Throughout Q3, our philanthropic division, CPXample^TM, is shining the spotlight on brands who are giving back. This initiative is two part, and exemplifies our belief in the old adage that “with power, comes responsibility.”

The first part of the initiative is a series of articles on our philanthropic website, CPXample.org. We are featuring many well-known companies who are leveraging their success and brand recognition to do good. Some work through their own foundations, while others partner with non-profits.  Causes run the gamut from education, to the environment, to cancer care. A number of companies not only do their own work in the community, but also help others give back. Thus far, we have featured Ford, Taco Bell, Domino’s, Starbucks, and Procter & Gamble, with many more to come.

The second part of the initiative is an online campaign of interactive survey-style ads that will begin running soon, and go through Q3. The ads ask users whether a high profile brand’s commitment to specific philanthropic initiatives affects their own impression of the brand, and to what extent these efforts make them more likely to engage such a brand. These ads will run across our network, and we plan on sharing the results of the surveys with brands and their agencies.

Visit CPXample.org to read more about what brands are doing to give back to the community.

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It’s a busy week for the online advertising industry, and CPX Interactive is taking part in events in Florida and Washington, D.C.

COO & President, Rob Rasko, and EVP of Sales, Gary Bembridge, are attending the iMedia Brand Summit in Miami.  At this Summit, iMedia is asking digital marketers and their brand manager colleagues to pair up and learn together. They have been discussing core business challenges with peers-and publisher and service provider partners, and yesterday, enjoyed a keynote from Mark Snyder, CMO of the Kmart Corporation. CPX is sponsoring today’s lunch, from 12:30-1:45.

While Gary and Rob are in Florida, CPX CEO Mike Seiman, and VP of Publisher Development, Mike Zacharski, are in Washington D.C., lobbying Congress on behalf of small website publishers. They are participating in the IAB Long Tail Alliance Fly-In, a unique opportunity for small publishers from across America to tell their story to Congress. CPX is a major supporter of the Long Tail Alliance, and is proud to be a part of this event.

Last month, a group of CPX executives traveled to Ecuador for a very special event: the opening of the B.U.D.S. Community Center in Guayaquil. The building of the center was a project first invested in by co-founders Mike Seiman and Carlton Hickman, and its name comes from the acronym they gave their initial business venture, B.U.D.S. Inc.  It stands for “Brothas Unda Da Skin,” and it represents Carlton and Mike’s close personal bond, despite different ethnic backgrounds.  At the time the center project became a reality, several other members of the CPX Executive Team became sponsors as well. They are COO & President, Rob Rasko, VP of Publisher Development, Mike Zacharski, VP of Sales-CPA Division, Jeff Reitzen, VP of Network Operations, David Zapletal, and Emily Seiman, VP of Creative Development.

Mike and Emily Seiman’s connection to Children International extends back 12 years ago. It was then that they began sponsoring children, and they have since sponsored more each year. It was on a trip to visit Yosue, one of their sponsored children, a few years ago, that Mike first learned about the need for a better community center in Guayaquil.

“They took me to the community center, and I could tell it was in need of much improvement. The center served nearly 6,000 children, and was not properly equipped to give them everything they needed. I  saw a real need for refurbishment and expansion, and I have really enjoyed helping Children International build a place that can truly serve the community in Guayaquil,” Mike said.

Watch below as Mike and Carlton talk about working with Children International at the center’s opening ceremony:

CPX Interactive Director of Sales, Chris Paine, talks about the benefits of CPX’s new ad management platform, adROIt^TM, at the iMedia Agency Summit in Austin, TX.

Thoughts from our CEO, Mike Seiman:

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the DC Summit Series, an amazing gathering of some of the youngest and brightest entrepreneurs to ever grace this world.  While there, I had the pleasure of hearing a futurist named Ray Kurzweil speak about the evolution of technology and where it will go in the future.  He explained the phenomenon of how technology generally starts off linear, and moves into an exponential phase, where it grows at a rate faster than people can generally keep up with.  I thought about this concept long and hard, and decided that it could be related to advertising in general. So, I did a little research and here is what I’ve come up with (this is in no way a complete history of advertising, just a few key points to explain my rationale):

1704 – First Newspaper Advertisement Placed

1742 – First Magazine Ads

1843 – First Advertising Agency

1882 – Proctor and Gamble Start Advertising

1917 – First Agency Trade Association Developed

1929 – $12 Million Spent Advertising Lucky Strikes

1939 – TV’s First Baseball Game Aired

1954 – CBS Becomes Largest Advertising Medium in World

1976 – The Supreme Court grants advertising First Amendment protection.

1980 – Ted Turner creates CNN

1986 – Needham Harper Worldwide, BBDO International, and Doyle Dane Bernbach merge to create Omnicom Group, the largest advertising company in the world

1988 – WPP acquires the Ogilvy Group for $864 million, the highest price paid for an agency

1993 – The Internet becomes a reality as 5 million users worldwide get online

1997 – WPP combines the media operations of JWT and O&M to form The Alliance, the largest U.S. media buyer with more than $2 billion

1999 – Internet advertising breaks the $2 billion mark and heads toward $3 billion as the industry, under prodding from Procter & Gamble, moves to standardize all facets of the industry

Okay, so now you can start to see how advertising and mediums for advertising started in a linear fashion.  I haven’t added anything from 2000 on, because that’s when it just starts to get crazy, and the exponential growth goes wild.  Think about how long it took for advertising and agencies to start moving when magazines or TV first started accepting advertising, and look at how short a period it took for online advertising to explode after the Internet was embraced by millions.

Now, the choices are endless, between TV, Print, Online, and Mobile, then it breaks down to Video, Display, Search, Wap, Mobile Apps, In Game, Virtual Currencies, and on and on it goes.  Mix that in with all the choices today for managing your ads, ad servers, crms, optimization, transparency tools, online exchanges, supply side and demand side platforms, ad networks, and who knows what’s next to come.  I guess the overarching point of all this, is that the landscape of advertising is in such a rapid state of change that agencies and advertisers can no longer expect to be able to do it all, they need to start relying on companies that understand the ever-changing landscape to help get their clients’ messages out to the world.

So, I propose the new ad network is one company that can do just that, and at CPX we plan to make sure we understand every inch of the landscape, to provide our clients with the most sophisticated capabilities on the market every second. I could sit here and write a book about this concept and really dig into every last date to show the real exponential growth, but I have way too much work to do, and writing books is not my forte… but, who knows, maybe one day I will.

CPX is a sponsor of IAB Europe’s Interact Congress Barcelona 2010, which takes place June 2^nd-3^rd at Casa Llotja de Mar. Rob Rasko, COO & President of CPX Interactive, will take part in a panel on the second day of the event. The panel will discuss Direct Response vs Online Branding, and will be moderated by Randall Rothenberg, CEO of IAB US. It takes place at 2:00 pm on Thursday the 3rd.

The overarching theme of this year’s Interact Congress is Branding Online: The Time is Now. Panels and keynote addresses will cover topics including opportunities and challenges, creativity and engagement, use of social media, and the role of online in overall strategy. The event concludes with the Mixx Europe Award ceremony, recognizing the best branding campaigns across Europe, as well as the most awarded brand, agency and advertiser.

CPX is proud to sponsor lunch at the iMedia Agency Summit on Tuesday, May 18, in Austin, TX. The Summit takes place from the 16-19, and focuses the agency’s role in the integrated media landscape, with a keynote by Lisa Donohue, CEO Starcom USA. Since 2001, iMedia Agency Summits have been a place for agency executives to gather and network in a collaborative learning environment. This year’s Summit is located at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, and is already sold out. Visit the iMedia website for more information.

CPX Interactive would like to invite to you to join the IAB and other online entrepreneurs like yourself in representing small publishers from across the country at the 2010 Long Tail Alliance Washington Fly-In, June 14-15. This event is a great opportunity for long tail tail publishers. During the two-day meeting you will:

• Meet with members of the U.S. Congress and their staffs to tell the story of your small business.
• Learn strategies and best practices for growing your business through workshops designed specifically for the small publisher.
• Be guests of honor at a special networking reception and dinner at the Google offices in Washington, D.C.
• Share your personal experiences on how interactive advertising has impacted your life and sustained your business.

More information plus photos and highlights from last year’s Fly-In can be found at www.iab.net/flyin.

There is no charge to attend the Fly-In. However, you must pay for your own travel and lodging. As a thank-you from the IAB, those who come to Washington will receive a complimentary one-year Long Tail Alliance Membership or a one-year extension to their existing membership.

If you would like to be part of this special event, visit www.iab.net/flyin to register and book your hotel. The IAB has reserved a block of discounted rooms specifically for Fly-In attendees. Or if you want more information, please contact Chris Glushko of the IAB at chris@iab.net or 212-380-4722.

When choosing a back end NoSQL database management solution partner to supply the database structure for its new proprietary ad management platform, CPX adROIt™, CPX Interactive was quick to select Objectivity.  With the platform well into testing, and a wider launch in the offing, Objectivity asked CPX CTO, Carlton Hickman, and EVP of Technology, Sid Fein, to discuss the selection of Objectivity as a key back end partner.

Check out what they had to say HERE. (Warning: It gets pretty techie!)

CPX Interactive will be sponsoring breakfast at the SFIMA Summit, which takes place at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on May 14. The summit will cover in-depth tactics and strategies from top keynote speakers, case study workshops, panel discussions, and presentations on driving ROI with search and social media. CPX Director of Sales, Chris Paine, will be attending the event.

For more information, visit the SFIMA Summit website.