Adtasm.com | Ads in Media

Via Computerworld.com. EBay pulls ads from Google’s U.S. ad network.

EBay Inc. has pulled all of its paid search ads from Google Inc.’s AdWords network in the U.S., an eyebrow-raising move likely to be seen in the industry as a sign of deteriorating relations between the two Internet giants.

Competition between Ebay’s Paypal service and Google’s Checkout has risen considerably over the last year or so, with Google throwing its considerable weight behind its Google checkout (at times, offering cash back to first time users). Although both companies has characterized this move as a kind of “reallocation” of resources, the very fact that Google accounts for the lion share of all search engine traffic makes this more than a simple question of competition– where can Ebay go for SEM traffic now? Yahoo? haha.

The situation can very well change rapidly (perhaps both companies can work out a face-saving measure). Adtasm will keep you updated.

What can this mean for the keywords market? Look for certain prime spots (the ones directly on top of the listings) that Ebay puts a lot of money into, especially electronics goods, to open up. Prices probably won’t go down (does it ever?), but at least we’ll see some fresh faces on the top of the search listings for a change.

I wrote about this particular Internet phenomenon before, but I decided to highlight one successful campaign that used the power of the Internet to generate some viral buzz. This video was an illustration in the possibilities of viral marketing and one of the factors that put Youtube.com on the map in 2006.

Dove, in 2005, started a campaign that highlighted “real” woman, as opposed to the overly anorexic wisps of air that we see normally in commercials, print ads, and the like. Seth Stevenson, in a Slate.com article critiquing the campaign, noted overall the short term prognosis was excellent, but that on the whole that:

Sadly, this is not a winning play for the long haul. If Dove keeps running ads like this, women will get bored with the feel-good, politically correct message. Eventually (though perhaps only subconsciously), they’ll come to think of Dove as the brand for fat girls. Talk about “real beauty” all you want—once you’re the brand for fat girls, you’re toast.

A bit of a change in direction was expected to keep the message fresh, but the overall message was clear: beauty is often manufactured. Along those lines, a viral video was created by Ogilvy & Mather, Toronto, which had massive exposure in all avenues and media.

Synopsis: A plain woman steps into a studio for a photo shoot. The timing is increased, ever so frantically, showing the process in which the woman is made to look better for the billboard her photo will be placed on, from the make-up artists, to the photoshopping of the woman’s features.

Bonus: Here is a parody video, amongst many on Youtube.com, that kept the original video exposed and talked about for many months after.

Connected Ventures has released this fantastic video of their working environment, located in NYC. Connected Ventures is a part of InterActive Corp (or IAC), which also happens to own a variety of sites including Ask.com, Chemistry.com, CollegeHumor, Evite.com, Match.com. But seriously though, after watching this video, and looking at their offices and the unbelievable perks (and attractive people), wouldn’t you want to work there?

fortuitous.us offers websites a suggestion on improving user experience without sacrificing the bottom line. The solution: Turning off ads for paid and most trafficked users

If you’ve got a site/service that is ad-supported but also has some membership, do your best users a favor and think about turning off ads (I’m looking at you Facebook and LinkedIn). It’s likely to make a small dent in your bottom line but will pay off with a better user experience for your site’s biggest fans.