“At BlueKai, our model is built on a belief that intent data is THE essential ingredient that drives efficient targeting for any online advertising initiative. The campaign success realized by interCLICK and its automotive client is a true validation of this emerging model,” said Omar Tawakol, CEO, BlueKai. “We look forward to a continued partnership with interCLICK to deliver marketing value to their clients, but at the same time, bring consumer participation and control into the equation.”

After a recent test, the companies report that one auto manufacturer’s in-market campaign gained significant traction. Some of the highlights:

• interCLICK supplemented its own vertical market data with data it acquired and customized from BlueKai to return a response rate two-to-three times greater than ordinarily achieved with traditional contextual or demographic targeting.
• With the BlueKai data it had validated and tested, interCLICK clearly identified an audience of auto prospects who displayed intent to purchase a specific type of car from its client’s and competitors’ brands.
• Once the campaign launched, performance even outperformed advertiser re-targeting while delivering much higher reach, proving that BlueKai data was the most effective data source interCLICK tested for this campaign.
• Incorporating BlueKai data, interCLICK assembled a qualified in-market auto audience of more than 3.1 million impressions in less than one month.
• With interCLICK’s deep network transparency, the auto manufacturer was able to see how well its campaign performed on a site-by-site basis across the network in order to adjust segments and allocations for future campaigns.

“We understand that behavioral targeting is only as good as the data, which is why we team with providers like BlueKai to deliver greater campaign transparency and performance to our clients,” said Michael Katz, president, interCLICK. “It’s not just about collecting volumes of data on would-be buyers, it’s about finding the best data and delivering access to consumers in the right context, at the right time.”

The network will offer image ads when it goes public next month.

The network will also aim highly targeted ads at LinkedIn’s 27 million members. Because the social network’s profiles already provide it with a wealth of information on its users, the company predicts that accurate targeting will be a breeze.

“The message we hear from advertisers is simple: they want mass reach against specific segments of decision-making professionals, and they want their ads to appear in quality environments,” said Steve Patrizi, LinkedIn’s director of advertising sales. “The LinkedIn Audience Network offers advertisers one of the most accurate audience data sets available on the web along with the confidence of knowing that their brands will only appear on sites with high editorial standards.”

All of Gannett’s digital properties are now ensconced in ADTECH’s Helios IQ ad-serving solution. The rollout will include local newspaper Web sites, digital properties for Gannett’s 19 local broadcast markets, USATODAY.com and others.

“We selected ADTECH because their top tier technology will allow us to seamlessly execute and deliver for advertisers at both a local and national level,” said Chris Saridakis, Gannett senior vice president and chief digital officer. “With the ADTECH platform, advertisers of all sizes will be able to easily reach our affluent, active online audience, whether it’s through broad national campaigns, audience segmentation, or locally targeted campaigns. Gannett can now enable national and local advertisers to engage with any audience segment they could ever hope to reach.”

Gannett reaches more than 25 million monthly uniques according to Nielsen. Helios IQ will deliver more than 5 billion monthly ad impressions across Gannett’s online network.

“We’re basically giving them a crystal ball so they can see what the inventory looks like and predict supply and demand,” Joelle Gropper Kaufman, Adify’s vice president of marketing and media operations, told ADOTAS. “There are now 120 vertical ad networks growing on Adify. Often, advertisers want to reach a unique audience, and this enables them to do that and forecast the results they’ll get.”

The forecasting module has several algorithms that address the variability in inventory levels that often occurs in vertical ad networks. Adify created the module in response to advertisers’ demands for increased reach into the long tail of the Web as more and more consumers dive into a constantly shifting and growing array of niche Web sites.

“Many advertisers want really tight, sophisticated geo-targeting,” Kaufman explained. “With our system, we can tell them exactly how many moms in Reno, NV, can be targeted with their ad – and while we can’t come up with more moms in Reno, we can show them how if we open it up to parents or women, how many more people will be see the ad.”

The three components of the forecasting model are: ad network forecasting (customized reports that identify gaps in supply and demand and forecast inventory based on ad size, location, type); site forecasting (reports on projected Web site impressions); campaign forecasting (predictions of how many impressions will be required for success).

Adify is an independent, wholly owned subsidiary of Cox TMI.

Microsoft, Google’s DoubleClick, Yahoo and AOL’s Platform-A will provide the tools to enable clients to connect with their audience of choice – from moms to dog owners – in one campaign buy across multiple networks, unifying the wildly fragmented environment of ad networks, exchanges and direct publisher relationships.

The network will work out of the VivaKi Nerve Center, which uses services from Publicis’ Digitas, Starcom MediaVest, Denuo and ZenithOptimedia.

Publicis has been reshuffling its execs for the past few months and the VivaKi announcement seals several deals. Jack Klues and David Kenny, currently members of Publicis’ management board, will lead VivaKi. Starcom’s chief digital officer Curt Hecht will be president.

Kenny, previously the CEO of Digitas, will be officially replaced by Laura Lang. Renetta McCann, the erstwhile CEO of Starcom will spearhead VivaKi’s talent-development platform. Laura Desmond, Steve King and Rishad Tobaccowala will continue to lead Starcom, Zenith and Denuo. They all report to Publicis CEO Klues.

The changes highlight Publicis’ commitment to digital advertising — initiated in 2006 with the $1.3 billion buy of Digitas.

By 2012, eMarketer projects that online spending will exceed $5.6 billion for the car industry. Why? Car buyers often do their research online – 80% of consumers consult the Web at least once in the process. In fact, eMarketer said that recommendations from family and friends are being replaced in importance by online customer reviews.

Check it out here.

Job listings are rolling in from all over the country – and in every sector of interactive advertising. (The latest positions include: Web 2.0 product manager in Santa Monica, CA; marketing analyst in Winter Park, FL and director of Internet marketing in New York.)

The program was developed for interactive marketers – it allows media planers, ad operations teams and finance managers to upload data in multiple forms and generate detailed reports through customizable templates and formulas.

Theorem likens the value of its program for digital marketers to the value of the Bloomberg terminal for stock brokers. Theorem Analytics 2.0 is equipped with tools to accommodate data from ad servers, search engines, site side data, rich media and traditional marketing sources. The new version can handle terabytes of data, which are often produced by interactive marketing campaigns.

Theorem was founded in 2002.