• Simone Barrett is taking over as president of GSI Commerce email and social marketing division e-Dialog, as former head Joe Gagnon moves to other responsibilities within GSI. Barrett was previously president of GSI Global Marketing Services International, but prior to that held the position of managing director of e-Dialog for 10 years and oversaw expansion into EMEA. In addition, e-Dialog CTO Christian Wright was shifted to general manager of e-Dialog Americas and Luke Griffiths was named general manager of e-Dialog U.K. GSI Commerce was acquired by eBay last year for $2.4 billion.

• Targeting service Rocket Fuel has given some gas to the automotive industry with the launch Auto Booster, a tech platform focused boosting efficiency and effectiveness of brand and direct response campaigns in the vertical through audience targeting and circulating campaign insights.

• App development and monetization platform Netbiscuits has partnered with cloud optimization service Akamai Technologies to improve mobile site delivery and give clients better device intelligence through the Akamai Intelligent Platform.

• The Mobile Marketing Association has published a new whitepaper on explaining the operational nitty gritty and benefits of permission-based marketing. “Building Permission-Based Mobile Marketing” (PDF) was developed in coordination with MMA Task Force members Alcatel-Lucent, Blyk, Gemalto, IMIMobile, Lenco, Maxis, O2, Out There Media, Pontiflex, Telefonica, Turkcell, Velti and Vodafone.

• After noting last week that traffic to publishers such as The Next Web, Technorati and PRNewswire had apparently been spanked by Google’s Panda 2.5 search algorithm update, new data collected by SEO anayltics firm Searchmetrics has the company believing Google has rolled back some of these updates. Ten of the 30 domains whose traffic had taken a hit saw an 80% to 90% recovery while another 10 actually surged past their pre-Panda 2.5 levels.

• Video advertising platform VINDICO has lured in several new accomplished sales team members. New Director of Agency Sales for the East and Midwest Brooke Horlicke has joined from Google, where she was  senior account director/team lead at DoubleClick. Nicole Early, directory of agency sales for the Western region, was previously director of sales for SocialVibe and has previously held sales positions at CondeNast, Demand Media, CNNMoney.com and CBS Digital. And Senior Account Executive for the Midwest Cole Fischer was last seen managing Midwest sales at AdoTube; he also boasts some time over at DoubleClick. In July, Vindico appointed former NBCUniversal Vice President of Sales Jes Santoro senior vice president of sales.

• According to a new survey by customer loyalty strategist LoyaltyOne, 74% of American and Canadian consumers don’t feel they get anything back from sharing personal information with marketers. While 52% agreed that companies use their data to better serve them, 54% expected improved customer service and 55% expected exclusive discounts or offers for sharing info.

• Mobile video ad network AdColony, a subsidiary of mobile ad firm Jirbo, las launched AdColony Express, a self-serve HD mobile video advertising platform that it claims can deploy high-quality TV advertising across its growing network in just a matter of clicks.

• E-commerce solutions builder Barilliance has introduced a Facebook Fan Page Personalization product, allowing brands to offer Fan Page visitors product recommendations, coupons and user-targeted messaging.

Pay-per-call specialist Marchex has laid down $62.5 million in cash and stock for Jingle Networks, operator of free directory assistance services (1-800-FREE411)and  provider of mobile voice search performance advertising and technology. Marchex is bit more interested in the latter business, which will boost the reach of its call advertising network to 500 million phone calls across digital media, including mobile.

There are seven stages of grief, but only five stages of mobile price promotions according to the Mobile Marketing Association’s new guidelines on mobile couponing best practices (PDF).

DSNR Media Group announced that its dynamic landing page optimization service Traffiliate has been fully integrated into AppNexus’ real-time platform.

According to a new report by mobileSQUARED, a third of advertising agencies expect 30% of their clients’ campaigns will feature a mobile element.

It’s a big enough deal that the Mobile Markting Association (MMA) has launched an initiative to develop a comprehensive sets of mobile privacy guidelines that would complement its current Global Code of Conduct. Led by Alan Chapell of Chapell & Associates, the MMA’s Privacy Committee will tap mobile carriers, marketers, agencies and technology firms to build a framework regarding mobile data collection.

Analyzing the data transfered by 101 popular smartphone apps, WSJ found that 56 sent the unique device ID (UDID) to third-party companies such as ad networks without informing or asking for consent from users. A UDID is not an equivalent to an IP address, mainly because it can’t be refreshed; for example, each iPhone has a 40-character ID that is set in stone.

Some tracking companies are building profiles (anonymous — no PPI) based on data received from apps for targeted advertising. That use isn’t necessarily wrong or something that consumers will light the torches and sharpen the pitchforks over — the issue is that these apps have been tossing about data secretly.

It’s very disappointing that mobile app makers have been lazy/thoughtless/sneaky in regards to informing consumers about data shared with third parties. You’d think they would have taken a hint about data-sharing transparency from the online world, but WSJ found even worse stuff: 47 apps transmitted device location details in some fashion and five sent age, gender and other personal details to third parties, all without explicit explanation or permission from the user.

For some reason I keep thinking about device fingerprinting firm BlueCava, another company the Journal profiled recently; I had interviewed CEO David Norris a few months prior.

BlueCava’s software gathers the surprisingly large amount of information a browser shares with a website, encrypts it, analyzes it and dispenses a unique ID that allows it to track a device wherever it goes online. If you switch browsers or dump your cookies, BlueCava’s system is smart enough to realize it’s the same device and simply updates its records.

According to WSJ, BlueCava has identified 200 million devices, but there isn’t really a method for informing consumers they’ve been fingerprinted. While suggesting it was building an opt-out system, Norris said it was trying to be crystal clear about how the data is used.

Frightened of cookies? Did the idea of the evercookie make your hair stand on end? Who cares? The technology already exists to identify and follow your device — be it PC, smartphone or tablet, regardless of IP address. So is a device an extension of a person? Does it deserve the same level of privacy?

If you take their word for it (and you should — accessing PPI only leads to headaches for trackers and advertising tech firms), firms like BlueCava are not diving into your address book or financial records — they’re just examining what you browse, what games you play, etc., then putting you into broad audience categories for advertisers to target. Not really that alarming when you lay it out on the table.

The sneaky business is the issue. Tech firms, app developers, publishers all gotta be upfront about data collection — and to its credit, BlueCava has been very forthright in talking about its technology.

To ease the minds of worried consumers, there should be an easy, universal way to opt out of data collection. Although it’s definitely a middle finger pointed in Google’s direction, Microsoft’s “Do-Not-Track” option on the updated Internet Explorer browser truly puts the control in consumer hands.

No matter how much it will affect the targeting industry, a do not track list might be the answer. Then again, considering what a bustling business the data-collecting and targeting industry is (and what a crap economy we’re wading through), I kinda doubt such a thing will gain traction in Congress. Lobbyists will likely grease the right squeaky wheels to ensure the tracking business keeps on growing.

And I’m in the camp that targeting — behavioral, social, whatever — is the last, best hope for effectively monetizing most content on the Internet. Maybe we should just drop the pretense and admit that there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet — or with mobile apps. Granted, “browse at your own peril” isn’t much of a slogan…

Arguably, developers of browsers should be the ones to offer a universal “Do not track” option. And publishers of premium content will build systems that recognize when users have opted out of tracking and deny them access without paying an entrance fee — cash or the ability to grab your IP address and possibly drop a cookie. This mobile app is free as long as you let it collect information to sell to third parties; otherwise it’s $10.

Content isn’t free. It may sound like a pain in the ass, but that’s the compromise consumers and advertisers are eventually going to have to reach — either with federal interference or blessing.

Beyond that, though, groups like the Digital Advertising Initiative should be setting industry limits on the amount of data that is actually collected — that’s the next can of worms waiting to be dealt with…

The repositioning is based on feedback from member and nonmember companies from around the world. Unveiling a new look at the MMA Forum in Sao Paulo, the company introduced five building blocks for tending the growing industry: promoting the channel, educating all parties, creating authoritative metrics, establishing best practices and public advocacy and self-regulation.

“In its formative years, the MMA placed great emphasis on helping build a global industry, creating standards and guidelines to support the growth of a new industry,” said Federico Pisani Massamormile, MMA Global Board Chairman and interim CEO. “In many ways, the need to act as evangelists for the mobile channel has evolved into to a need to get brands and agencies to increase spend on a channel they’re now aware of. Marketers understand the need to include mobile in their plans, but still need support to find the right role for mobile in the marketing mix.”

Appropriately, Johar made it interactive by letting the audience decide — listen to him “blather on” about networks or get the real deal from the money man?

The crowd went with the money man — and got quite an interesting discussion per its choice.

Mobile clients still don’t understand the extent of what mobile advertising can do, Gunning argued. Why is a bit complicated — first off, there needs to be more interesting executions than banners as the space in inefficient from a creative, but more important players are practicing “voodoo” by making the space seem too complex.

“You cannot underestimate how much clients know,” he said.

There’s too much internal chatter and not enough education of clients. Mobile players need to stop talking to each other so much about devices and platforms because clients don’t care. They need to have the device, to use the device. The guy with the dollars is screaming, “Interact with me!” Gunning said, and the way to do that is get the device in his hands.

He suggested that the mobile platform at this point should be presented as a standalone platform to highlight the fact that it is the most personal platform and can engage consumers like no other.

Gunning also noted that the pharmaceutical industry has a growing interest in the mobile space — drug representatives are having a harder time accessing doctors, so the mobile medium is an effective way to pass on information.

As Apple’s iAd news was on many conference attendees’ minds, Gunning suggested that with its walled garden approach, Apple is actually preventing growth in the sector. Stepping in between agencies and clients on the creative side is worrisome behavior, he said. And compared to the $2.16 billion the MMA estimates will be spent on mobile advertising in 2010, the $60 million already committed to iAds is a drop in the bucket.

As for Google and AdMob, Gunning noted that big G seems to have it’s fingers in every mobile pot, from hardware to ad networks. However, the company isn’t hedging its bets — it’s playing all of them to win.

The great fear, Johar said, is that mobile advertising will fall into the chasm of email marketing has — an overload of content and too much spam has annoyed consumers to the point that it’s a laborious process to get their attention with an emailed offer. However, one could also say the same for display — belly fat and “work-from-home” ads have birthed banner blindness.

“I worry we’re one huge campaign away from killing the mobile space just like email,” Gunning sighed.

Mocking the perennial expression “This is the year of mobile!” Gunning summarized: “We gotta stop talking about ‘This is the year mobile advertising starts…’ It’s preventing us from moving forward.”

Turn has released the next generation of if its real-time media buying and optimization technology platform. New features include single-click deployment across all RTB sources, automated budget allocation, audience extension technology that increases the reach available for high-value audience segments, enhanced interactive graphical monitoring and reporting and an automated system for estimating audience reach and frequency prior to a campaign’s launch.

Email service provider Innovyx has released version 8.0 of Dialogue 1to1, the company’s proprietary email technology platform, which includes new features such as social networking, an email deliverability reporting dashboard and an enhanced level of email quality assurance.

IDG TechNetwork has promoted two executives. Mike Romoff has risen to general manager of the IDG TechNetwork where he formerly served as vice president of syndication and networks. Brian Gleason made the leap to chief revenue officer after having served as vice president of sales.

DataLogix has sealed a deal with R.L. Polk & Co. to offer online advertisers household-level targeting data from Polk automotive segments via DataLogix’ DLX Platform.

Marketing Management Analytics (MMA) has released MMA Digital, which will allow clients to measure the effects of digital media alongside all the other elements in the marketing mix.

AdGooroo announced that pan-European digital marketing company TradeDoubler now exclusively represents AdGooroo’s SEM Insight and Trademark Insight products in Europe and Japan.

But industries and businesses have struggled to keep up with the frenetic, relentless pace of globalization. The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has joined other industries in an attempt to stymie the chaos: the MMA released global guidelines today in the hopes that they will raise brands’ comfort levels with mobile advertising and enhance and protect the customer’s experience. (Last year, guidelines were issued in North America, Asia Pacific and elsewhere – the MMA is building on and integrating them).

The gist of the new guidelines:

• The MMA recommends aspect ratios, maximum file sizes, file formats and other technical specifications.
• The MMA recommends guidelines for messaging (SMS and MMS) and downloadables.
• The MMA recommends that advertisers should receive monthly stats on campaign performance.

While the MMA stresses that these are “guidelines” industry vets seem to be embracing them – and most of the heavy hitters belong to the association.

“To ensure the best consumer mobile marketing experience, it is essential to have industry-wide accepted advertising guidelines,” said Stephanie Bauer, Marketing Manager for Verizon. “The MMA and its committees continue to update these guidelines reflecting the most up-to-date practices for marketers across the globe.”

Of course, executives realize the happier the customer is to receive the data, the more profitable the ads will be. “The MMA has been leading the development of mobile advertising guidelines for the global marketplace,” said Will Hodgman, CEO of M:Metrics. “We are pleased to be working with them to create a sustainable advertising environment to help drive even faster development of mobile advertising globally.”

The guidelines can be downloaded here. MMA member companies include AdMob, Inc., AOL, A&T, DoubleClick, Coca-Cola, Verizon Wireless.

Let me first provide some pertinent background information: at AzoogleAds, in mid-2005, we commenced a broad effort to establish clear best practices on integrity assurance issues, initially around the email marketing of ringtones, and later, effectively banning adware in early 2006. In late summer of 2006, on our own volition, we became the first company in the sector to adopt a Mobile Acceptable Use Policy and to ban the use of the term “Free” in cases where the offer was not, in fact, free. When the Florida Attorney General (FLAG) commenced a broad-based investigation into mobile content marketing in 2007 – an ongoing investigation, focusing on nearly every mobile content marketer in the business – the FLAG relied heavily on our existing policies, which had been in place for well over a year, when we jointly drafted our Assurance of Voluntary Compliance. The idea was to create a Code of Conduct for the industry overall – a Code of Conduct with the teeth of the FLAG to back it up. Why is this all important? One, it illustrates that mobile content marketing and marketing-related compliance issues are not “new” despite the recent rash of announcements. Two, it illustrates the comprehensive knowledge we have uniquely built up for over 3 years relating to mobile content marketing.

To be clear, this article applies to mobile content marketing, and not to incentive marketing. Certain industry observers have incorrectly tied these two together because they may sometimes be used in tandem. However, Mobile content marketing refers specifically to selling some type of mobile device content – e.g., a ringtone, a text service, etc.  Incentive marketing is generally a process whereby a consumer is offered something of value – say, an iPod – in exchange for completing a number of offers which are displayed on a series of web pages referred to as an incentive order path or a “Co-Reg” path .

Now, numerous other companies and ad networks are carefully examining their own marketing practices in this sector, as well they should. However, there remains significant confusion around what companies can and cannot do when marketing mobile content. Despite the wave of regulatory action, there are still plenty of players that fail – through ignorance, laziness or willful neglect – to embrace legitimate marketing practices. As a result, consumers remain at risk and suspicion will continue to hang over the sector (ironically, the neglectful players are quite well-known and easy to find, and sometimes stoop to trying to poke holes in the truly “above board” players to mask their own malfeasance).

Hence, we’ve compiled a list of marketing guidelines for publishers and ad networks that can benefit you in many ways. Heeding these guidelines will keep costs associated with chargebacks and fraud down, help to protect your business legally (and avoid regulatory risk), and allow you to maintain a profitable, and more importantly, sustainable relationship with advertisers and consumers.

“Top 10 list” for Online Publishers and Ad Networks
 
10. DON’T mislead consumers with deceptive language

Restrict the use of FREE and FREE-like language in ad-copy. Displaying FREE and its derivatives (“Bonus”, “Complimentary”, “Gift”, etc) are allowed so long as these keywords are not being deceptively applied. What does this mean? Publishers may not imply that ringtone offers carry no monetary obligations on the part of the consumer when in fact they do. The intent and spirit of this position remains in sync with that of the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) — marketers may not use language that a reasonable consumer would interpret to mean “no charge whatsoever”. Moreover, if a marketer uses the term FREE or FREE-like language, when the program DOES contain a cost, that language must be modified adjacent to the FREE claim with the relevant material terms of the offer (price and billing period) – i.e., if you use FREE in a search title, the search description must provide the disclaimer, “with 9.99 per month subscription”.