Marketing Biz: U Mad Bro? Teens Bailing On Facebook, Anger at ICANN

There’s an undercurrent of hostility in the marketing world this week. Google and Apple continue to joust, sending not-so-subtle messages about their intentions. There was also news that teens might not be liking (pun intended) Facebook as much as they once did. Ditto goes for Bret Taylor, Facebook CTO, who is leaving the company this summer. Finally, Dave Winer joins a chorus of folks who are mad at ICANN.

Not everyone was mad though, as we saw two fairly high profile acquisitions in the digital marketing vertical. Congrats to AKQA and Econsultancy.

Google Offers app now available on iPhone

Today we’re announcing the new Google Offers app for iPhone. Now, iPhone users can discover, buy and redeem Google Offers, as well as deals from our partners, on-the-go.

The timing of this announcement could be completely coincidental but I find it interesting that it comes right after Apple made it clear they were going to use their own maps product in iOS 6.

Google to introduce low-priced Android tablet in ‘coming weeks’

On the heels of the unveiling of the Microsoft Surface tablet, Google is reportedly planning to take another stab at Apple’s iPad with a new, low-cost Android tablet the company is expected to introduce in the near future.

U mad bro? Yes, I think it’s pretty clear that the simmering hostilities between Apple and Google are boiling over. Android has a commanding share of the smartphone market and wants to do the same for tablets. Can they do it?

AKQA, the world’s leading independent & most awarded digital agency, to join WPP

AKQA will continue to operate as an independent and stand-alone brand within WPP and be led by founder and CEO Ajaz Ahmed and Chairman Tom Bedecarré. Tom will also become President of WPP Ventures, a new Silicon Valley-based company, which will explore new digital investment opportunities for WPP as a whole.

If you needed further evidence of the rising importance of digital marketing, here it is. WPP, the ad agency juggernaut has acquired AKQA to spearhead their digital marketing efforts.  The shift in marketing dollars online is (finally and firmly) underway.

Acquisition of Econsultancy for an initial consideration £12m

The earnings enhancing acquisition of Econsultancy provides us with an exciting opportunity to acquire a leading information brand in a high growth sector with global potential which fits well with Centaur products including Marketing Week and New Media Age.

Billed as the leading source of independent advice and insight on digital marketing and ecommerce, Econsultancy shows (again) the rising importance and value of digital marketing.

Teens Choosing Tumblr, Foursquare Over Facebook

A study released recently by youth market research firm Ypulse shows that more teens are bypassing Facebook to check in on Foursquare and post photos and thoughts on Tumblr.

This doesn’t surprise me one bit. Facebook is well along the innovation curve which means it’s now full of late-adopters and laggards (i.e. – parents and seniors). Teens will naturally seek refuge from the multi-generational nature of Facebook.

Stealthy Swipp raises $3.5M, takes a swipe at Twitter and Facebook

Swipp will blend social media, personal data, and commerce, although Thorson won’t say exactly what it does or what it looks like yet.

“You will use Swipp in addition to, and in some cases instead of, other social media applications,” Thorson said, adding that the platform has Twitter-, Yelp-, and Foursquare-like characteristics.

Will those teens flock to something new like Swipp? Maybe but it’s tough to tell exactly what Swipp is at this point. While Thorson has a solid pedigree it all feels over-hyped on par with Cuil.

Facebook Working On Location-Based Mobile-Ad Product

Facebook Inc. (FB), owner the world’s largest social network, says it’s working on a location-based mobile-advertising product that will allow companies to target users with real-time data showing their whereabouts.

“Phones can be location-specific so you can start to imagine what the product evolution might look like over time, particularly for retailers,” Carolyn Everson, Facebook’s vice president of global marketing solutions, said in a telephone interview. “We’ve had offers being tested over the last couple of months.”

Social? Check. Local? Check. Mobile? Check. Commerce? Check. These are the ingredients that major Internet companies are trying to pour into their products, knowing that there is a huge pot of gold for the one that gets there first.

I’ll be leaving Facebook

I’m very proud of our recent accomplishments in our platform and mobile products, from Open Graph and App Center to Facebook Camera and our iOS integration. I’m even more excited for the world to see all the amazing things these teams have coming.

This is an excerpt from a wall post by Bret Taylor, CTO of Facebook. I have long believed that it was Bret (and the FriendFeed team) that brought the idea of the Open Graph to Facebook. That Bret is leaving before it has been fully realized is surprising.

A new way to experience profiles: with or without replies

When you visit a Twitter user’s profile, you may want to see his or her original Tweets rather than their conversations. Then again, you may enjoy seeing the back-and-forth exchanges they have with other Twitter users. Now you can have it both ways.

Once again, a new Twitter feature that benefits the user but is also part of an initiative to make Twitter feeds more advertising compatible. That’s right, this feature is on by default for verified profiles.

Twitter to roll out ad products to 50 countries

Twitter, which currently offers its advertising products in just a handful of countries, intends to roll out them out to 50 territories by the end of the year with certain markets the top of the list.

Latin America, particularly Brazil, and west European countries such as Spain and Germany will be the first to get Twitter’s three advertising products – promoted tweets, promoted trends and promoted accounts.

Twitter continues their evolution as an ad platform with the rollout of advertising products internationally. Clearly, Twitter is targeting countries where mobile adoption is high which gives added insight into their long-term strategy.

ICANN is wrong

This may have been an interesting experiment in the abstract, worth doing so we could find out what the problems are. We owe our thanks to the potential registrants for showing us so clearly. Now the answer should be an emphatic No. The TLDs we have are fine. There is no shortage of names that this is needed to address. Let’s work on solving problems, not creating new ones.

With so many people (smart ones too) coming out against these ‘brand’ TLDs, the question here is whether we can put the genie back in the bottle?

Yahoo hires former Google director to lead ad revenue

Yahoo Inc has hired former Google director and media veteran Michael Barrett to help lead its efforts to reemerge as an entertainment and information destination that wins advertising revenue.

This is sort of a win-win situation for someone like Barrett. If he actually does turn things around (a long shot) it’s a huge feather in his cap. If he doesn’t he can simply say Yahoo was unsalvageable. I’m guessing it’ll be the latter.

YC-Backed Kippt Launches Collaborative Bookmarking App To Become The GitHub For Links

Since March, the founders have been focusing on their bookmarking app full time, developing a plan to take the app beyond bookmarking with the goal of changing the way people collect, share and discuss links and online information. Today, the startup is launching the next phase of its vision: A new version of the app, which sees it move from being a simple utility tool to a collaborative service that allows users to co-create lists, add comments, and share them publicly with the Kippt community.

Delicious, Evernote, Bit.ly, Trunk.ly and a host of others have done something similar. No one has mined the vast amount of information available appropriately. Maybe Kippt will figure it out or perhaps they should just take the data to Kaggle instead.