Get Your Expanding Ad on the Google Content Network with DoubleClick

Yesterday, the AdWords team announced the launch of their beta test for expandable rich media ads on the Google content network (GCN). The beta test is open to U.S. advertisers and agencies participating in Google's third-party ad serving program, of which DoubleClick is a certified vendor.

DoubleClick Rich Media has received an additional level of certification from Google for the expandable format. This extra level of certification is necessary because expanding ads on GCN need to intelligently expand in the correct direction depending on the placement of the ad slot on the page. For example, if the ad is displayed in a skyscraper on the right side of the page, the ad needs to "know" in real time to expand to the left.

Due to this special consideration during ad creation, DoubleClick clients that wish to run expandable ads on the GCN should be sure to loop their account manager and campaign manager in as early as possible. We look forward to helping you take advantage of this exciting new feature to make your campaigns more effective.

Posted by Sally Cole

Three Ways to Accelerate Your Social Media Efforts

Think you have social media checked off on your marketing plan because you have a blog, podcast, vodcast and active forum? Think again. Now that you've hit your stride with social media, it's time to accelerate the conversation by drawing in new participants. We'd like to share three ways to use rich media ads to do this:

Plug Your Blog: Embed your blog feed into an ad unit. Include a call-to-action in the unit to subscribe to your RSS feed.

Add Media to the Ad: Advertise new podcasts or vodcasts as they become available. Include part or all of the podcast in the ad unit. Promote links to subscribe to your feeds in addition to offering individual download links.

Bring it All Together: Package all your social media channels -- blogs, podcasts, vodcasts, comments feeds -- into one comprehensive widget. Allow people to share it on their blog or social network of choice. Seed the widget by running it as a shareable ad on relevant paid media.

Posted by Sally Cole

See the Big Creative for Las Vegas

DoubleClick data shows a strong correlation between larger creative sizes and results, such as higher interaction rates and click-through rates. So, this large format unit by Las Vegas Convention & Visitor's Authority and R&R Partners is sure to please. You can view the impressive 976x250 creative in our gallery here, or by clicking the screenshot below.

This ad puts a Vegas vacation top of mind through a video contest for the YouTube community. The contest invites viewers to create a video about why they need a Vegas vacation. Viewers of the ad are directed to the contest homepage on YouTube or the landing page at VisitLasVegas.com.

Posted by Sally Cole

Sharing Your Voice on the Economy

Before the election, we hosted an informal web poll that asked our visitors the following question, "Which issue do you think the next U.S. president should make a primary focus during his or her first 100 days in office?" Visitors resoundingly voted for the issue of economy/recession. Here's how the 1760 responses broke out:

• Economy/Recession 62.27%
• Foreign Policy 11.59%
• Environment 8.01%
• Healthcare 7.50%
• National Security 5.85%
• Immigration 4.77%

If you're ready to get even more participatory, head over to The Davos Debates on YouTube where The World Economic Forum invites you to send in your solutions and suggestions for the key issues facing us today. The focus issues include the state of the economy, the environment, US politics and business ethics. The four questions up for public discussion through the YouTube platform are:

• Are you confident that global growth will be restored in 2009?
• Will the environment lose out to the economy in 2009?
• Will the Obama administration improve the state of the world in 2009?
• Should company executives have a code of ethics similar to doctors and lawyers?

The person who submits the best video will be invited, all expenses paid, to attend The World Economic Forum's upcoming Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters and interact with world leaders in person.

To learn more, watch the video about joining The Davos Debates:

Visit youtube.com/davos to join in.

Posted by Sally Cole

DoubleClick Honored with Three ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards

Every year since 2003, the ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards has recognized "the technologies, companies, and campaigns that made a positive difference in the online marketing industry." To win, a product or solution must be selected by a judging committee of industry practitioners, which includes contributors to ClickZ and Search Engine Watch. This year, DoubleClick was recognized as a winner in three categories: Ad Management, Mobile Marketing Tool, and Video Ad Format or Platform. We are very honored to receive these awards and would like to share the judges' thoughtful comments with you for each award.

On DART for Advertisers' win in the Ad Management category, Tessa Wegert, Interactive Media Strategist with Enlighten and ClickZ Media Buying columnist commented, "DFA remains the industry gold standard for ad serving and ad management. This is the technology that's behind the majority of the more notable and impressive campaigns we see and a sure bet for any advertiser on the fence about which company can offer the most seamless, streamlined campaign solutions."

On DoubleClick Mobile's win in the Mobile Marketing Tool category, Courtney Jane Acuff, VP and Director with Denuo and ClickZ Mobile Marketing columnist commented, "It is critically important for mobile advertising (buyable off-the-shelf solutions) to have a standard serving and reporting platform. The DoubleClick Mobile product enables digital buyers and planners to have consistency in reporting and publishers the ability to sell through integrated mobile packages."

On DoubleClick Rich Media's HD Video format win in the Video Ad Format or Platform category, Christine Beardsell, VP Creative Director with Digitas's Third Act and ClickZ Online Video Advertising columnist commented, "You want the creative and content you develop for your brands to look great. But, unfortunately, video placements in general have suffered from low-bandwidth specifications and site-publisher limitations. So any media partner that can make your content look its best, and that won't degrade your original vision, is a partner worth having. The new DoubleClick HD looks great. And if your content already has a compelling idea and creative execution behind it, HD quality is really the icing on top!"

Thank you Tessa Wegert, Courtney Jane Acuff and Christine Beardsell for your support and to all the other ClickZ judges.

Posted by Sally Cole

Congrats to the Best in Digital Movie Advertising

Last week, DoubleClick hosted the third annual Digital Movie Advertising Creative Showcase awards event. This event honors the best rich media creative work in digital movie advertising. This year five finalists were recognized for their work in three categories: best home entertainment rich media ads, best theatrical rich media ads and best multi-channel digital campaign.

In the home entertainment category, congratulations go out to:

• AvatarLabs and Warner Bros./New Line for Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay

In the theatrical release category, congratulations go out to:

• AvatarLabs and Sony Pictures for Pineapple Express
• Backward Heroes and New Line Cinema for Journey to the Center of the Earth

In the multi-channel digital campaign category, congratulations go out to:

• Backward Heroes and New Line Cinema for The Golden Compass
• Palisades Interactive and MGM for COLLEGE

We would like to give an extra congratulations to Palisades Interactive and MGM for the Best in Show award for their work on the multi-channel digital campaign for COLLEGE. This campaign used rich media expanding ads, a widget ad, Flash banners and a large social media presence to position COLLEGE as a hilarious, must-see movie.

To make it possible for you to learn more about these winning campaigns, we've made the show guide available for download here.

Posted by Sally Cole

ClickZ's "Rich Media Research Roundup"

Today, Tessa Wegert contributed an article to The ClickZ Network that perfectly sums up our new "Creative Insights on Rich Media" report. Check out her article here, then download the report.

Among the report's main takeaways:

• Consider using video within rich media units when performance goals include click-through rate, expansion rate or expanding time
• More specifically, consider using in-page video when performance goals include interaction rate or video complete rate
• Additionally, consider larger creative sizes when performance goals include click-through rate or interaction rate

Thanks for the mention, Tessa!

Posted by Sally Cole