Well, that didn’t take long. Now Yahoo is following Google’s lead, introducing video ads into its search results.

Want to check one out? Try a “Special K” search and you’ll likely see a Partner ad result appear at the top of the page. There’s a small thumbnail for the video ad, with an enticing little green button and overlay text that reads, “play video.”

This is where it gets ugly. Once you click the Yahoo video ad, you’ll get a disturbingly large video that pops up in the center of your screen, graying out all other options for web navigation. Ugh.

While many web travelers will see this as a mere video that’s presented as an option for partner results (a bit deceptive if you ask me), more savvy web users will see it for what it is: a commercial. At least Google’s ads come under the text option of “watch commercial,” which might not sound as appealing but is a helluva lot more honest.

Yahoo’s thumbnails definitely grab more attention (Is this a good thing? Many users would argue not.), but the non-intrusive nature of Google’s drop-down video is a more appealing experience.

— Thanks to mashable.com for this one.

The move is not unexpected, as Marissa Mayer told The New York Times last month that visual ads were on the way.

There are a few differences from the traditional text ad format. Advertisers will pay when a video ad is viewed, regardless of whether the user clicks thru to the advertised web site. Also, the video clip doesn’t show up until you click a “Watch a Commercial” link under the text ad, which triggers a drop down.

What’s the motive for the change? Well, one obvious reason is the evergrowing shift towards the web become a “replacement” for traditional television. But in the immediate sense, as you might have seen, last month a report came out showing that the amount of clicks on Google’s text ads was no longer increasing, in turn leading many analysts to project the company’s earnings would stop growing as fast as they have been historically. Google’s stock is still around $300 lower than the all-time high reached in November 2007.

While the new video ads will not be immediately obvious, the “watch commercial” should lead to plenty of curous clicks by users and perhaps, in the short term, boost earnings. But in my view, if Google wants to make this a real success they’re going to have to incorporate the commercials into the results without requiring a user action. Sure, a few years ago this would’ve seemed inconceivable for a company with the purist attitude of Google, but today, they have those pesky shareholders to answer to.

The folks at Worth1000.com have done some cool things with the challenge to put modern products in old-style ads.

Check out this gallery of some of the best examples.

We were brought on to do the concepts and copy for the DVD release of the multiple Oscar-winning Coen Brothers' film, "No Country for Old Men." We worked with our affiliate Black Box Kelvin and collaborated with the always brilliant designer Georgia Young.

Whenever we work on an entertainment project, it's always exciting and challenging. The deadlines are immediate, the pressure is on and the creative possibilities are endless. As a best-picture contender, the stakes on this project were especially high.

We gave the ads an unconventional, uncluttered graphic treatment that underscores the raw violence, the memorable characters and the chilling storyline. The taglines promise that this is going to be one wild ride, and yet, their mordant humor reflects the Coen Brothers distinct situational laughs. Have a look.

It’s probably no big deal, but in January, for the first time, Facebook’s user numbers went down in the UK. And they're not alone.

According to Neilson, MySpace users had fallen by 5%, while Bebo's audience had fallen 2%. Meanwhile, Facebook’s chief revenue officer just quit “amid scrutiny of Facebook’s valuation, which many analysts say isn’t justified by the company’s revenue of about $150 million last year,” according to the Wall Street Journal. No kidding.

Nic Howell, deputy editor of industry magazine New Media Age, posits that the site is no longer as popular among its core audience of young people.

"Social networking is as much about who isn't on the site as who is - when Tory MPs and major corporations start profiles on Facebook, its brand is devalued, driving its core user base into the arms of newer and more credible alternatives," he said. Amen.

Successful marketing within social networks is all about staying under the radar with an approach that’s human, authentic and looks like a person put it together as opposed to some slick ad agency or corporation trying to pose as being cool. People aren't stupid. They can smell a fake a mile away

But back on the Facebook. What we are seeing, predictably, is a gravitational pull away from mass networks into more vertically focused communities. As Alex Burmaster, European internet analyst at Nielsen Online, put it, “..real growth potential lies in the niche networks - those based on a particular lifestyle or interest, such as travel, music, wealth or business.”

Neatorama is running a very entertaining and interesting look at the evolution of tech companies' logos. Included is the delightfully amateurish first Google logo, the early IBM globe, and the complex, short-lived Apple logo featuring Sir Isaac Newton and the inscription: "Newton ... A Mind Forever Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought ... Alone." Quick story. The guy who designed it, Ronald Wayne, was actually the third founder of Apple alongside the two Steves. After two weeks with the company, he sold his 10% share for $800. Had he kept it, today, he'd be worth billions. Yikes. Of the lot, one of my favorites is the quaint Motorola logo from 1947. Conversely, in looking at where Adobe is today, you have to wonder, what were they thinking? They call that a logo? The Evolution of Tech Companies' Logos at Neatorama

Our clients are becoming increasingly interested in using mobile as a serious marketing channel, thank heaven. It sure took long enough. Here in the States we’re way behind the folks in Asia and Europe in creative mobile customer engagement, but that is changing, and fast. One of the more significant forces behind this evolution is the glorious little iPhone.
For months we’ve been encouraging our clients to start making enhancements to their sites to take advantage of all the iPhone’s wonders. We’ve been pushing hard to convince folks that it’s worth the effort. And since Steve Jobs announced in October that Apple is scheduled to release its Software Development Kit in February of 2008, which will allow third parties to develop custom applications for the iPhone, we can’t wait to see what’s coming and how we can work with it.

In the meantime, though, if you still need proof that the world wants an Internet without fences, just ask Google.

Google on Wednesday said it has seen 50 times more search requests coming from Apple iPhones than any other mobile handset -- a revelation so astonishing that the company originally suspected it had made an error culling its own data.

"We thought it was a mistake and made our engineers check the logs again," Vic Gundotra, head of Google’s mobile operations told the Financial Times during this week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Should other companies follow in Apple's footsteps by making web access commonplace on their mobile handsets, Gundotra believes the number of mobile searches "within the next several years."

That of course means big increases in incremental advertising revenues for the Mountain View, Calif.-based search giant. Though Google's primary revenue driver remains online advertising, the company has never separated out its mobile revenues from those of traditional computer-based browsers.

Gundotra, however, told the Times that the mobile segment was growing “above expectations”, both in terms of usage and revenues.

The mobile boss also reiterated a long-running company position on the mobile handset market, which is that Google is unlikely to build its own mobile hardware despite widespread speculation to the contrary.

"We want every phone to be a Google phone," he said. "We are ultimately talking about thousands of devices. The best way to do this would be to get Google’s mobile operating system, Android, deployed on as many types of handsets as possible."

Google has the first from third-party manufacturers would begin shipping during of 2008.

So yes, the time is now.

—Thanks to AppleInsider for the info.

Following up on my earlier post, TechCrunch is reporting that the Bebo deal is done. The only question is who bought them? Most bets are on Google, but Yahoo's a long shot.

Are we in or about to enter a recession? Don't ask me. In fact, don't bother asking the economists, because they don't know either. But if we are in a recession, this time it'll be different. Why?

You can check out what Forrester has to say in this insightful article (a downloadable pdf):

“Strategies For Interactive Marketing In A Recession. Unlike Last Time, Results-Based Marketing And Social Applications Could Thrive.”

The thrust of the article is that since interactive marketing programs are now fueled by measurable results, not dot-com madness, they can thrive in a recession. Social applications in particular, such as communities and social networking sites, are cost-effective and have a measurable impact on prospects’ decisions in the consideration stage, which will be important to companies under recessionary pressures.

Apparently, young-ish dudes who dig gambling, auctions and need jobs. The money quote from Erin Hunter, exec vp at comScore:

"While the click can continue to be a relevant metric for direct response advertising campaigns, this study demonstrates that click performance is the wrong measure for the effectiveness of brand-building campaigns."

TechCrunch is reporting on an unconfirmed rumor that either Google or MySpace is about to cough up a billion or so big ones to make a major acquisition in the social space. Most folks think the likely candidate is Bebo. Of course, Bebo's been the subject of rumors for a long time. We remember in May 2007 when the pundits thought that Yahoo was going to buy them for a billion.

Were Google to acquire Bebo, it would nearly double its social networking market share, as measured by active members. They already own Orkut, which is especially big in Latin America but has never caught on in the U.S.. Bebo is also a global play, but they're very popular in English speaking countries such as the UK, Ireland, Australia and comin' on strong here in America. Then again, with Google's recent earning shortcomings, partly attributed to their inability to make their MySpace ads pay off, investors might not be so thrilled to see the company embrace such a major distraction.

Whatever the case, we love Bebo. They've done a tremendous job of adding the latest features to their site, and yet it's still clean and highly navigable.

Mind boggling. The folks at comScore are reporting that U.S. Internet users watched more than 10 billion videos online during the month of December. Predictably, Google Sites now account for one out of every three videos viewed online, with Fox Interactive Media a distant second

No wonder the writers went on strike. Their issue was all about how they are to be compensated for the use of their work on the Internet. And while their financial win wasn't big—a modest 2% of whatever fee a producer is paid to be allowed to stream a TV show over the web, and no share in the really big money stream, advertising revenue—as The Journal points out they scored a psychological victory and a nice strategic positioning for the future. We're just glad the whole thing's over and we can see all our very depressed friends get back to work.

The Register has never been one of my favorite papers, but this time they're on to something. Their point is that the social networking balloon is deflating.

They cite numbers from the web analytics outfit comScore that show the length of ast months of 2007.

Nevertheless, it's fairly obvious these sites aren't going anywhere. Their traffic and user participation is still staggering by any measure. Rumors are ripe that Google is about to make a billion dollar acquisition in the space. But human nature is what it is, and the numbers show that user engagement is dropping off.

A decline in what has so far been fanatical enthusiasm should come as no big surprise. We see this as natural selection at work, and an expected phase in the business cycle. We believe it's actually a positive, in that it will force the sites, and the widget economy that lives within them, to further innovation in both services and marketing and not simply survive by selling advertising to each other.

Our new favorite book cover. Discovered on typography.com.

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