interactive

AGENCIES DATA

Lintas allies with Pinstorm for pay-per-performance agency

Lintas Media Group, India’s second largest media buying firm, has partnered with search marketing agency Pinstorm to launch a pay-per-performance digital shop. The joint venture, titled Linstorm, marks an attempt by Lintas to boost its digital capabilities. It believes offering an alternative payment model to more traditional methods will win over clients. “Pay-for-performance is a vastly different model to the commission and retainer structures that Indian clients are used to,” commented Lintas director Lynn de Souza. “We think that this model can go a long way toward bringing accountability and transparency to investments in advertising.” Performance metrics need to be set before the campaign, and can involve either brand awareness or measures such as cost-per-unique visitor, cost-per-lead, cost-per-action and cost-per-sale. According to Mahesh Murthy, founder and CEO of Pinstorm, the two companies

Acxiom eyes Asian digital expansion

US data specialist Acxiom is targeting rapid growth in Asia on the back of the growth of digital marketing. Recently appointed global CEO/president John Meyer has set a revenue target for its Asian operations of US$200m within five years, making up a double-digit percentage of its business. At present Asia represents between 4% and 6% of its $1.4bn annual revenues. The focus of Acxiom’s Asian offering will be to integrate digital data with other forms of customer information. Meyer, hired in January from Alcatel-Lucent, said that Acxiom would consider acquisitions. He added that Asia is now a major priority. “There are parts of the world where technology is being embraced more efficiently than in the West,” he said.

Murthy... CEO of search marketing agency Pinstorm

believe they can attract US$25m of Indian adspend to the pay-per-performance model. “We are able to get a higher return than commissions if campaigns perform well and, of course, lose money if we don’t perform well. We’re taking the agency from a broker’s roll to a manager who is being paid for success,” Murthy said.

MAGAZINES

Time Out goes viral in launch campaign

Listings magazine Time Out Hong Kong has debuted a viral video campaign on YouTube and on a mock site to promote its launch. The campaign aims to “show what happens when you don’t keep your eyes or your ears fresh” via 15- to 20-second video clips, said Victor Manggunio, group creative director at Leo Burnett, the agency charged with the magazine’s creative. One video shows a person watching something boring on TV and, as the clip continues, his eyeballs pop out. Another shows somebody listening to repetitive, boring music, and both their ears drop off.

18 digital media april 2008

Facebook already has ad sales deals with MSN elsewhere in the world, but this is the first time the partnership has extended to Asia. Previously advertisers wishing to buy its inventory had to use a self-service mechanism or go via a sales team in California.

Time Out Hong Kong... launch campaign SEARCH SOCIAL NETWORK

Search has been set up. The new operation will be led by Rob Marston, who takes the role of director of search. He was previously an account director at 24/7 Real Media.

WEBSITE

Fairfax Digital rolls out youth website

Australia’s Fairfax Digital has unveiled a youth-oriented site called TheVine.com.au. The website, developed in partnership with youth agency Lifelounge, focuses on news, music, entertainment and fashion. It is available both on the internet and via mobile. Community features will seek out user-generated content and build it into the editorial. Fairfax Digital is a division of Fairfax Media.

digitalmedia-asia.com

Dell first to take HK ads on Facebook

Dell has signed up as the first Hong Kong-specific advertiser on Facebook. The computer brand agreed a deal to run banners on pages of Hong Kong users after the social network joined forces with Microsoft’s MSN to sell ads in the territory.

SMG Search to begin operations in Asia

Publicis Groupe’s media network Starcom Mediavest Group is extending its in-house search marketing unit to Asia. SMG Search will launch in Australia with offices in Sydney and Melbourne. Its first client is General Motors Holden. Australia is the first market outside the US in which SMG