Perhaps we should give microsites a new name. There's really nothing "micro" about them anymore.

These offshoots of brand sites are typically used to promote individual products or marketing campaigns. Historically, they've been limited to a few pages of content, and at times even consisted of a single Web page that's more on par with a campaign landing page than a site proper. Not so anymore. Today's microsites offer rich and comprehensive user experiences related to both a marketer's product and brand. They're the source of some of the most interesting online marketing efforts we see, surpassing even banner ads in their creativity and superior execution.

Read More >> Isn't it ironic that one of the most important aspects of online advertising is also one of the hardest to grasp? The pricing models that apply to online media are vastly different from their offline counterparts, and to make matters more complicated, they're in a constant state of flux. The popularity of online media pricing models seems to ebb and flow in harmony with ad unit and placement trends, creating much confusion among media strategists when it comes time to plan their campaigns.

Read More >> Anyone who's heard a nasty rumour that has turned out to be misinformation knows the importance of keeping things in context. The same rule applied to online advertising, but for very different reasons. Contextual advertising (also known as content match advertising) has climbed the targeting technology ranks to become an increasingly popular feature of interactive campaigns. The ability to place advertising in relation to contextually relevant site content has proven to be both effective and well received by Internet users.

Read More >> We've all heard the expression, "bigger is better." After some new developments in display advertising, marketers are preparing to find out whether that's true of banner ads. Over the past two months, the industry has been abuzz with the news that 27 major We've all heard the expression, "bigger is better." After some new developments in display advertising, marketers are preparing to find out whether that's true of banner ads. Over the past two months, the industry has been abuzz with the news that 27 major site publishers will be experimenting with three new ad units. The effort is being spearheaded by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) in an effort to "inspire creativity and high-quality advertising, provide a greater share of voice for the advertiser, introduce a measurement to capture impact, and enhance interactivity to build user engagement with brands."

The industry excitement stems from the size of the units: they're all huge, and will take up considerably more site real estate than has ever previously been allocated to advertising.

Read More >> Much has been written about the social media "Big Three": MySpace, Facebook, and now, Twitter. These are just a drop in the bucket, though, when you consider the sea of social sites that exists and continues to grow. Some--like Classmates.com, Bebo, and Flixter--might be familiar, while others, though popular in their own right, may not yet have made it into your regular rotation.

Read More >> A colleague, upon coming across yet another new social site, posed an interesting question the other day: does anyone actually have the bandwidth to keep up with this stuff? If you work with interactive media of any kind, the answer shouldn't be "do I," but "how could I not?" The social networking space has already evolved far beyond what was anticipated, with services like Facebook and Twitter registering millions upon millions of unique users (around 68,557,000 for the former and 5,979,000 for the latter, according to recent numbers. We have a responsibility to our clients to understand these tools. We can also greatly benefit from using them ourselves.

Read More >> It isn't the first aspect of an online media campaign to draw attention, nor does it sell a concept to a client, but the landing page is critical to virtually every Internet ad campaign. Even the most strategic site placement and effective creative can't generate the results every advertiser seeks without an equally effective follow-through. Think of it in terms of a golf swing: perfect contact with the ball (or Internet user) doesn't mean squat if you can't complete the action.

Read More >> As online media strategists and buyers, we spend the vast majority of our time planning the campaigns of others. Once a year, though, the time comes for us to turn our attention to ourselves. Whether they're last-minute efforts scheduled around client work, or elaborate endeavors for which planning starts as soon as the previous year's holidays are through, agency holiday greetings are among the most creative interactive media campaigns you're likely to find.



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Blogs are everywhere. They've proliferated in recent years, going from virtual obscurity to becoming a respectable form of online media. Proactive Internet users and businesses that recognized the benefits of adding an entirely new content channel propelled this medium forward, and it's thanks to them that blogs now represent a viable advertising opportunity.

Of the millions that exist, most blogs can't actually offer the quality content and volume of readers necessary to warrant a media buy. But those that can have the potential to deliver very desirable results.

Read More >> Canadian ad networks, and those US-based networks that cater to the Canadian market, are interesting in that they vary considerably in nature. This is somewhat of a departure from the US ad network scene where competing (and thus very similar in terms of product offerings) networks are a dime a dozen. An oversaturated network space makes it all the more difficult for online media strategists to identify the ideal partner for their needs. In a market where advertising specializations (such as specific verticals or industry segments) are dominated by just a few high-quality players can be much more forgiving, especially for media planners and buyers new to developing network campaigns.

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Canadian newspapers are increasingly attracting more readers. They're diversifying their content options and features to further appeal to consumers, and producing additional advertising opportunities in the process. But those aren't even the primary reasons you should be advertising on newspaper sites. An effort to sing the praises of a newspaper media buy wouldn't be complete without a nod to the nature of their audience.

Read More >> As interactive marketers who frequently rely on US sites to deliver the geo-targeted Canadian Internet users we seek, we often look to the online climate down south to gauge industry trends. With its larger overall online audience and greater number of sites to assess, the US often experiences online behavioural shifts sooner and more notably than we do in Canada.



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