• Media Ventures Group has named William Apfelbaum chairman. Apfelbaum was last seen serving as chairman at out-of-home advertiser Titan Worldwide, which he founded in 2001. Prior to that, Apfelbaum served as chairman and CEO of outdoor advertiser TDI, which was acquired by Westinghouse/CBS.

• MEC Canada has appointed Derek Bhopalsingh vice president and managing partner of MEC Interaction, the agency’s digital, search and direct marketing division. Previously, Bhopalsingh held the role of digital group director of strategy at OMD Canada, and before that he served as vice president of digital media at Aegia Media.

• Hank Summy has joined McCann Erickson as president of North America, while Patrick Lafferty moves up to chief operating officer of the region. Summy was last seen serving as managing director of SapientNitro’s New York-based Eastern Region.

• Jim Jones is coming to mobile app distribution and monetization network Tapjoy as vice president and general manager of sales. Jones was last seen serving as America’s regional vice president at Yahoo!. He joins several recent exec hires, including Chief Marketing Officer Peter Dille, Chief Financial Officer Al Wood and Vice President and General Manager, Asia-Pacific, Larry Berkin.

• Rajan Mohan is joining the Gannett Digital team as vice president and general manager of social commerce, taking charge of Gannett social discount service Deal Chicken. The 15-year digital media veteran previously was senior vice president and general manager of Local.com’s Owned & Operated business unit, and also did time at AOL as director of web search and local.

• Digital agency R/GA has named Tony Effik managing director of the global media and connections department. Effik hails from Publicis Modem, where he was most recently serving as senior vice president of strategy and analytics in the U.S. In addition, Mark Ferdman, the founder of Freedom + Partners and Firstborn Multimedia, has joined R/GA as a group account director for L’Oréal.

• WPP brand strategy and design consulting firm The Brand Union has appointed Jodi Sutherland group director of client services. Sutherland was last seen serving as director of strategy and business development at Kramer Design.

• Entertainment video platform VEVO has found its first editorial director: Jim Macnie, a veteran pop culture digital writer who spent the last decade as managing editor for VH1.com.

• Mobile social gaming firm ngmcoco has named Micheal Staskin chief marketing officer. Previously Staskin was vice president of marketing and communications at Milan-based gaming and lottery firm Sisal SpA, and also has experience as vice president of marketing for Mattel.

• Social advertising firm Compass Labs has promoted Kevin Weafer to the newly created role of vice president national sales director. Prior to joining Compass Labs, Weafer had served as vice president of Business Development at BzzAgent and Texterity, as well as senior vice president of sales and marketing for Access Media and president of Student.com.

• Social marketing agency Mr. Youth has given Christian Borges the newly created position of vice president of marketing communications. Most recently, Borges served as vice president of digital communications and publicity for agency Deep Focus. Mr. Youth also recently added Jeff Melton as director of analytics.

Xaxis is offering four ad units that can be employed in campaigns separately or jointly: classic In-Stream Video with its various rolls; Dynamic Content Distribution, which enables the syndication of branded content; an Ad Selector unit allowing consumers to choose the ad or product they feel is most relevant; and Social Share Activator, a branded video player that shoots for social engagement.

On the analytics side, metrics from the video platform will not only show advertisers the direct effects of a video campaign, but also its “attribution halo” to campaigns running on other channels.

More than 20 publishers and networks have already been integrated into the platfrom, including Sony Pictures Television, Auditude, Digital Broadcasting Group, Tidal TV and WPP’s own 24/7 Real Media.

“For the first time ever, we’re allowing advertisers to realize the same brand value that they get from a television campaign in the online video space,” explained Xaxis CEO Brian Lesser. “By aggregating and standardizing the broadest range of high quality online video properties within a single, comprehensive platform, we offer brands the ability to design and run online video campaigns with the same type of consistency and precision that they use for their television ads.”

Acquisio gives traditional, digital and search marketing agencies a single integrated dashboard for managing and tracking performance marketing campaigns across channels such as search, display and social media. More than 2,800 users — including agency holding companies like WPP and Omnicom as well as performance marketing operations like Amaze, NetBooster and DAC Group — manage over 7,000 brands via the Acquisio platform.

“Acquisio’s founders and management come from agencies, they understand what it takes to create competitive advantage for agencies, and they’ve built that into their product,” said Sandy Scott, Principal at Tandem. “We’ve watched over the last two years as Acquisio has become the platform of choice for the world’s top advertising and interactive agencies and we have the utmost confidence that our investment will help an exceptional management team further accelerate the company’s growth and success,“

Microsoft Advertising is augmenting current mobile rich media service with PointRoll through partnerships with EyeWonder and Phulant. Microsoft boasts hot mobile web properties like Fox Sports, Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger and MSN.

Speaking of PointRoll integrations, interclick has decided to take its integration with PointRoll deeper, giving clients automated reporting through AdControl 3.2 and
providing transparency inventory sources generating the highest rich-media engagement rates.

The next version of Apple’s iOS will feature a Twitter integration.

Premium mobile video ad network AdColony, a division of Jirbo, has partnered with vertically-focused digital media company Evolve Media Corp. to boost fill rates for mobile app publishers.

WPP Group bought a 70% stake in Brazil-based digital agency F.biz, well regarded for its mobile achievements.

Dentsu has acquired digital marketing network Steak Group, which will fall under Dentsu Network West and report to the London Office.

Researchers think 120,000 Android users leaked data — such as the mobile ID, handset model and other apps on the device — through 30 downloaded apps with malware.

In addition, online and offline data from the numerous companies under WPP’s umbrella will be integrated into nPario’s platform so the two organizations can build solutions that deliver data insight even faster.

“The application of technology to the management, mining and actioning of information has always been a core competency for direct marketers and their agencies, but over the past several years the data have become exponentially more diverse, faster-moving and higher volume,” said Mark Read, CEO of WPP Digital. “We are pleased to be partnering with nPario to help us scale marketing analytics for the new era.”

To further WPP clients’ audience engagement efforts on Facebook, CEO Sir Martin Sorell himself announced during a third quarter trading update conference call this morning that Buddy Media’s platform is being integrated into WPP’s technology products and services. In addition, WPP is making a $5 million cash investment in the company, which will be added on to the latest round of funding for a total of $28 million.

During the first year of the partnership, WPP agencies will receive training on how to best employ the Buddy Media Platform in maximizing client presence on Facebook. In addition, the two operations will develop new products and social applications for WPP’s clients exclusively.

Buddy Media has boasted 15% month-over-month growth throughout 2010 and seven of the 10 largest global advertisers are currently using the platform. In addition, brands and agencies using the platform tripled from 100 to 300 since the start of this year.

The companies have combined Compete’s rich online consumer data with MIG’s B3 ad optimization marketplace to offer precise audience targeting. The enhanced B3 platform will offer each advertiser a customized marketplace, tailored to its media plan and sales and marketing objectives.

Advertisers will be able to hand-pick sites they deem brand-safe and high performing. In addition, clients will be able to execute media buys then track and modify performance on a single platform.

“Whether advertisers are targeting based on lifestyle or purchase intent, or want to unlock the power of their own customer segmentation schemas in their media plans, they can now confidently and systematically track performance throughout a campaign’s lifecycle,” said Stephen DiMarco, chief marketing officer at Compete. “We’re giving online advertisers a way to plan, control and measure campaign effectiveness with precision instead of guesswork.”

Oracle Corporation announced today an agreement to acquire Sun Microsystems for $9.50 per share in cash, or about $7.4 billion total. The deal comes after IBM-Sun talks fell apart. (WSJ)

Google’s search robot will finally be crawling its way to your TV. (TeeVee)

Eyeing diners, restaurants take to Twitter. (Reuters)

Techcrunch says bloggers should stop doing what it basically does, trash startups in a heartbeat. (Techcrunch)

WPP has filed a lawsuit against Spot Runner, the self-service ad creator, securities fraud and breach of contract. (SIA)

President Obama named Aneesh Chopra, currently Virginia’s secretary of technology, the U.S.’s first chief technology officer. (Video below)

Last year, ad spending online, on media and gaming, reached 11% — thanks primarily to ad dollars in the U.S. and Western Europe.

The “Interaction: Addressable, Searchable, Social and Mobile” study finds that Internet advertising has been the principal source of media investment growth in western nations since 2001 as spending in traditional media has leveled off.

Among other key findings of the report:

• Almost 45% of 2007 interactive ad spending counted as display, a figure that is expected to fall slightly. Paid search advertising accounted for 38% and is expected to grow.

• Google commanded a median 86% share of 2007 search inquiries in the survey’s sample of 35 countries, somewhat ahead of other industry samples.

• The mean online shopping spend per user in 2007 was estimated at $471, and the only country to break the $1,000 mark was Denmark.

• The survey also revealed a particularly strong positive correlation between broadband penetration and annual online spend per individual.

• There is also strong positive correlation between the amount of broadband a country has and the internet’s share of advertising investment.

• Demographics alone will sustain growth in internet use among consumers for at least another generation, and possibly two, as those under 25 years old carry their habits into middle age and beyond.

The study covers the use of interactive media in 35 countries.

Over the past three years, Wunderman has bolstered its capabilities and size with strategic acquisitions of digital assets in the largest 20 markets worldwide. Designkitchen will be relatively independent – it will operate under its old brand and retain its agency principal and CEO Sam Landers. He’ll report to Wunderman’s chief in Chicago, Rick Schreuder.

“We can now easily incorporate the Web, mobile platforms and the latest in digital technology into our work for promotions, sponsorship and motorsports clients. Together, Wunderman and Designkitchen will deliver powerfully integrated marketing ideas and superior digital experience, ” Schreuder said.

The two companies have worked together on several campaigns, including Burger King to Butterball.