Will 2012 be the year of even more consolidation in the digital performance agency space? I think so, but we will have to wait and see!

Here’s FirstClick’s press release…

FirstClick Consulting, Australia’s leading independent search marketing consultancy specialising in SEM, SEO, Conversion Optimisation and Digital Strategy, has acquired MediaMax, a digital performance agency that services clients including STA Travel and Schering – Plough.

MediaMax, founded in 2005, will operate under the FirstClick brand. As part of the acquisition, FirstClick welcomes James Tait, founder of MediaMax, who will join FirstClick as Client Services Director.

Grace Chu, CEO of FirstClick says, “We saw a fantastic opportunity to expand our reach into the travel sector by acquiring MediaMax. Not only are the MediaMax clients strong, premium brands but the MediaMax team, headed up by James Tait, allows us to grow our team rapidly and to an extremely high standard.”

FirstClick has also added three more premium brands to its impressive portfolio of clients. Medibank, Fuji Zerox and Amaysim have all appointed FirstClick Consulting to manage their search marketing campaigns. All three brands join the likes of ANZ, realestate.com.au, news Digital Media and seek.

Grace continues, “I’m thrilled with the rate of growth FirstClick is experiencing. We’re really excited to be working on such strong brands that are committed to leading the way in search marketing. We’ll continue to do what we do best – and that’s make money for our clients through strategic search marketing.”

Although specialists in search, FirstClick also provides the latest thinking and out-of-the-box solutions across ROI strategy, Local Search, Social Optimisation, Mobile Search, Video Search, Performance and Display Networks, Analytics and Training.

Wow. 13 years old.

Welcome to your teenage years. Angst, anger and rebellion to ensue.

I got interrupted by my 3 year old during the set up process so I’m sorry if you visited and the site looked a bit.. err… odd!  All should be well now.

Please let me know what you think in the comments!

(And… that link above is a our affiliate link. So if you’re thinking about buying a studiopress theme then please buy through that link and help support semsamurai.com!)

ireckon and BlueGlass Interactive have partnered to for BlueGlass Interactive Australia.

I know Darryl (@ireckon) and Greg Boser (@GregBoser) quite well after hanging with them at SMX events over the years. And I’m very excited for them and everyone else involved.

Two very passionate and knowledgeable companies combining can only be a good thing for the AU market.

A sponsored link for webmaster tools.

Is this new? I’ve not seen it before,  and I don’t recall ever seeing the disclaimer ‘Google promotion‘  instead of ‘Sponsored links’..

Interesting!

Perhaps Google have finally given in to pressure… But I am still seeing them buy ‘sponsored links’ for other terms.

I like it – not sure why ‘Parisian Love’ was chosen as the theme, but hey maybe they’re trying to appeal to a global audience.

Thoughts?

Here’s the Ad:

But the rumor from Mashable & Search Engine Land seems to point to a Google TV AD for this year’s Superbowl.

SEL: “A Google Super Bowl Ad? Eric Schmidt Hints At It”

Mashable: “Google Buys Super Bowl Ad? [RUMOR]”

The rumor all started after Schmidt posted a cryptic Tweet saying:

Can’t wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said “Hell has indeed frozen over.”)

All I can say is OMG – I never actually thought Google would run a TV ad. And to be honest, I still don’t think they will… not for ‘search’ anyway…

If there is an ad, I’m with Mashable – surely it’s the Nexus One they’re promoting. Or alternatively Local Search? Or maybe they’ve a Google Tablet to launch as they thought they’d start with a bang!.

Maybe they just want to do a massive brand campaign – Google Kicks ass, connect everywhere and anywhere, search lots, get targeted ads you will love….

Who knows, but it’s got to be consumer focused, and not ‘search engine’ consumer focused, if that makes sense…

Update: Eating My Shorts if the Youtube AD Blitz terms and conditions are anything to go by…

Ok – so I made that up… completely fabricated… but it’s made me think.

On the 21st of January, Google AdWords blog announced that they’ve now release new targeting options for mobile ads. It’s a good read so go take a look.

I’m going to cover mobile PPC advertising in later posts, but the thing that caught my eye is this image that they posted…

In the ‘Devices’ section above you’ll note how Google now allow advertisers to target specific devices: – Android, iPhone/iPod Touch and Palm WebOS. This is actually huge for certain markets as it will allow precision targeting for platform specific applications.

Anyway, with the launch of the iPad today I thought, hmmm will the iPad just be another addition to the ‘apple’ targeting? eg. iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad, or will it be a device category in it’s own right?

My gut feel, and if what Steve Jobs has said is true, iPad may well open up a whole new level of possibilities for many different market segments. Surely then if this is the case, the iPad will indeed be an individually targeted device within AdWords because ultimately there are going to be products, services and applications that users will be more likely to interact with on a tablet type device than they would on an iPhone. Time will tell.

Montreal, QC, Canada – August 10, 2009  – Acquisio inc., a leading provider of Paid Search Management Software, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all assets of privately held Emovendo, including its flagship product, landing page application PageVester . The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“We’re thrilled to announce the latest addition to our offering. This is an important milestone. Our customers will soon be able to gain control over the part of their marketing campaigns which has been in the hands of IT for so long, the infamous landing page” says Marc Poirier, Co-Founder of Acquisio.

“This technology allows marketers with absolutely no design or IT skills to assemble professional looking, dynamic landing pages, complete with forms, validation rules, and so much more. The application is also fully integrated with salesforce.com and can automatically feed it with every new captured lead”, explains Martin Le Sauteur, CEO at Acquisio.
Marketers using the Acquisio SEARCH platform will now have complete control over the entire cycle of their clients’ marketing campaigns. Alexandre Pelletier, founder and former CEO of Emovendo, says “Not only does PageVester allow users to rapidly build and deploy professional landing pages, it also supports the creation and management of A/B tests with Google Website Optimizer”. A/B tests allow marketers to present alternating versions of the same page to its site visitors in order to determine which one provides the best ROI.

Marc Poirier adds “Tweaking ad copy and bids is essential stuff, but it will only take you so far. You need to work on  post-click activity. This is where PageVester comes in. It delivers instant value to its users by simplifying landing page creation and A/B test implementation.”
About Acquisio

Acquisio is the creator of Acquisio SEARCH a Software-as-a-Service solution designed specifically for on-line advertising agencies managing pay-per-click campaigns on Google, Yahoo and BING. Acquisio’s set of applications empowers campaign managers, allowing them to spend less time building and launching campaigns, and spend more time on strategy and intelligent campaign refinement.