JayWeintraub.com - Internet Advertising Analysis and Growth Insights

Valueclick FTC Settlement Reached - Press Release

Very interesting for those following - a 2.9 million dollar fine and based solely on the much smaller Hi-Speed Media division and not the larger Web Clients. The release is as follows:

VALUECLICK ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT WITH THE U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Westlake Village, CA – February 13, 2008 – ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK) today announced a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the Company’s lead generation practices.

The FTC alleged that the Company utilized deceptive marketing practices that violated the CAN-SPAM Act and FTC Act. In an effort to resolve this matter, ValueClick agreed to a settlement payment of $2.9 million without an admission of liability or conceding that the Company violated any laws. In addition, the Company and the FTC have agreed on the standards that will govern its lead generation business.

The settlement is based solely on the past practices of the Company’s Hi-Speed Media division and not WebClients or any other ValueClick subsidiary, and is subject to approval by the Department of Justice and the presiding court.

“We have worked with the FTC and have reached an agreement on the standards and practices that will govern our lead generation business going forward,” said David Yovanno, chief operating officer of U.S. Media. “We believe this settlement will also help set the guidelines for the lead generation industry as a whole, and we will continue to participate in the Internet Advertising Bureau to help establish best practices to that end.”

In the fourth quarter of 2007, ValueClick recorded a $2.9 million charge in anticipation of the settlement discussed above. Please see ValueClick’s fourth quarter 2007 financial results press release, which was published concurrently with this announcement, for more details on the Company’s financial performance.

The Company also announced today that is has completed its previously-announced initiative to consolidate its lead generation activities into the Company’s WebClients division, which now reports to chief operating officer of U.S. Media, David Yovanno.

About ValueClick

ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq: VCLK) is one of the world’s largest integrated online marketing services companies, offering comprehensive and scalable solutions to deliver cost-effective customer acquisition for advertisers and transparent revenue streams for publishers. ValueClick’s performance-based solutions allow its customers to reach their potential through multiple online marketing channels, including affiliate and search marketing, display advertising, lead generation, ad serving and related technologies, and comparison shopping. ValueClick brands include Commission Junction, ValueClick Media, Mediaplex, Smarter.com, CouponMountain.com, and PriceRunner. For more information, please visit www.valueclick.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, the risk that market demand for on-line advertising in general, and performance based on-line advertising in particular, will not grow as rapidly as predicted, and the risk that legislation and governmental regulation could negatively impact the Company’s performance. Actual results may differ materially from the results predicted, and reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements are detailed under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission made from time to time by ValueClick, including, but not limited to: its annual report on Form 10-K filed on March 1, 2007; recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q; and other current reports on Form 8-K. ValueClick undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events

Google Docs - Valentine's Day or Halloween

As I was working on a piece to post soon on the student loan lead generation space - an under-covered segment hit by a double whammy of legislative and economic issues (credit crunch) - I had refreshed my Google Docs home page only to notice a theme change. Is it a trick or a treat? I'm glad Gmail has yet to follow suit.

AOL buys buy.at. Beefs up affiliate capabilities

As reported on the AOL corporate site today, "AOL acquires Buy.at Affiliate Network." Almost 13 months ago, AOL made a $900 million bid for another UK based performance-marketing firm TradeDoubler, but if memory serves correctly, the stockholders of the publicly traded TradeDoubler rejected the deal.

Says AOL Chairman and CEO Randy Falco. “It will position AOL's Advertising.com to serve merchant and retail advertisers with the industry's most comprehensive set of performance marketing offerings to drive sales and other transactions, leveraging Advertising.com's web advertising network and search engine marketing services and now buy.at's innovative affiliate network.  We look forward to accelerating the expansion of buy.at's affiliate network in the United States and worldwide.”

Summarized - the one piece of Advertising.com arsenal that the company lacks is a robust affiliate play. It's not feasible for them to build one from scratch, and the major US affiliate networks have all been acquired in the past, namely Commission Junction by ValueClick and LinkShare by Rakuten, although the latter was rumored last year to be considering divesting of the asset it paid $400+ million for. CJ has long been a strong performer for the ValuceClick family, so the move by AOL/Advertising.com to compete by focusing first overseas and then expanding to the US makes a lot of sense. And, it also explains why some Advertising.com members were visiting their London office more frequently than usual :) There is a lot of upside in European affiliate marketing and given the currency advantage Advertising.com could win over many US publishers by helping them crack that nut, relationships they can leverage later.

Link to Press Release for "AOL acquires Buy.at Affiliate Network"

AdWords Ads That Weren't Meant to Be

I have a fascination with ads. It's been that way since I was younger and used to watch informercials for fun. As an ad observer, I can't help but capture something when I find it interesting. Here are three that you might have seen yourself, ones that have passed the Quality Score but probably weren't meant to see the light of day.

 


#1
Test
Test
Test
www.test.com  

 

- Seems like a real enough site, but poke around and it looks like one where they took out the main functionality. It's more than a made for adsense site, but if I had to guess, they aren't the ones advertising, just the unanticipated recipients.

#2

Test

Our first add
Our first go at this
www.addada.com

- Can you hear me now? They might not spell well, "add" instead of "ad" ( unless it's a play on their sites name), but unlike test.com, this is there ad. The site is some form of mobile payment gift something. If that didn't make sense, try their site.

#3

test

test
test
www.tillys.com

- Can you say "wipe out?" Gnarly. Big brand and national surf and skate shop Tilly's, displays their lack of online prowess.

WashingtonPost.com/Education

Came across the following ad in my gmail:

Psychology Schools

Find Psychology programs online or at a campus near you!
WashingtonPost.com/Education

Washington Post purchased search mavens Course Advisor in the latter part of 2007. I at first assumed this ad was the new entity promoting under the strong parent brand. That might not be the case as the landing page says "Powered by Avenue100 Media." There is no Avenue100.com or AvenueMedia100.com, but a search through Linkedin connects the two. Under the person's profile and "My Websites," Course Advisor is one.

It's pretty exciting to see Washington Post so quickly embrace its purchase and to start leveraging its brand. While they own Kaplan University, you will notice that they promote all schools and don't try to steer a person towards theirs. Having spoken with a few in the online edu space, they think it's a very wise choice as it means they have liquidity for leads they don't want.

Here is the landing page: