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This GM Ad Cancellation Is Big, Bad News (FB)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/attention-facebook-investors-this-gm-ad-cancellation-is-big-bad-news-2012-5

chart of the day facebook revenue growth ahead of ipo april 2012 This GM Ad Cancellation Is Big, Bad News (FB)

In what should come as a shock to potential investors, one of the world’s biggest advertisers, GM, has announced that it is pulling a $10 million campaign from Facebook…because the ads don’t work.

The effectiveness of Facebook ads has always been a big question-mark, with some data suggesting that the ads just don’t perform well.

According to Sharon Terlep, Shayndi Rice, and Suzanne Vranica of the Wall Street Journal, GM decided to pull the ads after meeting with Facebook executives and coming away unconvinced that they were effective.

GM currently spends $40 million a year on its Facebook presence.

Importantly, however, only $10 million of that spending goes went to Facebook.

The other $30 million goes to pay ad agencies and others to create content for Facebook and maintain GM’s pages and presence on Facebook.

In other words, GM has just killed the only part of its Facebook advertising presence that it was paying Facebook for.

Here’s the key section of the WSJ article:

Asked about the move, GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick said the auto maker, “is definitely reassessing our advertising on Facebook, although the content is effective and important.” Content refers to the unpaid Facebook pages many companies use to promote their products.

GM, started to re-evaluate its Facebook strategy earlier this year after its marketing team began to question the effectiveness of the ads. GM marketing executives, including Mr. Ewanick, met with Facebook managers to address concerns about the site’s effectiveness and left unconvinced advertising on the website made sense, according to people familiar with GM’s thinking.

Importantly, GM’s skepticism about Facebook is not due to a skepticism about digital advertising overall. GM spends about $300 million a year on digital brand advertising–just not on Facebook.

The growth of Facebook’s advertising business has slowed sharply in recent quarters, and the business achieved growth of only 37% year over year in Q1.

Advertiser skepticism may be one reason for this.

facebook google yahoo revenue This GM Ad Cancellation Is Big, Bad News (FB)Although some people are convinced that Facebook will eventually be a bigger company than Google, there is very little evidence to support this contention. At the same time, there is much to suggest that this conclusion is simply unwarranted:

  • Facebook is growing significantly more slowly than Google was at this stage of its development
  • Advertising on Facebook, however well-targeted, is like advertising on walls at a party (people are there to socialize, not buy stuff). Advertising on Google, meanwhile, is advertising to people who have explicitly expressed interest in your product (See: “Like Hell Facebook Is Killing Google“)

Facebook just rolled out a suite of new impressive-looking ad products, which will include large ads in users’ news feeds. These new units seemed to be well-received by advertisers, at least to the extent that they were excited about hearing more about them.

But GM appears to have gone to the trouble to hear a lot about them–and still came away unimpressed.

The loss of a $10 million deal obviously won’t dent the ~$5 billion of revenue Facebook is expected to generate this year. But the loss of lots of clients like GM will begin to dent it. And for a company whose growth rate is already decelerating, there’s no way this can be construed as good news.

SEE ALSO: Sorry, Facebook Fans, These Numbers Just Aren’t That Impressive

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Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 news No Comments

American Airlines Strips Man Of Unlimited Flight Pass After Racking Up 36 Million Miles

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-strips-man-of-unlimited-flight-pass-after-racking-up-36-million-miles-2012-5

american airlines airplane American Airlines Strips Man Of Unlimited Flight Pass After Racking Up 36 Million Miles

Now bankrupt American Airlines used to offer an incredible — and pricey — perk. Until 2004, $500,000 could buy a lifetime first class travel ticket for any route.

But, according to The Daily Mail, one man is having it revoked after amassing 36 million miles and costing American nearly $1 million a year.

Jack Vroom (yes, that is his real, hilarious name), bought the pass in 1989 and has taken advantage ever since.

He has flown far and wide, sometimes for just a few hours. He took a trip to Milan just to grab a motorcycle exhaust and has gone to London for a quick shopping trip.

One of Mr. Vroom’s more frequent trips was to take a sheet of silver to Gudalajara, Mexico to have belt buckles made. And while his son was in college, he’d fly 2,000 miles every weekend to watch him play football.

But he also helped people. The pass came with a companion seat, so one thing he did with it was fly home AIDS victims so they could stay with their families.

American has deemed that Mr. Vroom’s use of the pass has violated the terms they set forth, which means they can revoke it.

Even with the current financial issues, American expects to continue honoring the passes held by other customers. Mr. Vroom says he believes there are 40 in the world.

 Now check out a fast private plane >

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Thursday, May 10th, 2012 news No Comments

American Airlines Strips Man Of Unlimited Flight Pass After Racking Up 36 Million Miles

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/american-airlines-strips-man-of-unlimited-flight-pass-after-racking-up-36-million-miles-2012-5

american airlines airplane American Airlines Strips Man Of Unlimited Flight Pass After Racking Up 36 Million Miles

Now bankrupt American Airlines used to offer an incredible — and pricey — perk. Until 2004, $500,000 could buy a lifetime first class travel ticket for any route.

But, according to The Daily Mail, one man is having it revoked after amassing 36 million miles and costing American nearly $1 million a year.

Jack Vroom (yes, that is his real, hilarious name), bought the pass in 1989 and has taken advantage ever since.

He has flown far and wide, sometimes for just a few hours. He took a trip to Milan just to grab a motorcycle exhaust and has gone to London for a quick shopping trip.

One of Mr. Vroom’s more frequent trips was to take a sheet of silver to Gudalajara, Mexico to have belt buckles made. And while his son was in college, he’d fly 2,000 miles every weekend to watch him play football.

But he also helped people. The pass came with a companion seat, so one thing he did with it was fly home AIDS victims so they could stay with their families.

American has deemed that Mr. Vroom’s use of the pass has violated the terms they set forth, which means they can revoke it.

Even with the current financial issues, American expects to continue honoring the passes held by other customers. Mr. Vroom says he believes there are 40 in the world.

 Now check out a fast private plane >

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Thursday, May 10th, 2012 news No Comments

LinkedIn Hits Its Stride As A Public Company (LNKD, GRPN, ZNGA)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/chart-of-the-day-linkedin-groupon-zynga-2012-5

LinkedIn seems to have hit its stride as a public company, with the stock soaring 86% year to date.

LinkedIn reported earnings last night, and once again, it was a strong performance. In this era of hot tech companies IPOing and then getting crushed, it’s nice to see LinkedIn doing so well. The company has been pretty flawless in its execution as far as we can tell.

Below, you can see the stock growth comparisons for LinkedIn, Zynga, and Groupon from the first day of trading. It’s good news for Zynga. As you can see it took LinkedIn almost 7 months to get back to its opening trading price. Zynga has crashed, but if it can deliver a strong performance, it too could rebound.

As for Groupon, it has its work cut out for itself.

chart of the day linkedin groupon zynga stock performance may 2012 LinkedIn Hits Its Stride As A Public Company (LNKD, GRPN, ZNGA)

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Saturday, May 5th, 2012 news No Comments

MIT and Harvard announce edX web education platform, make online learning cheap and easy

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/02/mit-and-harvard-announce-edx-web-education-platform-make-online/

mit and harvard announce edx   mit media relations MIT and Harvard announce edX web education platform, make online learning cheap and easy

We’ll forgive you if you failed to take MIT up on its offer take its courses for free when it rolled out its MITx online learning platform last year. However, Harvard took notice of its efforts, and has joined MIT online to form the edX platform and offer courses and content for free on the web. There’s no word on the available subjects just yet, but video lessons, quizzes and online labs will all be a part of the curriculum, and those who comprehend the coursework can get a certificate of mastery upon completion. edX won’t just benefit those who log on, either, as it’ll be used to research how students learn and how technology can be used to improve teaching in both virtual and brick and mortar classrooms. The cost for this altruistic educational venture? 60 million dollars, with each party ponying up half. The first courses will be announced this summer, and classes are slated to start this fall. Want to know more? Check out the future of higher education more fully in the PR and video after the break.

Continue reading MIT and Harvard announce edX web education platform, make online learning cheap and easy

MIT and Harvard announce edX web education platform, make online learning cheap and easy originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 May 2012 18:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012 news No Comments

UGG Boot Maker Deckers Falls Victim To Warm Weather, Shares Plummet (DECK)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ugg-boot-maker-deckers-tanks-after-disappointing-earnings-ndash-eps-dived-to-020-from-049-last-yearnbsp-ana-2012-4

ugg UGG Boot Maker Deckers Falls Victim To Warm Weather, Shares Plummet (DECK)Shares of Deckers – maker of the ubiquitous UGG boots – are plummeting after the company reported disappointing earnings.

EPS dived to $0.20 from $0.49 last year.  Analysts were expecting $0.25. 

“Our first quarter performance was mixed versus our expectations,” said CEO Angel Martinez. “Sales growth was driven by the addition of the Sanuk brand combined with increased demand for the UGG brand spring line, partially offset by softness in boots due to the unusually warm weather.”

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Thursday, April 26th, 2012 news No Comments

An Enormous Pharmaceutical Firm Is Taking Legal Action To Make UK Hospitals Use A $1000 Drug Over A $97 One

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/novartis-uk-macular-degeneration-lucentis-avastin-2012-4

novartis An Enormous Pharmaceutical Firm Is Taking Legal Action To Make UK Hospitals Use A $1000 Drug Over A $97 One

LONDON (AP) — Drug maker Novartis says it is taking legal action in Britain to make hospitals use an eye drug that costs 700 pounds ($1,130) per shot instead of a cheaper one that costs 60 pounds ($97).

According to the U.K.’s health watchdog, Lucentis is the only drug recommended to treat the eye problem, macular degeneration.

However, the much cheaper Avastin, a cancer drug, is widely prescribed for macular degeneration, though it is not officially approved. Last year, four hospitals in southern England decided they would pay for Avastin when it was prescribed by a doctor.

Both drugs are made by Novartis.

In a statement Tuesday, Novartis said it was demanding a judicial review to make the hospitals use Lucentis rather than Avastin.

Patient groups called for an independent appraisal to determine which drug should be used.

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Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 news No Comments

Next Issue Media launches on Android, $15 a month for access to 32 magazines

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/04/next-issue-media-launches-android-honeycomb-newstand-app/

next issue Next Issue Media launches on Android, $15 a month for access to 32 magazines
If you’ve taken issue with your usual choices for buying magazines on your tablet, be it pay-per-issue or per-subscription, you’re not alone. If you’ll recall, it was nearly a year ago that Next Issue Media launched the preliminary version of its “Hulu-meets-magazines” app on the Galaxy Tab, and it’s finally ready to release this physical newsstand alternative officially. After raking in a slew of deals last November, its Android 3.0 app is now available — users can fork over a monthly fee of $10 to access all of its monthly and bi-weekly content, while an extra five bucks adds in weekly content, essentially giving you access to every publication on offer. Singular subscriptions are also available for two to 10 bucks, and you’ll currently have a choice of 32 mags from the likes of Car and Driver to The New Yorker. Interestingly, TechCrunch notes that NIM plans to get the app over to iOS “soon” — it’ll surely be interesting to see how it competes with Apple’s own Newsstand. You’ll find more info at the via links below, and you can flip over to the source for details about a 30-day trial offer.

Next Issue Media launches on Android, $15 a month for access ! to 32 ma gazines originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Apr 2012 06:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wednesday, April 4th, 2012 news No Comments

Red Hat Is The First Open Source Company To Top $1 Billion A Year (RHT)

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/its-official-red-hat-becomes-the-first-1-billion-open-source-company-2012-3


red hat ceo jim whitehurst Red Hat Is The First Open Source Company To Top $1 Billion A Year (RHT)

Red Hat announced $1.13 billion in annual revenue, up 25 percent from a year ago.

This officially marks the first time a company that makes 100% of its living from open source products topped the billion-dollar mark.

For the quarter ending February 29, Red Hat posted revenue of $297 million, up 21% year-over-year, and GAAP EPS of 18 cents, up 6%. Its quarterly non-GAAP EPS was 29 cents, up 12% from last year.

Analysts, on average, expected earnings of 27 cents per share on revenue of $291.2 million.

Shares are up over 7% to about $55 in after hours trading.

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Dr. Augustine Fou is an advisor on digital strategy and social media marketing, with over 16 years of in-the-trenches, hands-on experience. He provides client executives with objective, in-depth assessments of their current marketing programs and recommendations for improving business impact and ROI with digital insights.

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