Sometimes I find things in unexpected places and ways. This is one of those times. It also brings home the conflicts of interest that can arise within companies involved in different aspects of online advertising.

A friend sent a link over IM the other day for a news article they thought was amusing on the NYPost web site. I clicked through and noticed a pop-up ad being delivered. That wasn’t an unusal occurrence, especially for a content site. As I went to close out the pop-up window, I found an ad which I recognized for SpamBlockerUtility. This is a “free” software application to block spam owned by Zango and bundled with Zango when installed. (more…)

Zango has set their sights on the UK and European Market. Zango announced today the opening of Zango offices in the UK in order “…to enable Zango to more effectively serve interactive advertisers in the rapidly-growing European market.” In addition to opening offices in the UK, Zango will also be adding personal in the UK.

The press release states Zango currently has almost 100 European advertisers. The move is to allow Zango to better serve these existing clients and to better reach new advertisers outside of the US.

A heads up to our friends across the pond heading into Q4. UK Networks and Merchants should increase their monitoring for Zango advertising by both affiliates and merchants.

Chris Pirillo wasn’t to happy to find some of his videos listed on Zango. Well you can listen for yourself how Chris felt about the whole situation.

Viewing the above video does not require the installation of adware onto your computer. Oh, I mean crapware…at least according to Chris…just his opinion of course.

Revver publishers should let Revver know how they feel about their content being syndicated to Zango. Of course, this isn’t the first time the Zango/Revver relationship has come up.

It looks like a ruling was handed down yesterday on ValueClick’s motions to dismiss. From the web site of the plaintiff’s attorneys:

On August 27, 2007, the Honorable Florence-Marie Cooper issued two orders denying, in part, ValueClick’s Motions to Dismiss the Class Action Complaints. The Court held that Defendants failed to meet their burden of establishing that Plaintiffs could not proceed in the lawsuits.

The pdf’s of the ruling are available as well at:

SRC Motion To Dismiss Order
Carrier Motion To Dismiss Order

Lots of legalese. It looks like the cases will proceed. Additionally, it appears that the plaintiff’s will have te opportunity to amend one claim the judge moved to dismiss if they so chose. So that point may end up back in the claim in some form. At least, that’s what it appears to my non-legal mind towards the end of the Carrier MTD Order.

I’m still wondering if and when ValueClick (VCLK) and/or CJ will have any kind of public comment regarding these lawsuits.

AFP will continue to follow developments in these lawsuits as they progress.

It seems that companies like to wear many different hats these days in affiliate marketing. They are an affiliate network, an affiliate, a SEO company, an OPM company, etc. Sometimes, this situation can lead to a complimentary of services available through one company. It also opens the door to potential conflicts of interest. Of course not all companies will exploit those conflicts of interest. But there will also be those companies who are more than willing to take advantage for their own financial gain. When companies exploit conflicts of interest for their own financial gain, the picture can become quite ugly. Case in point….. (more…)

In a press release dated yesterday (July 11), WhenU announced several major changes to their business model.

Here are the highlights:

• New CEO and President, Chirag Patel
• New Name, MeMedia
• New Web Site, MeMedia.com
• New Advertising Network (MeMedia) Expanding into a MultiModal Behavioral Ad Network
• New Desktop Application, AdVantage (ok, I’m not sure if it’s really a new application or the same WhenU software with a new name…I haven’t found an actual copy of it yet)
• Expansion of Their Global User Base
• Expansion into Mobile Product Offering (SMS) <---WhenU, I mean MeMedia, coming to a cell phone near your --->
• Advertising widget to allow software publishers to embed behavioral advertising in their applications
• Web-based and Mobile Advertisng Widgets
• Viral Video Distribution Supported by Advertisng for Desktop and Mobile

I wonder if the AdVantage software is TRUSTe certified? Regardless, it looks like the behavioral/contextual adware company formerly known as WhenU has a lot of new plans in the works. The MeMedia site doesn’t seem completely finished yet (there’s some links which aren’t linked and coming soon pages) but some very basic information can be found there. I also see several new domains registered to WhenU which aren’t live yet as well. Several of them seem related to the new AdVantage “consumer desktop application.” I’ll have to wait and see.

They certainly seem ready to try and ride the wave of mobile technology and Web 2.0.

On June 28, 2007 the FTC issued their final consent order with regards to DirectRevenue. Since it is a twelve page government document, I realize many will probably not read through it. Since there are some important points in the decree, I’ll highlight them here.

The Consent Order applies to DirectRevenue LLC, DirectHoldings LLC, the officers (Joshua Abram, Daniel Kaufman, Alan Murray, and Rodney Hook), their agents, representatives, employees or anyone directly or indirectly under the control of any of these. With regards to the officers of DirectRevenue, it applies to them as individuals and as officers of the company. This is significant in light of the historical past of parties involved with DirectRevenue being involved with other adware ventures. I take this to mean that the above entities can not go out and start up shop again, either collectively or individually, under a new company and engage in violate the following orders. (more…)

ZDNet is reporting “legal” spyware which targets Blackberry. The software is FlexiSPY and is marketed as software to catch cheating spouses, etc.

According to ZDNet the software:

Once physically installed on a mobile device, a remote user is given complete monitoring and access control.

This includes bugging voice calls, logging mobile e-mail messages and SMS, tracking the location of the user, or even remotely switching on the phone’s microphone to bug a user regardless of whether they are on a call.

I don’t see how there should be any “legal” to something which does the above…but what do I know?  

Media Traffic’s contextual adware application, Vomba, has been delisted from TRUSTe’s White List of downloadable software. According to the announcement made on TRUSTe’s blog, the delisting was at the request of Media Traffic. It seems that Media Traffic decided it was not cost effective to maintain their certification, especially now that their affiliate program for Vomba installation is live. Part of the certification process involves demonstrating your distribution network is being compliant with installation methods. The TRUSTe blog also states that they were in the process of investigating how closely other companies under the same corporate umbrella were tied to Vomba and Media Traffic. Could they mean Integrated Search Technologies?

Ian Lee, founder of Affiliate Marketers Alliance, recently blogged that WaterFront Media is almost six months behind in payments for their affiliate payments through Commission Junction. Volumes could be said about just that situation with regards to both WaterFront Media and CJ. Ian does a pretty good job stating, what should be the obvious, on the matter of non-payment to affiliates.

If not paying your affiliates for nearly six months isn’t bad enough, it seems that WaterFront Media is capable of adding insult to injury. How could that be possible? Well WaterFront Media seems to have a propensity for marketing the various web properties they represent through Zango. This isn’t their affiliates (why would their affiliates buy ad inventory even through Zango when they aren’t getting paid?) but WaterFront Media themselves doing the ad buys. Ok, the ads come through the Agora Media domain, but same thing just a different name. (more…)