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.

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Next week, from February 7-10, iMedia Brand Summit will be taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The theme is “Branding 2010: New Rules or No Rules?” and sessions will focus on topics that include social media, mobile advertising, brand safety online, and strategic targeting. CPX Interactive is sponsoring Tuesday’s lunch from 12:00-1:15 pm. Our EVP of Sales, Gary Bembridge, and our VP of Sales-East Coast, Stephen Shearin, will be attending the Summit, so be sure to say hello.

By Samantha Karol, Senior Marketing Assistant

Yesterday morning, a group of media industry stalwarts came together at Media Magazine’s The Future of Media Forum at the Times Center in Manhattan. The panel included:

Mark Cuban, Chairman & Co-Founder, HDnet and Dallas Mavericks
Vivian Schiller, President & CEO, NPR
Bob Garfield, Columnist, Advertising Age
Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired Magazine
Milton Glaser, Milton Glaser, Inc.
Reid Hoffman, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, LinkedIn
Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO, MTV Networks
Rob Norman, CEO, GroupM Interaction Worldwide
Martha Stewart, Founder, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Susan Whiting, Vice Chair, the Nielsen Company

The forum draws on the content of a special edition of Media Magazine that asks the question: What is the future of media? CPX Interactive was proud to sponsor both the forum and the special issue of the magazine for the second year in a row.

Anderson, who served as moderator, started the discussion off by asking, “What does ‘media’ mean?” He explained his belief that terms like ‘media’ limit plans for the future and the ability to construct a business model.  The panelists answered questions from Anderson, and later the audience, on the changes they’ve seen in the media industry and what the future may bring.

Cuban talked about the importance of packaging different types of content together and monetizing that content across all platforms.  Stewart explained how she has put that theory into practice, turning “dreamers into doers” through merchandising. “When people read a story about a bedroom in our magazine, they can then go and find a beautiful product to enable them to create a beautiful bedroom in their home,” she said. “The consumer is all important, it’s very important to us to be relevant to everyone, every age, every place.”

Keeping up with the rapid changes that technology brings can be difficult.  “What’s premium today will be ubiquitous tomorrow,” Cuban said, and advised making the most of what you already have, referring to Tru2Way technology, which makes television more interactive, as an example.

The panelists also discussed the lack of separation between content and advertising in the online space, and the emphasis on relevance.  Instead of placing an ad as far away from related content as possible, they are often placed on the same screen. This practice is based on the theory that if someone is reading about something, they’re more likely to want to take action about it.  For McGrath, this change has had less of an impact because, as she explained,  there was never that kind of separation in the entertainment industry.

Although he understands the importance of finding the right medium to transmit information, Glaser expressed that there should be more of a focus on the consequences of transmitting information. He warned that when targeting consumers, it’s important to consider whether they will benefit from the content they are receiving. Schiller agreed, saying that it’s more important to her company that you’re listening to the radio, than the way you do so, be it on your iPod or your computer.

As an online ad network, CPX is very interested in and excited to see what the future brings. Mike Fleischman, EVP of Business Development for CPX Interactive, attended the event, and had this to say about the future of media: “Publishers have a great opportunity to distribute their content digitally across a broader base in a shorter period of time. Companies like CPX who have effective targeting and technological capabilities will capitalize on the moving of content and advertising over to the Internet. ”

For more on the forum, visit the official website.

According to this survey, conducted in April of this year, only 17.6% of respondents do not have an active social media presence and don’t want one.  However, the majority of companies continue to develop their presence on social media sites, recognizing the opportunity to reach clients and customers through these channels.

A recent study by Burson-Marsteller found that 21% of Fortune 100 companies are active on Twitter, Facebook, or have a corporate blog, while 22% are active on two of those channels, and 17% are active on all three. Twitter is the most popular channel among these companies. (View the rest of their findings here.)

As for companies who do not currently have a social media presence, many are making it a priority for the future. The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) found that social media was the most popular response from US marketing executives when asked which channel they would like to employ to develop their brand.

For more on using social media for your company, and to see what we do here at CPX, check out these Social Media Marketing Tips & Tricks.

Get to know Jessica Prince, Director of Product Development, as she answers questions from Marketing Assistant, Samantha Karol.

1. Who are you, and what do you do at CPX Interactive?

My name is Jessica Prince and I am the Director of Product Development at CPX Interactive. Basically what that means is that I’m responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Product Development division, including designing and implementing new products, analyzing the profitability and monetization models of existing products…and listening to Christian’s Super Mario Brothers ringtone go off EVERY time he gets up from his desk. (Christian Tiller is also part of the Product Development team).

2. You head up the Product Development Division. Is this new to CPX? Why did the company start this division?

The Product Development division isn’t exactly new. It’s been around for about two years, just under a different name (CPX Mobile). CPX started this division as a way to use our network’s traffic to create additional revenue streams outside of our traditional business model. The initial focus of the division was to create Premium SMS (text message) subscriptions on our own short codes, and get subscribers to sign up via landing pages. Over the past two years, we’ve implemented over 35 mobile campaigns in nine different countries. However, as a result of some dramatic changes in the mobile industry over the past six months, we’ve shifted the focus of the division from mobile to more Web-related products, including toolbars, online quizzes, and social networking games and applications. Hence, the new name of the division.

3. What did you do at CPX before you got involved with Product Development?

Before Product Development, I worked with the Accounting department as Operations Administrator for a little over a year. As Operations Administrator, I oversaw various internal operations, including recording daily revenue, tracking statistical discrepancies, processing new client credit applications, monitoring credit limits, reconciling accounts, etc.  During this time, I learned about ad networks from the inside out, and I really started to understand the business models of some of the advertisers and publishers we worked with. Eventually, I started keeping track of some mobile campaigns that Mike and Carlton had started, and things sort of naturally evolved from there.

4. Can you tell me more about the products that you’ve been working on?

Over the past two years, we’ve implemented over 35 Premium SMS services in nine different countries. Our most popular and successful mobile campaigns were Zoltar, Love Connection, and Quick IQ Quiz. We’ve also developed two toolbars, an online quiz site, an eBay affiliate site, and three Facebook games in the past six months.

5. What is one thing you’re really looking forward to working on in the future?

I’m super excited about the project we’re currently working on. We’re in the midst of designing a killer application for a major social network. I can’t get into details, but I can say that if we end up developing it the way we’ve envisioned, it will be like nothing you’ve ever seen before on a social network!

By Samantha Karol
Marketing Assistant, CPX Interactive

If you read last Tuesday’s post, you know that over the course of the past week, we have been posting charts and statistics from eMarketer about Internet use in the leading 16 digital countries. In case you didn’t have the chance to peruse all of the charts on Blogger, or felt too overwhelmed with all of the data, here are a few interesting things that I learned from these charts:

• Many of the most populous nations on the list have the lowest percentages of Internet use. For example: China, the country with the highest population of the 16, has the third lowest percentage of Internet use. India, the second largest country, has the lowest percentage.

• South Korea has the highest percentage of Internet users at 74.4%, followed closely by Japan at 72.6%

• The European nations make up the middle of the percentage pack, ranging from Italy at 45.4% to the United Kingdom at 64.5%.

• According to the eMarketer projections:
  • India, the country with the lowest percentage of Internet users, will have the greatest percentage increase by 2013, with the number of users almost doubling.
  • South Korea and Japan, the percentage leaders at this time, seemed to have reached a plateau, and will experience limited growth in Internet use over that span.

By Samantha Karol
Marketing Assistant, CPX Interactive

The number of online social networking sites has increased drastically in recent years, along with their popularity. Now,  other sites are jumping on the social networking bandwagon in an effort to expand their user bases. According to The Wall Street Journal and USA Today, the most recent example of this is Hulu, the online video channel that lets users share their favorite movies and TV shows with friends and family. To mark their one year anniversary, which occurs today, Hulu will be adding social networking functions to its site. Users can still share their favorites on other networking sites like Facebook and Myspace, but they will also be able to connect with people on Hulu itself.

Hulu’s content goes beyond TV shows and movies to instructional videos on channels like food & leisure or home & garden. According to the Hulu Blog, the company has achieved great success in its first year: they have approximately 24 million monthly users (comScore VideoMetrix, January 2009), their video library has grown from 12,000 to 40,000, and there has been an increase in streams from the site from 63 million in May 2008, to 308 million in February 2009 (Nielsen VideoCensus).

It’s not quite clear exactly what the new features will be, but Hulu hopes that allowing users to connect with one another and share their videos will bring greater success to the site. If it works, other sites will surely follow in their footsteps.

China, Canada, or Australia…which country has the highest percentage of Internet users?

Find out the answer to this question and more by keeping up with CPX Interactive’s series on global Internet use on Blogger. Each day, we will be providing new charts and statistics, courtesy of e-Marketer, until we have covered all 16 leading digital countries.

Think the U.S. has the most Internet users? You’ll have to click below to find out.

The first and second installments are already up. Keep checking back for more each day!