Advertising & Marketing

If you’re wondering what Lithium Technologies is going to do with Klout, the social influence measurement startup that it acquired earlier this year, the company gave its first real hints on Wednesday at its LiNC user conference in San Francisco. I spoke to Chief Product Officer Tapan Bhat in advance of Wednesday’s announcements. Lithium helps Continue Reading →

They’ll be spitting white rage in Cupertino tonight. Why? Because Google has been declared the most valuable brand in the world. Which means Apple is no longer. Research company Millward Brown has decided that this is true. And when a research company decides, you can’t really argue. Indeed, looking at the research results, the evidence Continue Reading →

Advertising may be coming to your thermostat and lots of other strange places, courtesy of Google. In a December letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was disclosed Tuesday, the search giant said that it could be serving ads and other content on “refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches, to name just a Continue Reading →

A previous direct report just got his first VP level job at a new company and asked for a checklist to help him get off to a good start. First, I told him to read First Time Leader by fellow MENG member George Bradt, Managing Director of PrimeGenesis, an executive onboarding firm. Then, I quickly typed a litany of Continue Reading →

It’s not what you say but how you say it. In Boston this spring, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation proved that statement when it turned a mundane road sign into a viral sensation. Rather than tell motorists to “Use Your Turn Signals,” the department took a more familiar approach with locals: Now go “Pahk the Cah in Continue Reading →

There are 29 million small businesses in America. Think about it. 29 million. 29 million Entrepreneurial Pioneers who wake up every morning with what Barack Obama calls the Spirit of Possibility. The hope that today will bring them more customers, more growth, more profit and more success, for them, their employees and their families. This Continue Reading →

Way back in September, Pinterest revealed what could prove to be a major step towards monetization: Promoted Pins. They look and feel like standard pins, except they’re clearly marked as ‘Promoted’, which ultimately means a brand will pay for your eyeballs to see them. Following a seven month experiment, Pinterest has enlisted a “small group Continue Reading →

335 words. In today’s high-speed culture, that’s all we need to be effective. Let me explain. The “335 words” refers to a 2007 college graduation speech by Nobel economist Thomas Sargent. Yes, the entire speech is 335 words. It’s a compact list of 12 economic principles. Read it here. Sargent understands to be memorable, you must value a person’s time and Continue Reading →

King Digital took its time handing out it first earnings report on Wednesday. But when it got around to it, the company behind Candy Crush delivered good news: Revenue, which had been declining in advance of its IPO this year, has ticked up again. And King is beginning to make the argument that it is Continue Reading →

Pandora is testing a new native ad unit called ‘Promoted Stations‘ with 10 percent of the people who tune in to its Internet radio service. Currently in beta, these branded stations are auto-populated and then listed within the ‘Stations You Might Like’ section of the app. Initial partners for the new solution include Kleenex, Skechers, Continue Reading →