Advertisers A Bunch Of NUDGnicks

MediaPost's Real Media Riffs takes an insightful look at the failed NUDG meeting this past Thursday saying the whole thing isn't about advertisers but rather shareholders.

UPDATE: Be sure to read the response to this post by Association of National Advertisers President and CEO Robert Liodice in the Comment section.

Jeff Jarvis On Stern: F*cked By The F*CC

Advance.net President Jeff Jarvis has a cover story about Howard Stern and his fight with the FCC on this week's The Nation. It's a well written piece reminding us what free speech is all about and how it is all being twisted to suit the needs of a few in the minority.

Jarvis also reveals on his blog that Stern claims to blog under a secret identity. The blogging community will not rest until he's outed. Of course, Atrios hasn't been outed yet either. Hmm.

PETA Wants Your Dog to Run Free

Not content with telling the world to stop eating meat, PETA now wants us to unchain our dogs and let the run free. This, following the mauling of a four year old Hodgenville, Kentucky girl by her own family's pit bull. PETA claims chained dogs go mad and are advocating legislation to end this so-called cruelty.

As part of this effort, PETA has launched a billboard campaign with the headline, "To Keep Your Family Safe, Chain Your Door, Not Your Dog." PETA Director Daphna Nachminovitc says, "People who relegate ‘man’s best friend’ to a chain in the backyard may be putting their families and neighbors at risk and are being just plain mean to their dogs."

Behavioral Targeting Not Online Ad Panacea

With announcements from Tacoda, aQuantive, 24/7 and others forming behavioral ad networks, one might think behavioral targeting could become the contextual ad-killer. Not so, according to mOne Group Planning Director Andrea Ching who is not convinced reaching a financial trader in the sports section is as valuable as reaching that same trader in the finance section. "There's nothing that substitutes for reaching someone in a relevant context," she said.

Adding to Ching's caution, Reuters Media Sales VP of Media Walker Jacobs said the contextual approach will always trump the behavioral approach, "We need to control the excitement about it. I don't know if it's the Holy Grail of online advertising."

In terms of its pricing, Ching thinks publishers charge too much for the service and ING Online Marketing Head Tom Lynch agreed saying, "The value is certainly TBD." So while the cheerleaders try to get the crowd excited for the kick-off, it's still pre-game on the behavioral targeting playing field.