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Mar
30
GM CEO Wagoner forced out…now what?
Posted by Payam Zamani, Chairman & CEO
Filed Under Economy | 2 Comments
Often it’s hard to understand the logic behind some of these politically-motivated moves.
While I don’t fully disagree with the need for a shake-up of the U.S. car makers, I’m not sure if replacing the CEO of GM (who was actually making reasonable progress) with his own hand-picked COO is much of a shake-up. It seems to me that we are building up too much heat regarding the AIG situation, and decided to take our anger out on GM.
Incidentally, I’m interested to know how badly we have now damaged Chrysler’s ability to get an equitable deal done with Fiat. Can you imagine entering negotiations with Fiat while they know that your main financial backer has publicly announced that 1) your business no longer is viable, and 2) they will only offer support if you get a deal done with Fiat…talk about having close to zero leverage.
I, for one, am very concerned that the steps we are taking to shore up the current economic problems are simply too politically-motivated, and don’t set-up the reorganized companies in the best manner to succeed. We hire and fire executives based on public opinion vs. what is truly good for the companies and can drive their ultimate success. We give the executives of these companies the task of fixing monumental problems, but when they earn a contractual bonus we demonize them.
We need to have the courage to make the right decision on its own merits. Find the best people to run these companies, and don’t expect them to be public servants Pay them market rate and more, so they are lured away from their current high-paying jobs at companies that are doing well, even in this tough environment.
The worst thing we can do is invest billions in these troubled businesses, but be stingy when it comes to hiring and paying the skilled individuals who are badly needed to wisely invest taxpayer money and turn these organizations around.
Mar
24
Needham Research: Picking the Winners & Loser of Declining CPM Rates
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Online Marketing, Research | 1 Comment
Research just came out from Needham titled “Picking the Winners & Loser of Declining CPM Rates”.
The key take away from the pieces was that display (banner, graphical or brand ads) represent ~33% of total online advertising (about $7.6BN in ‘08) and CPMs have dropped. More specifically, since mid-2008 pricing for display ads has been under pressure, driven by:
- A ton of lower priced inventory from social networks (Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, Bebo, etc)
- The economic downturn pressure on ad spend and pricing. In particular the CPMs common at the beginning of ‘08 shifted downward towards the end of ‘08.
- According to Needham, conditions have not improved in ‘09 and appear to have gotten worse.
While display is not as sexy as search, a rapid shift from away from CPM branding into performance marketing CPCs is a good thing for the industry as a whole. Jumping down a level, I agree with the delineations in the report of breaking inventory into three primary buckets:
- Premium (e.g., Yahoo’s front page, ESPN, iVillage, etc)
- Low-end (e.g., “remnant” inventory like Yahoo! Mail, most social network inventory, and some “long-tail” sites)
- Mid-market inventory (everything in between – often sold by large, reputable networks and ad exchanges).
If you have the money to burn and are used to offline advertising rates, you will find online a fraction of the cost and highly measurable. I do disagree on the need for premium / branded placements. If you add behavioral targeting and advertising exchanges into the mix, you can find and buy any audience on smaller less expensive sites and not be beholden to “brand sites with high CPMs”.
To illustrate the points, please see the graphs below:
One of the biggest challenges we have found with online marketing is the significant difference in quality of traffic between online sources. One of your core challenges in venturing into customer acquisition using display will be to create multiple tests you we can test creative, test the audience on a given site and do it in a profitable manner. OR — you can just purchase the clicks, enhanced from Reply!.
Mar
23
Reply! Launches Lead Generation 2.0 Group on LinkedIN.com
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Lead Generation, Online Marketing, Reply! News, Social Media | Leave a Comment
Reply! has just launched a new group on LinkedIN.com. 
Lead Generation 2.0 is a group for professionals interested in the future of Lead Generation. Our industry is quickly evolving and professionals can leverage the knowledge of crowds to find out what’s next, guide strategy, find new sources of traffic, identify talent and drive revenue.
The group has an open membership and participation is highly encouraged. Please use the group to stay on top of evolutions in online consumer acquisition strategies from social media to innovations in behavioral targeting, advertising exchanges, social search, lead marketplaces and of course PPC and SEO.
We look forward to your participation.
Mar
23
Reply! To Sit On J.D. Power’s Automotive Internet Roundtable Oct, 2009
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Autos, Reply! News, Tradeshows | Leave a Comment
Reply! is thrilled to be sitting on J.D. Power’s Automotive Roundtable, October 14-16, 2009. Since 1986, the Automotive Roundtable has become the premiere forum for auto industry leaders and executives to share and discuss the developments and market forces that affect the automotive industry.
Upcoming Meetings
Automotive Internet Roundtable – 2009
October 14-16, 2009
Red Rock Resort
Las Vegas, NV
Speakers at the meeting include CEOs and senior business leaders from automotive manufacturers, global suppliers, major retailers, and experts from the corporate, industrial, financial, technological, political, and consulting sectors. If you are attending the event and would like to schedule a meeting, please let us know.
Mar
23
Kelsey: Marketplaces 2009 Top 10 Takeaways
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Tradeshows | Leave a Comment
March 19, 2009
As I wasn’t able to attend, I grabbed most of this post direclty from Kelsey “Marketplaces 2009: Top 10 Takeaways”
Thanks to everyone who came out to L.A. for the Marketplaces 2009 conference this week — and to everyone who followed us on the blogs and Twitter. We had a great time. Here are some top-line takeaways.
1. The vertical online environment is still immature and will actually grow very healthily over the next several years. It is amazing to see the growth that sites like AutoTrader and Cars.com are delivering in this environment. Specific to Reply!, we have done extremely well in generating clicks and leads for the automotive and real estate verticals and we are rapidly expanding into other verticals. In fact, we have just launched home improvement and used cars. We believe the economic downturn has forced local merchants to reduce or eliminate offline advertising spend that can not be measured and transfer that investment to online consumer acquisition.
2. SEO is a big part of any vertical’s success — AOL YP gets 50 percent of its usage from SEO. G5 Search marketing, which specializes in self storage; Teachstreet; and Allmenus.com will all leverage it. But SEO can’t be the only tool in the arsenal. Krillion had to make direct affiliate deals to get going. Reply! agrees that SEO is critical but have also realized that investment in performance marketing like SEM/PPC and advertising networks allows us greater control of our P&L and ability for forecast revenue.
3. One of the biggest challenges is getting more local vertical information online. Google Local head Chris LaSala estimated that less than 10 percent is online. But things are looking up: AutoTrader head Chip Perry noted that used car listings have gone from 3 percent to 50 percent. We need a similar migration in other categories.
4. Syndication is huge. It is the new driver for Citysearch via Facebook Connect, and for Oodle across a wide range of services. The open API model, perfected with Google Maps distribution to thousands of sites, is the new standard.
5. Mobile advertising can bring some revenues, but that’s not why mobile is important. As Cars.com’s Bill Swislow and NearbyNow’s Scott Dunlap noted, the real power of mobile is providing 24/7 information on the go, when you’re shopping. Verticals must mobile-ize now.
6. If you are a platform provider, you won’t be successful solely on the backs of newspapers and YP. They can still be very helpful, but they’re not the main deal. Reply! believes that online marketing has been too difficult and until recently, most companies didn’t have the time or expertise to invest in making online a viable acquisition channel.
7. The days of multimillion-dollar “slotting” deals are gone — especially for established brands. At the same time, new verticals still need portal exposure. Can they deal/partner?
8. Anyone can set up a “TV station” using the Web, and video still beats text and images, every time. Newspapers have made some tentative efforts, but new video providers like Greenspun’s 702.tv in Las Vegas might prove to be the ticket. It’s fast-paced underground local videos beat the pants off a 30-minute news broadcast.
9. The mixture of video and search is a real killer app. Demand Media’s bid to be the YouTube of instructional video could really be a powerhouse.
10. The elasticity of social and user-generated tools can help verticals create entire new programs for advertisers. It is especially impressive to see Active Network local event blogs for Dunkin’ Donuts, and Citysearch’s MopSpots blog for hair salons — a huge Citysearch ad segment, albeit under-media’d. Reply! continues to be very confident that the knowledge of crowds will accelerate online spending. We believe that vendor ratings, local neighbor groups and local advertisers will be responsible for the next +$50 Billion in online growth.
In fact, Reply’s platform has been designed to be simple, targeted and profitable… especially for companies that are not prepared to dedicate a team of employees to online acquisiton.
We look forward to your thoughts and feedback.
Mar
10
Remembering The Internet Bubble 9 Years Ago
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Reply! News | Leave a Comment
Payam Zamani, Reply!’s CEO was interviewed in the San Francisco Chronicle’s article “Remembering The Internet Bubble 9 Years Ago.” It is a fun article and reminds us that nine years ago today, the NASDAQ reached an all-time high of 5,123.52. Others interviewed in the article include:
- Philip Kaplan, Dot-com era: Founder, F- Company
- Meg Whitman, Dot-com era: CEO, eBay
- Jerry Kaplan, Dot-com era: CEO, Egghead.com
- Payam Zamani, Dot-com era: CEO, Autoweb
Zamani led online car seller Autoweb for two years, stepping down just prior to its IPO. In keeping with the frenzy of the times, its shares tripled in value on their first day of trading. But business realities – Autoweb hemorrhaged money following its public premiere – eventually intervened, prompting a merger with a rival. Later, Zamani founded PurpleTie, an online dry cleaning service that he shut down after the economy soured and new funding dried up.
Now: CEO, Reply.com, an online advertising company.
Lessons learned: “I learned a lot about online marketing, not about how to make it work for us, but to make it work for the advertisers. I started that in 1994, and here we are in 2009, and carmakers are finally dealing with so much pain that they are coming to us and asking us for help.
“I also learned a lot about how to deal with VCs. It’s really important to surround yourself with the right people. This time around I was really focused on finding the right VC who I could work with and look up to and get assistance.”
Mar
10
Interesting Technology Blogs
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Online Marketing | Leave a Comment
We read and follow several blogs at Reply! and are always looking for new sources of information. We came across this list of blogs that frequently post on Techmeme and weren’t familiar with several of the sources so we thought we would share.
For the full list you can check out this post
Mar
6
Reply! Featured on SlideShare Homepage
Posted by Brian Bowman, CMO, Reply.com
Filed Under Lead Generation, Reply! News | Leave a Comment
Our presentation on the state of online lead generation, “Is Lead Generation Dead? Transforming Lead Generation,” has been featured on SlideShare.net. The presentation, which debuted at ad:tech NYC ‘08, discusses the problems with existing lead generation methods and explores the concepts that will lay the foundation for the future of the industry. You can view the presentation here.
