Latitude - Leaders In Search

Google’s New Trademark Policy: Early Findings

2008-05-09T17:05:00+00:00

Google’s long-awaited (and for some dreaded) new trademark policy finally came into effect earlier this week, on May 5. This seismic change allows advertisers to bid on previously protected trademarked terms, presenting many challenges but also creating opportunities for marketers. In our latest Market Update, published last week, we predicted a huge increase in brand terms’ CPCs in the immediate aftermath of the policy change, before the market would stabilise. So how has it turned out?

Yahoo drifts away from Google, Microsoft still single

2008-05-09T05:52:02+00:00

Yes, it’s a veritable lonely hearts club for search giants this week…

Believe it or not - and I bet you will - it seems that Yahoo’s search tie-up with Google has “[lost] urgency” since Microsoft withdrew its acquisition bid for the former. Fancy that!

So what’s the score now?

What now for Yahoo and Microsoft?

2008-05-06T03:22:02+00:00

So, were there any interesting stories unfolding in the search space over the bank holiday weekend?

You could say that.

Wikis for brand marketing

2008-04-29T06:28:02+00:00

Ross Mayfield, CEO of wiki software market leader Socialtext (and one of the big names of Web 2.0), took time away from his company’s Web 2.0 Expo stand to fill me in on how wikis can be used in marketing. Ross also had some words of wisdom for those marketers who fear transparency. Check out the video, after the jump.

Tellme at Web 2.0 Expo

2008-04-28T05:21:00+00:00

Microsoft-owned Tellme is doing some very interesting things in the area of voice - which some might say is the original “social medium”. At the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, I checked out the demo of Tellme’s new software for BlackBerry, which is rather impressive. Just tell your phone what you want - say “Indian food”, for example, into the mouthpiece - and Tellme brings up listings for the businesses nearest you which fit the bill.

BIMA chair on UK brands’ use of Web 2.0

2008-04-25T07:42:00+00:00

Paul Walsh, Chair of the British Interactive Media Association (BIMA), is part of the gang I have spent a lot of time with this week. He is in Silicon Valley with the Web Mission delegation, helping UK Web 2.0 start-ups to make connections here.

Maximising the long tail of advertising

2008-04-24T19:27:01+00:00

I first met Triggit CEO Zac Coelius at last month’s Latitude sponsored party in Silicon Valley. He’s an extremely affable guy, very clever and sensible about the needs of advertisers.

Michael Birch on UK web companies coming to the US

2008-04-24T07:51:00+00:00

There was an intimate drinks reception at Bebo’s HQ in San Francisco on Wednesday evening in support of the Web Mission. As it had been described to me as “drinks in the office for a few of us”, I was expecting a few bottles of Heineken round the cubicles. But no.

Rupert Murdoch and Yahoo’s Q1 earnings call

2008-04-22T23:43:00+00:00

The Web 2.0 Expo gets off to something of a rolling start, with the real action starting tomorrow, which may be why all the noise today was about Yahoo’s earnings results. But first, a great quote from Rupert Murdoch:

I certainly can’t afford to bid against Microsoft, least of all for Yahoo.

Ouch. Did Yahoo’s Q1 results make a fool of Murdoch? Details and analysis after the jump.

Soho relocates to Silicon Valley

2008-04-21T05:48:00+00:00

That’s me, above, with Bebo co-founders Paul and Michael Birch. Now I can say I know how it feels to be in the middle of hundreds of millions of dollars…

I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area for the Web 2.0 Expo this week.