Unfortunately we did not win our nomination in the Best Use of Technology within Affiliate Marketing category of the a4uAwards last night.  However, a well deserved congratulations must go out to SkimLinks who won all 3 categories that they were nominated in the a4u Affiliate Marketing Awards!  Well done indeed.

It is nice to see a small company being disruptive and SkimLinks definitely seem to be doing that.  It just goes to show that disruption can happen in niche sectors too, it is not just a global phenomena.  Although we all hope for that globally disruptive concept, I am sure the team at SkimLinks are enjoying the recognition of their niche disruption this morning (or perhaps not, as the hangover kicks in).

Looking forward to more disruptions ahead

Getting the rest of the winners (congrats to you all) off twitter as they are not published anywhere else yet it would seem and interestingly enough, they are but in twitter

Gary Wilson – 2 June 2009

And the winners are:

Innovation in networks #a4uawards winner is @affwindow – ( posted by chrisclarkson )

Innovate merchant of the year #a4uawards winner is prezzybox ( posted by chrisclarkson, corrected by me I think the liquids were flowing and typos were a plenty)

Innovative publisher of the year #a4uawards winner is skimlinks ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Best use of intergrated campaign #a4uawards winner is Argos ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Innovative Affiliate of the Year #a4uawards winner is skimlinks ( posted by alexhoye )

Best use of technology #a4uawards winner is skimlinks ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Digital media agency of the year #a4uawards winner is i-level ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Best new entrant #a4uawards winner is skimlinks ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Finance Vertical (affiliate) #a4uawards winner is leadbay ( posted by chrisclarkson )

Retail (vertical) #a4uawards winner is Argos  ( posted by 10Yetis )

Casino & Gaming (affiliate) #a4uawards winner is bingohideout ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Casino & Gaming (merchant) #a4uawards winner is paddypower ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Travel & Leisure (affiliate) #a4uawards winner is artemis8 ( posted by chrisclarkson )

Travel & Leisure (merchant) #a4uawards winner is lastminute.com ( posted by chrisclarkson )

Technology & Telecoms (affiliate) #a4uawards winner is Formula (Top 10 Broadband) ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Technology & Telecoms (merchant) #a4uawards winner is Vodafone ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Publishers choice awards – account manager – #a4uawards winner is Hannah Swift from Existem Affiliate Management ( posted by exwebjunkie )

Affiliate manager  – #a4uawards winner is Chris Clarkson ( posted by chrisclarkson )

And that’s it… hell that was a chore, gleaning info out of twitter – there is an idea in there

I’m really pleased to announce our new relationship with Platform A. Now all Platform A customers can publish interactive videos within their current contract at no extra charge

I believe video is hugely underrated within the affiliate space and look forward to promoting the benefits to the leaders in the market.

Here is a link to a recent blog covering the news  http://www.onelittleduck.co.uk/video/buyat-get-back-on-the-video-case-986.htm

We have been working with our partners Platform A on new video affiliate products. The first iterstion of this was launched by Littlewoods Shop Direct in 2008 and I am pleased to anounce that this project has been shortlisted for the Revolution Awards to be held on the 20th March 2009. Looking forward to a great night whatever happens  http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1I49a2b7e320f82012.cde/page/28

Really pleased with recent coverage of coull’s Nike project in The Times

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article5598872.ece

Advertisers are finding new ways to hone in on that very human weakness: the impulse buy.

Those tempted by sweets near a till may want to look away now, but technology has been developed that will give viewers the option to instantly purchase the products they see being advertised on screen.

The “hotspot” technology means that during an advert, bubbles pop up on screen alongside products. Viewers can click on anything they see that takes their fancy and then make their purchase at the press of a button.

As the latest fashions parade on screen, or as a seductive voiceover entices you to try out expensive new foods, people will be able to point at what has caught their eye and quickly fill their virtual shopping basket via their remote control.

Related Links

• ITV plans unavoidable TV adverts

• Google stays strong amidst the gloom

The first use of the technology can be seen in a new Nike advertisement featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, the Manchester United star. As he runs around the pitch and strips off after a match, fans can click on his shirt, shorts and undergarments to buy them instantly.

The clip can now be seen online, but those behind the advert believe that once the switchover from the analogue to digital TV signal is complete by 2012, the technology will be utilised on television as well.

“Now you see the red button on screen, this is the next evolution of that,” said Luke Aviet, managing director of Go Viral, the company distributing the new advert. “As everything merges into digital, you will see this being used.”

In these tough economic times I am really pleased with the latest coull news story covered by Richard Tyler in the Sunday Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/brightideas/4321696/recession-forces-internet-ads-to-innovate.html

we need a great actionscript developer if yoou know any let us know

We have been working with Nike, AKQA, Mindshare, TradeDoubler and Go Viral on a very exciting project enabling Nike customers to purchase Nike products direct from a video. See example below:

http://coull.com/labs/nike/acg_uk/

http://coull.com/labs/nike/manu/

I believe that 2009 will be the year of performance based video campaigns such as this

I’m pleased to announce coull’s new partnership with Utarget.Fox

The creative options now available for video advertising points the way to a very exciting 2009 in the evolving space and I am optimistic despite the economic meltdown!�

 The latest survey from IAB Europe is very encouraging and reinforces our belief here at coull that in a recession advertising has to be engaging and measurable, both are at the heart of coull engage.

 http://www.netimperative.com/netimperative/news/2008/november/3rd/online-advertising-in-2009-the-view-from-the-top-1

bring on 2009!

An interesting piece in MediaMemo covering JP Morgan analyst Imran Khan’s forcasts for next year.

His summary is below

* Overall ad budgets continue to weaken. Since we reduced our estimates on September 4th, we have seen a further slowdown in the economy, particularly in the last two weeks of the third quarter. Weakness continued into October and spread from the US and UK throughout continental Europe and Asia. Additionally, dollar strength was greater than expected which will further depress growth rates. We are now basing estimates on a $1.25 exchange rate vs. our prior base of $1.40. Our updated model calls for total online global advertising growth of 25% in F’08 and 13% in F’09 vs. our prior estimates of 28% and 19% Y/Y growth respectively.

* Deterioration of display advertising is more pronounced than expected. Our channel checks are showing that sell-through is declining. Additionally, so far CPMs for premium inventory are flat to slightly down. Looking forward, we think CPMs will remain depressed and sell-through rates will worsen.  As a result, we are lowering our F’08 and F’09 domestic display estimates to $7.95B (11 percent Y/Y growth) and $8.45B (6% growth) from $8.15B (14% Y/Y growth) and $9.43B (16 percent growth). We are now modeling F’08 global display ad growth of 14% Y/Y vs. our prior estimate of 16% growth.

* Search performance held up in 3Q but we expect ad budget cuts to bleed through. We continue to see performance-based advertising holding up better than banner advertising. Long tail advertisers continue to allocate additional dollars to search. However, keyword price inflation is moderating. Additionally, we think marketing spend pullback in some segments including travel, telecom, autos, and retail is worsening. As such, we are lowering our domestic F’08 and F’09 search growth estimates to 23.4% Y/Y and 17.3%, respectively, from 27.4% and 25.5% Y/Y growth. We are modeling F’08 global search ad growth of 34% vs. our prior estimate of 36% Y/Y growth.”