Too often, argues Julia Rubiner in the Editorial Emergency newsletter, automated email messages lack the human touch. "They frequently sound like they're coming from a robot for whom English is a second language," she says. "If you're trying to connect with people and persuade them to take action … you ... more

Only 38% of US adults age 65+ are online––a significantly lower rate of Internet adoption than both the general population (74%) and the next-oldest group, adults age 50-64 (70%), according to research from Pew Internet. more

Newspaper and magazine ads are still the preferred way for consumers to find shopping deals, but the Internet is not far behind, according to a survey from Harris Interactive. more

In the B2C space there's a lot of buzz around mobile marketing, but in the B2B sector it's more likened to a whisper. B2Bs are missing out on super-sized opportunities for integrating a valuable new brand touch point for their customers and establishing a dynamic new communications channel with professional ... more

New vision and approaches can add significantly more value to brands over their competitors. Some brands can easily become commodities. Unless they choose otherwise. more

The new Apple tablet has wide appeal and will significantly expand Apple's customer base, as half of potential buyers don't own an iPod or iPhone, according to an SRG survey of online Americans age 12+. more

Animated ads are the fastest-growing and most-effective mobile ad format among both brand and direct-response focused campaigns, enabling marketers to tell a more complex message without the necessity of a click, according to a study from Quattro Wireless. more

Belgian beer label Stella Artois has added a splash of engagement to its marketing strategy with Le Bar Guide. Developed by Acrossair, Le Bar Guide is a free app that points users to the nearest bar serving Stella. Run searches by ZIP Code, or switch the augmented reality feature on—and have ... more

Over one-half (51%) of Super Bowl viewers enjoy the commercials that air throughout the game more than the game itself, according to the Nielsen Company. The remaining 49% say they enjoy the game more than the ads. more

YouTube is set to debut movie rentals this week with a limited selection of independent films from the Sundance Film Festival, according to YouTube Biz Blog. more

Traffic to retail websites grew in December as the online holiday shopping season reached a crescendo—while consumers' holiday festivities generated a surge in traffic to flowers/gifts/greetings and e-card sites, according to comScore. In addition, traffic to shipping sites reached a 2009 high as consumers rushed to ensure timely delivery of ... more

Last summer, a happy couple sent ripples through the Net when their video, JK Wedding Entrance Dance, hit YouTube. The video depicted a wedding entourage dancing down the aisle to Chris Brown's "Forever," concluding with the bride cutting the rubber in the general direction of her nervous, but giddy, groom. Great ... more

In view of improved expectations of economic recovery, the US advertising market is forecast to fall just 0.1% this year, according to a revised forecast from MAGNA. The reassessment is a slight improvement from MAGNA's forecast issued in December 2009, which projected a 1.3% decline in ad spending. more

"Retailers have complained incessantly about unfair competition from e-commerce stores," writes Mark Riffey at the Business is Personal blog, "but not enough have done something about it." Online shopping is undeniably convenient and efficient. After all, customers can browse, comparison-shop and make purchases from the comfort of their favorite chair. But—despite ... more

Four out of five (81%) of Web users click away from online video pages when they encounter mid-stream rebuffering rather than wait for slow video streams to reload, according to a study from TubeMogul. more

Total magazine rate-card-reported advertising revenue closed at $19.45 billion in 2009, down 18.1% from 2008 levels, according to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB). more

Your own keyword analytics data is the most valuable marketing asset of your company, says WordStream’s Larry Kim in an article at MarketingProfs. The data contained in the keyword report from your Web-analytics application—which tells you how people are finding your site through paid and organic search—comprise a far more effective ... more

Nearly three-quarters (74%) of American adults use the Internet––a slight drop from 79% reported in April 2009, when the survey did not include Spanish interviews, according to a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. more

Ever wish you could take your favorite Web strategist with you wherever you roam? Well, sure enough, now you can. App developer MotherApp brings you the Web Strategy iPhone App, which lets users read blog posts, reviews, news and other updates from such names as Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Brian Solis ... more

In the aftermath of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, much of what people are learning about the quake is coming from social media––with Twitter posts the leading source of discussion, followed by online video, blogs, and other online boards/forums, according to The Nielsen Company. more

CBS is the new top "must-keep TV" brand in America , chosen by 49% of viewers, and narrowly beating its rival ABC (48%), which had led the pack as the top brand for two years, according to a survey of US consumers by SRG. FOX is now in the third ... more

Nearly one-half (45%) of cable TV advertisers plan to increase ad spending on the ESPN Sports Network in the next 12 months, and 40% plan to allocate more spend on the Discovery Channel, according to Beta Research. more

News flash: LinkedIn still boasts one of the largest, tightest-knit collections of professionals in the social-networking space. And now it wants to be even more useful to marketers. Custom Groups is a new feature at the site that lets users build sponsored collectives. Simply establishing a non-branded LinkedIn group is still ... more

Over the past 20 years (1990-2009), the Super Bowl has generated $2.17 billion of network sales from a total of 210 different advertisers and more than 1,400 commercial messages, according to TNS Media Intelligence. more

A record high of nearly 31 billion videos were delivered to more than 170 million US Internet users in November 2009, according to comScore. more