers say they are extremely or very likely to purchase rich media ads via RTB this year, 32% are extremely or very likely to purchase dynamic creative ads via RTB, 20% are extremely or very likely to purchase mobile display ads via RTB, 18% are extremely or very likely to purchase in-stream video via RTB and 14% are extremely or very likely to purchase mobile rich media via RTB.
• Nearly half (48%) of publishers surveyed say they plan to increase the amount of inventory they will make available via RTB. 28% are still deciding. Only 24% said they were not planning to increase RTB inventory.

We’re seeing this rapid growth and change first-hand. Since we acquired Invite Media in June 2010, the number of advertisers on the platform has doubled; agency spend has grown by almost 300%. And spending on display ads on the Google Display Network is growing more than 100% annually in a large number of countries. Publishers are benefiting from these changes as well (for example, a recent study found that publishers who participated in the DoubleClick Ad Exchange see an average 188% revenue lift when the exchange wins the auction).

In this new era, the most effective campaigns will be driven by marketers who rethink how they connect with people in this rapidly moving industry. Whether it means partnering with technology providers to buy better, or exploring the infinite possibilities of today’s creative units, embracing new media and technology provides a key way for marketers to differentiate and grow their businesses in a new universe.

The future

Unlike the Big Bang, the expansion in our industry is not chaotic or random. We’re moving towards a single platform that seamlessly incorporates the best technologies for planning, buying, serving, creating and measuring display ads; one that will enable marketers to effectively reach and engage people across desktops, tablets, videos, mobile devices and TVs.

Posted by Neal Mohan, Vice President of Product Management

Editor’s Note: Brian Shin is the CEO and founder of Visible Measures, a firm that measures and reports on the universe of online video performance for advertisers and publishers and publishes the weekly Viral Video Chart with Advertising Age.

Visible Measures is working with YouTube this year to understand the social video performance of Super Bowl ads across 200+ video sites, including YouTube. What is social video? Social video means that people are not just watching but engaging with video by sharing, copying or re-posting, commenting or rating, and much more. And that activity can lead to what we call “earned media” for an advertiser - essentially additional video views driven by word-of-mouth.

In just 10 days, ads aired during this year’s Super Bowl generated 230M views -- more than all previous Super Bowl ad views combined. We project that 2011 views will eclipse the total combined view counts for the Super Bowl ads from 2009 (99 million views) and 2010 (150 million views).

As you might imagine, the data for the entire flight of the 2011 Super Bowl ads continues to grow and evolve. But we can provide an early snapshot of the overall ad performance and trends to see who came out on top.

Read initial results at our blog where we look at:

• What drives video views and what best practices can an advertiser adopt?
• What does it take to earn a Top 10 spot and how has that changed over the years?
• Which is growing faster: online or broadcast viewership?
• Who came out on top: auto or CPG?

We’ll continue to watch the online battle and report back in a few weeks. In our experience, 50% of earned media typically occurs after the first week of the campaign -- now, essentially -- and of course, video views aren’t the whole story. We’ll have a sense of which videos have been more engaging over time and which ones rate more positive in sentiment analysis. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, to see more in-depth results and understand what other dynamics we continue to monitor, please visit our blog.

Posted by Serena Satyasai, Marketing Manager, YouTube

Sunday, February 7, was a big day for the Packers and the Steelers and also for those of us in advertising. If you’re like me and the 111 million folks who watched live , you gathered friends and family around the TV to watch the game - and to also debate the merits of the various ads. Ad Blitz continues that conversation online - where the ads have garnered more than 93M views as of this past Saturday - and vote for your favorite ad that aired during the Super Bowl.

After tabulating the votes, this year’s winner was Chrysler’s “Imported From Detroit” created by Wieden + Kennedy. UM masterminded the media and distribution strategy. As the winner of Ad Blitz, Chrysler was featured on the YouTube Home Page Masthead this past Saturday.



It was a great year for Ad Blitz. Traffic to our contest represented nearly 1 in every 20 video views -- or 4.5% of all US YouTube traffic -- on the day after the game. We surpassed the total number of video views from last year in the first 30 hours alone. And even more impressive, 3.5 million - or 7% - of those views happened on mobile devices.

Congratulations to Chrysler and to Universal McCann for winning the contest! We received this note from Susan Thomson, Director, Media, Chrysler Group LLC: “We are thrilled that the YouTube community selected the Chrysler brand’s Super Bowl advertising spot, ‘Born of Fire’ as the best. The objective of this ad was designed to generate conversation about the brand and the new 2011 Chrysler 200. We appreciate the overwhelming support we have received and we’re grateful that our ‘Imported from Detroit’ message has resonated so deeply with the audience.”

Posted by Suzie Reider, Director, YouTube and Google Display Network

Last week we brought together top marketing executives, industry visionaries and agency leaders to discuss all things mobile at Google’s Think Mobile event.

Speaking to a room full of excited marketers, Google’s Dennis Woodside, President Americas, Mary Meeker, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, and Jason Spero, Head of Americas Mobile Advertising gave their thoughts on the future of mobile and what advertisers can do to better connect with today’s mobilized consumers.

In order to share these innovative perspectives with as many people as possible, the event was live streamed to desktop and Android and iPhone mobile devices. If you missed the live stream, you can watch the recorded session on the Google Mobile Ads YouTube channel. Additionally, be sure to visit our Think Mobile Live Stream page where you can view presentations and videos from the event.

Originally posted to the Google Mobile Ads Blog

Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Google Mobile Ads Marketing Team

We'd like to remind you about an upcoming webinar on how to drive results with contextual targeting. The event is on Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 11:00am PST / 1:00pm CST / 2:00pm EST.

In this webinar, learn more about how contextual targeting can drive results for your clients - e.g.:

• Contextual targeting strategies for specific marketing objectives
• The Contextual Targeting Tool, build and optimize better-performing campaigns in minutes
• Tips for boosting performance of contextually-targeted campaigns

For more details on the content being covered, visit last month's blog post. To register for the webinar, click here.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

We recently announced an advanced opt-in 2-step verification process to help make your Google Accounts significantly more secure. 2-step verification adds an extra layer of security to your Google Account by requiring unique “verification codes” in addition to your username and password at sign-in. This means that if your password is stolen, you still have an extra line of defense against a potential hijacker.

If you opt to use 2-step verification, when you log into your Google AdWords account, you’ll enter a code obtained through your phone in addition to your usual password when you sign in.

If your Google Account is associated with other Google products, such as the AdWords API or AdWords Editor, you may need to enter an application-specific password instead of your regular account password when you sign in to these specific services. This is because certain applications aren’t designed to prompt for a code in addition to a password.

To create an application-specific password, click on "Authorizing applications & sites" on your Account Settings page.

Under the application-specific passwords section, provide a name for the application you wish to generate a password for, for example “AdWords Editor - Desktop”.

Here’s what the generated password looks like:

To learn more about application-specific passwords, visit the Google Accounts Help Center and AdWords Editor Help Center. Please visit the Official Google Blog for the complete announcement.

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team

Remarketing on the Google Display Network: Optimizing & Maximizing your Current Strategies
Tuesday, February 15th at 11amPST / 1pmCST / 2pmEST
The Google Remarketing Team invites you to our next optimization webinar: Optimizing & Maximizing your Current Strategies. Building on the strategies discussed during our Remarketing Optimization and Advanced Strategies webinar, this session will expand into 'maximization'--how to ensure you're reaching as many people as possible and taking full advantage of your web traffic.

Features of the webinar will include:

• Maximization: Ensure you're reaching all of the users on your lists.
• Optimization: Learn how to ensure you are getting the most effective ROI from your campaigns.
• Case Studies/List Strategies: Hear how others in your industry are achieving great results from remarketing.

Click here to register. As a refresher or if you missed the Advanced Strategies webinar, you can view it here.

Connecting with US Hispanics Online
Wednesday, February 16th at 10am PST / 12pmCST / 1pmEST
Google is pleased to present "Connecting with US Hispanics Online," which will explore how marketers can reach US Hispanics online in culturally relevant ways. You'll gain insights to help you plan search, social, video and mobile marketing programs to directly connect with this vibrant demographic. The webinar will include:

• Highlights from Google's new primary research report: The 4 Truths about US Hispanics & Digital
• Specific strategies you can implement immediate to target the US Hispanic audience online

Click here to register.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

Our friends over at the Small Business Blog asked the AdWords Team Managers to provide tips and tricks for online advertising within particular industries. Over the next few weeks, they’ll feature these guest posts, beginning with advertising within the Financial Services industry. Payton Dobbs, the Financial Services Team Manager, shared his thoughts on the importance of industry expertise, brand management, online customer engagement and consumer-driven strategies for the Financial Services Industry.

Visit the Small Business Blog to read more.

Posted by Agency Ad Solutions Blog Team

The rise of the mobile web is driving one of the most dramatic consumer behavior transformations in history. Billions of people are using their smartphones to search for information, consume news, watch video, interact through social networks and engage with advertising every day. So, what does this mean for mobile marketing?

Tune in and find out what Mary Meeker, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, Google’s Dennis Woodside, SVP of Americas Operations, and Jason Spero, Head of Americas Mobile Advertising have to say about the future of mobile and what marketers can do to better connect with the mobilized, modern consumer.

The live stream will start on February 10, 2011 at 1:05pm EST and you’ll be able to watch from your desktop computer or from your mobile device. Please register for this virtual event by visiting the Think Mobile Live Stream page.

Following us on Twitter? Use the #thinkmobile hashtag as you are watching the event.

Posted by Suzanne Mumford, Product Marketing Manger

Earlier in December, YouTube announced that it is teaming up with TED’s Ads Worth Spreading challenge, which will reward advertisers for innovation, intelligence, authenticity, humor, and craft. With less than one week to deadline, TED is making a final call for submissions to the Ads Worth Spreading challenge -- an initiative to find, recognize and reward campaigns that people want to watch and to share.

Whether you’re a well-heeled creative professional or an indie media whiz, if you’ve created a piece every bit as compelling as your favorite TED talk, submit your entry here by Monday, February 7. If you’ve recently seen work that inspires you, nudge its creators to do the same.

TED is looking for a range of submissions. Yours might be:

• a beautifully produced, :60 cinematic TV spot for a top brand
• a long-form 3-minute video too long for network but perfect for online
• a spec spot that has a hugely compelling idea or new use of technology
• an online video of your CEO giving a short, TED-like talk about your company's idea to change the world
• a PSA that makes you cry and click Share

The 10 best campaigns will be announced on the main stage at TED2011 in Long Beach, get incredible exposure on YouTube's home page and spend a week on TED.com as post-roll. One member of each winning team will spend a day at TED2011 in Long Beach and attend an exclusive celebration in March in New York, thrown through the generous support of YouTube. For more information, visit Ads Worth Spreading on TED.com.

Posted by Mark Sabec, YouTube Product Marketing Manager, recently watched Life In A Day at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival

It’s no secret that today’s consumer is online more than ever before! In 2010, we conducted over 60 research studies with the help of partners such as Compete & OTX to better understand how consumers are utilizing the web--and to help you reach them! From all of this research, we learned some pretty cool facts. For example, did you know Google provides the most dating site search referrals1? Or that 25% of new vehicle buyers utilize the mobile web during their research process2? Neither did we. Watch this video to see some of the coolest (in our minds!) insights gleaned in 2010!



Sources: ¹Google & Compete Personals Study 2010. ²Google & Compete Automotive Buy Flow Study 2010.

Posted by Lauren Dale, Marketing Manager, Large Advertisers

Accountability is a core principle of AdWords. In order to improve advertisers' experience, we’re making changes to AdWords policies so that advertisers working with third-party partners understand how AdWords is performing for them and know what to expect from third parties. We believe that focusing on what's best for the advertiser is ultimately the best long-term course for third parties working with AdWords.

In July and December 2010, we communicated a number of changes to the way third parties should provide reports and information about AdWords to their clients, including a disclosure document that should be shared by all third parties that have 80 percent of their advertisers spending less than $1,000 per month.

Today we want to inform you that we’ve updated AdWords policies with a third-party policy section that includes above reporting and disclosure requirements. We’ve also clarified enforcement and non-compliance handling, as well as let advertisers know how to contact us if they have any complaints about third parties. See an overview of Google third-party programs.

We believe that most agencies, resellers and other third parties that sell AdWords already meet these policies and will need to make minimal or no changes to their systems. Proactive audits for selected third parties will start on April 1st 2011, although you are strongly encouraged to start complying with these requirements today. Note that we will continue to investigate any complaints and take appropriate actions.

For advertisers, we have updated the AdWords Help Center to provide information and links to applicable third party policies. Should you encounter a third party partner in violation of our policies, you can notify us via the AdWords Help Center “Contact Us” form here.

We hope this provides third parties and advertisers with clarity on the policies AdWords third party partners must adhere to, and offers sufficient information on Google third party requirements. We believe that these new requirements will ensure that every advertiser that works with a third party partner understands their value and has a great experience.

Posted by Katie Wasilenko, Agency Team