Chris Dessi - Vice President zanox, Inc

Everything counts. Everything adds up, or takes away. The details are everything. The world is filled with excuse makers. The top 10% are action oriented. This doesn't mean that your not afraid. The only question is do you act in spite of the fear? Or do you act anyway?

Losers always say "I wonder whether is will work"

Winners always say "How"?

How can I get from where I am - to where I want to go. How will lead to creativity, stimulation, and action.

Today take a moment to learn from others. Seek out an expert in their field, and ask questions. The future belongs to the risk takers. You can't make an adjustment until your in flight. Take some risk today. I am

Generation WE: The Movement Begins... from Generation We on Vimeo.

1 Mio EUR Contest Finalists: MindMeister
Posted by swa in Web Services Contest, October 29th, 2008
We want to introduce the finalists of the 1 Million Euro zanox Web Services Contest 2008 to the public. They made it out of ca. 150 to be invited to present their business model at the Finale of the 1 Mio EUR zanox Web Services Contest 2008.



MindMeister – Online Collaborative Mind Mapping

MindMeister (http://www.mindmeister.com) is the market-leading collaborative online mind mapping and ideation tool. Launched in May 2007, the site
had attracted more than 140,000 subscribed users since going live and won several prestigious awards.
MindMeister is at the forefront of Office 2.0, a trend of moving productivity tools online, which was initiated by Google with its well-established “Docs” suite. Such applications take advantage of the
possibilities of the Internet to allow for real-time collaboration of globally distributed users, just through a standard web browser.

MindMeister achieves this for the world of mind mapping, a fast-growing structural thinking and brainstorming technique even better fitted for collaborative use. MindMeisters benefits comprise
easy of use, online and offline availability, real-time-collaboration, and sharing. It innovates the way you take notes, brainstorm, or plan your projects. MindMeister – a solely browser-based software service – takes out the hassle of maintaining software installs for usage in organizations like schools or enterprises.

With its latest v3 release MindMeister introduces the concept of WikiMaps (a super-easy collaboration mode), an animated History View, much improved Task-Management, and its own file format.

When I was in college I remember sitting with my advisor/mentor Dr. LoPresto. He sat with me as we chatted about my career options. At the time I was graduating in a few months with a degree in Psychology. I had spent my Junior year studying in Leuven, Belgium, and I had the "business bug". While was in Belgium I took core business courses next to University of Chicago business students: and I was getting straight A's. Now what?

I remember vividly Dr, LoPresto asking me what I wanted to do: and I said "I don't know".

Not the best answer to give to the man that had helped to make my Senior year at Loyola College so special. He pushed back and asked me

"where were you for the first two years at Loyola?"
"Who did you spend time with?"
"Who did you learn from"?

I had no answer. At this moment it dawned on me. Did I make an effort to get to know everyone that could assist with my career decisions? Had I consulted with students that were studying Psychology? Had I exhausted all resources in the Psychology Department - or had I waited until the last minute for the reality of graduation to set in.

What had happened here?

I hadn't set Goals
I didn't get to know EVERYONE
I didn't listen

How can these lessons translate in business?

Dr. LoPreso helped me with many things that day. He helped to point out a few things I did wrong, but he also let me know what I did right. I was on the right path to business - but I had to cultivate that path. I couldn't just aimlessly wander into a business interview with an answer like "I don't know"....

Set Goals - know what you want, and go get it. I eventually realized I needed to further my business education before I could succeed after graduation. I applied to NYU, and went on to earn a MS in Direct Marketing
Get to know EVERYONE - I put myself out there, and didn't hide. I tried to get to know everyone I could, and I picked their brains. what did they do on a day to day basis? How did they get there? Did they love it? Since then I've cultivated a network of colleagues I can say are friends as well. Life's to short to use people as stepping stones. Who am I to say I'm better than anyone?
Listen - I shut my cocky mouth and started to listen. I realized I had so much to learn - and I still do. So I shut up and listen, and it will pay dividends.

Working with a performance based ad network can make you a superstar, or can get you in the hot seat quicker than you can say Vonage.

Here are a few tips that will help you as the advertiser get back into the control seat. Networks have a tendency to promise the moon, and deliver a hunk of cheese. Don't let this happen to you. Work closely with the right partner and you'll reap the rewards. Give up that control, and they will send you a bag full of useless leads that will kill your entire marketing budget. Be smart - understand your allowable acquisition and get in front of a few different networks. Ask lots of questions and insist on the following - and you'll be fine.

1. Demand full disclosure and transparency - If your brand is large enough they will offer it. If not, find a partner that will. You need the control of knowing where your ads are running.
2. Request certain hand selected publishers receive a higher payout (at the networks expense - reduced margin) to drive more volume.
A. Make sure payouts are listed privately - so you don't anger other publishers running the offer
3. Insist that the appropriate checks and balances are in place
A. List the number of leads you're willing to pay for in a set time frame - ie, if a publisher generates 2000 leads over the weekend, but you've capped the offer at 1000 leads - you're not held responsible - PUT THIS IN WRITING IN THE CONTRACT
4. Set weekly conference calls - If you think there's nothing to discuss, think again - something ALWAYS comes up
5. Don't be bullied into unfavorable payment terms - Networks are HIGHLY competitive, and they need your business.

Go get em!

Randy Pauch talked during his last public speaking appearance not about beating the "reaper" by living longer - but beating the reaper by living "better"... He advised the audience to find your PASSION.

I want to hear from others what you think your passion is?

I think I've found that passion in my family. My love for my daughter is indescribable. My love and respect for my wife - unsurpassable. I strive to be thought well of. I seek my passion, and I hope that you all do as well. I believe that passion is grounded in PEOPLE - and what they will think of you when your gone. Make a connection today. Talk to you cube mate about their family. Seek out that kind of passion, seek out that kind of love.

it's not the things we do in life that we regret - it's the things we do NOT.

Live well today.

I love to work hard.

I love it when there's a project that I'm so excited about that I pop out of bed with a spring in my step. It seems to be less and less common to hear people talking about how they love to work hard. I'm not talking about working 20 hours work days (read: working for face time and being completely inefficient). I'm talking about making a contribution - building something, giving back.

Remember when you first started to work and everything was a new and exciting experience? Remember how you were terrified to ask questions, but you were so humbled by the sheer volume of new information, you kept your mouth shut, listened, worked hard - an you LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT?

I think it's time we all started to work hard again.

Today - ask lots of questions - really listen to you colleagues - I mean really - REALLY listen, try to learn something, and WORK HARD.

HARD WORK DOESN'T KILL YOU - BOREDOM AND DISEASE DO

Recently I've had conversations where I've touted the power of a good continuity program. From Ringtones, to Dating offers, continuity is the name of the game. After a small initial sign up fee the user is then obligated to pay on a (usually) monthly basis to the advertiser.

4 Secrets to success of a continuity program

1. Charge for the first months membership after the first 7 to 14 days as a member
2. Allow for incentivized traffic on these offers
3. Analyze - Measure and quantify your allowable acquisition rate
4. REPEAT

Ask any sales person at a network what year they were founded, and chances are the answer will be in or around 2000. Back then it was like the wild west for networks. Affiliates were making fast money, and most networks were not regulated. This was a fun time for sure. What most fail to tell you is the offers that made them the most money back then, are most likely causing them, or have at some time caused them the biggest headaches today.

Top Revenue Generating offers that cause the biggest headaches for Networks

1. Ringtones = WHY? FTC crack down
Some networks got themselves into trouble when (after seeing the massive revenue generating power of ringtones, formed white label solutions with the providers) - BIG MISTAKE. When the FTC investigated the call to action ie, "sign up for a FREE ringtone" the networks were being held accountable for the misleading communication in conjunction with the ringtone provider. Yikes.

2. Incentive Offers = WHY? Quality issues
Incentivized offers themselves are fine, and generate some phenomenal leads for the right advertiser (continuity programs with credit cards - like Blockbuster) is a great example, but when a rookie sales person tells you to allow affiliates to incentivize your offer and there's no credit card transaction involved you'll have 10,000 leads in one day that will be totally useless. Would you pay for them? I didn't think so.

3. Email Offers = WHY? SPAM
Email converts very well for many advertisers. Back in 2000 with limited regulation publishers would spam consumers and collect handsomely from the networks. Many networks have since implemented solid stop- gaps, but man those SPAMMERS kill ya! Ask the network if you can provide an unsub lisk, or if they have a master unsub list. Also, have a from line, subject line, text and html version. To ensure some control - make sure you (the advertiser) can dictate when the publishers can drop the emails.

Each of these types of offers still generate an immense amount of revenue on networks, but take up a lot of time and effort to regulate. When investigating a partner for your next campaign, don't be afraid to ask the network how they address each of these issues. It will save you the headaches in the long run.

Interesting write up regarding yet another browser for us to choose from. Is it information overload or filter failure?

Even though we write more and more. It's ironic that what we tend to write looks more like a vanity plate, than an old fashioned letter. The most powerful messages aren't full sentences at all - think of "I like Ike" When it comes to effective communication - short beats long. Always. Credibility is as important as philosophy. The words that we use, become our MO. Claims of being new and improved, (when they're not) is the kiss of death. Think of "new coke"....the best just got better??? Talk about "Jumping the shark"

We all know that if a sales pitch is way too over the top the product will fall through. Consumers can sniff out when something is just reused sameness packages as exciting newness. So how do we overcome a culture where Harvard multi-syllabic banter is trumped by text - like mono-syllabic?

Here are three tips to streamline your message

1. Tell people who you are or what you do
2. Say what you mean, and mean what you say
3. Consistency matters

This week on Geek Cast - Shawn Collins goes solo while Lisa Picarille was away running her Social Media Marketing Summit. As usual Shawn does a great job covering new and exciting topics in the Affiliate Marketing world. I would however love to hear more about international affiliate marketing programs on the show. Although I'm obviously biased an an employee of a multinational such as zanox, I also feel that with the economy experiencing the current swoon, that we should be looking overseas for additional affiliates, and advertisers.

What are you thoughts? Do you think we need to focus internationally to avoid the economic crunch? Or do you think we're just fine?

Let me know what you think?

Katie Couric asks Sarah Palin about her stance on abortion - specifically in the cases of incest and rape - and the "morning after" pill RU486.

read more | digg story

Just when you thought the whole "I can see Russia from Alaska" thing couldn't get any funnier: it turns out that Sarah Palin has never seen Russia from Alaska. CNN's Tuchman went up to the part of Alaska from which you can actually see Russia, a remote island called Little Diomede. Turns out Palin has never been there.

read more | digg story

She has no idea what Hamas is or what their role in the Gaza Strip is. No idea. This person must not be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office. You must tell every voter in every swing state that we cannot make this kind of mistake.

read more | digg story

The title of this post was a tasty little tid-bit of advice from Gary V of winelibrary.tv fame. Gary blasted this perfectly thought provoking comment during his killer key note presentation at the Web2.0Expo in New York. The audience erupted. We were eating out of the palm of his hand.

I couldn't agree more with our friend Gary. How many hours do we waste in front of the ole' boob tube? How powerful would it be to your child's life if you spend that hour reading and playing with her, instead of watching TV? Or maybe we could (as Gary was alluding to) work on what our real passion is during that time? My passion is being a father. Being around my daughter heals me. My family is my life, and my passion. I don't want to be just a Dad. I want to be a Dadzilla! Be amazing at whatever it is you do. What's your passion?

And for the love of God, please stop watching f-ing Lost!

Over the past few months, a flood of clones has appeared, imitating and repurposing the "micro-blogging" concept popularized by the San Francisco-based social networking start-up. People generally use Twitter to post short status updates telling their friends via SMS what they're doing right this minute ("Reading Wired.com").

read more | digg story

Leading Online Marketing Company Aims to Raise Industry Standards with International Code of Behavior for Its Advertisers, Publishers and Service Providers Worldwide

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--zanox, a global leader in performance-based online marketing, today announced the company has released a comprehensive and detailed code of conduct for its global affiliate network as an industry measure toward establishing a rigorous benchmark for the affiliate marketing sector worldwide. Conceived as an industry-wide call to action, the zanox Code of Conduct will be implemented across the company's network including advertisers, publishers and service providers.

"As the market leader in Germany, where our headquarters is based, and a global player with more than one million sales partners worldwide, we feel we're in a position of special responsibility for the affiliate marketing sector," said Thomas Hessler, founder and CEO of ZANOX.de AG. "With the zanox Code of Conduct, we have the opportunity to promote effective quality standards and are proud to stand up for the entire industry."

The zanox Code of Conduct governs clear quality standards, content descriptions, technical functionality and sanctions for potential infringements in a way that is completely transparent to all participants. In order to develop the new Code of Conduct, zanox referenced numerous international standards such as the ICRA vocabulary, which was established by the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI). Additionally, as zanox's global footprint spans more than 200 countries worldwide, the company also took into account the different national legal systems and privacy standards of its global target markets.

"zanox has been at the forefront of the online marketing revolution over the past eight years and recognizes the importance of complete transparency throughout the network," said Christopher Dessi, VP of Advertiser Sales, North America. "We're thrilled to be taking our dedication to quality standards to the next level and hope to set a positive example for our esteemed industry partners and colleagues."

Since the company's founding, zanox has been dedicated to promoting ethical practices and has taken measures to ensure compliance to its code of behavior, including continuously developing and implementing abuse prevention systems. In addition, zanox created a third-party legal framework and established an internal zanox NetworkWatch team to consistently monitor all activity within their extensive global network 24 hours a day.

About zanox

zanox is the market leader for performance-based multichannel commerce and provides a global platform for efficiently marketing products and services on the Internet. zanox's online marketing services include affiliate marketing and search engine management as well as email marketing and customer loyalty programs.

zanox was founded in 2000 by CEOs Thomas Hessler, Heiko Rauch and Jens Hewald and employs more than 350 people. Headquartered in Berlin, zanox operates offices in the United States, UK, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Scandinavia and China. More than 2,000 prestigious international companies across the business sectors - TIMES, Travel, Retail & Shopping, as well as Financial Services - utilize the zanox network.

Since 2007, zanox has been part of the Axel Springer and PubliGroupe. Axel Springer is Germany's biggest newspaper publishing house and third-largest magazine publisher. PubliGroupe AG is an independent, internationally leading marketing, sales and service group for media and advertisers, supporting these in implementing their communication and media strategies with marketing and technology services.

Here's a list of some recurring sentiments regarding web 2.0 that I think we can all apply to our businesses:

1. Trust People
2. Listen
3. Inverse relationship between control and trust

Also..

1. Make mistakes well
2. Life is a beta
3. Be honest
4. Be transparent
5. Collaboration

finally...

Don't be Evil

World affairs expert and author Fareed Zakaria said he thinks it would be best for Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, if Gov. Sarah Palin bowed out as his vice presidential running mate. Zakaria says McCain did not put the country first in making his V.P. choice, and he says Palin is not qualified to lead the United States.

read more | digg story

Ziggs is a cool new way to "organize and connect with people in a professional way". The service has a harmless enough angle - sign up for free, and they'll help you manage your online image. Sounds great right? Ziggs gets interesting when you dig a little more and realize what sets it apart from the usual suspects of linkedin, and naymz . They also notify you when someone searches for your name via Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, and few other notables). Ok, that's rocking good news. I'm in. I'm sold, I'm signed up. Go ahead, search for me, I dare you...I'll know you did it. Nice.

The true usage for Ziggs. - so that user can manage their personal brand is bound to get lost in the clutter of this sort of reverse big brother action you can pull.

Enjoy your first month for free, because afterward they charge you $4.95 per month.

Press release

OMD 2008 – zanox Rolls Out Red Carpet Treatment For Affiliates with New Publisher Campaign at Germany’s Largest Online Marketing Event

- New Affiliate Marketing Features: Landing page optimisation for all professional SEM publishers; Intuitive Web 2.0 user interface
- Massive extension of zanox Web Services; Integrated solutions for mobile marketing
- Presentation of zanox Publisher VIP Club

New York, New York – September, 2008 – zanox, the leading provider of performance-based online marketing in Germany, unveiled several product upgrades last week at OMD (Online-Marketing Düsseldorf – Hall 10, Booth A22), Germany’s largest online marketing event, which will make it easier for affiliates in the zanox network of publishers to monetize their Web sites’ traffic. The new zanox publisher campaign is focused on enhancing the features of zanox’s affiliate marketing services as well as massively extending the zanox Web Services platform. Additionally, the company announced plans to launch a new VIP Club for its publishers. With its specialised industry-specific expertise, unrivaled international reach, first-class 24/7 service and a modern “open company” philosophy, zanox aims to become the global publisher network of choice.

Landing Page Optimization
A highlight to professional zanox publishers worldwide, the new zanox landing page optimization service has undergone a period of intense development and successfully completed its testing phase. Launching this week during OMD, the software tool offers all publishers specializing in search engine marketing extensive optimization options with respect to keywords and landing pages. Its performance analysis features allow for detailed monitoring of expenses for SEM campaigns, thus increasing revenue from zanox affiliate marketing. In addition, the new landing page optimization provides publishers quick and easy access to valuable information such as how well additionally purchased traffic is actually converting, which search engine keywords are generating revenue through which pages, or which keywords should be watched closely or better be replaced. Professional zanox publishers can employ this solution at no additional cost if they have a Google AdWords account.

zanox Web Services and Mobile Marketing Solutions
In addition to the landing page optimization, zanox will extend its unique Web Services platform to include all business-related zanox publisher functionalities. This transition will enable zanox affiliates to target campaigns with greater precision, deepen customer relations and, for publish-ers, automate and streamline established processes. Thus, zanox will be providing ideal pre-requisites to monetize their Internet and mobile applications and Web sites.

In order to simplify the process of entering the rapidly growing segment of mobile marketing, zanox provides easy, integrated solutions that conform to the Mobile Marketing Association’s standards. zanox’s “mobile device recognition” provides suitably formatted banners automati-cally while using this system extension.

New Generation of Publisher Statistics
zanox is entering the closed beta phase for a new generation of publisher statistics. Using its convenient analysis and control tool, professional zanox publishers will be able to freely create their own custom report templates, no longer limited to default reports, providing publishers detailed insight as to how individual programs and banners are performing. Additionally, the use of advanced Web 2.0 technology allows for a very intuitive user interface.

zanox VIP (Very Important Publisher) Club
In addition to the features and services already mentioned, zanox will present its new VIP Club at OMD. Officially scheduled for launch January 1, 2009, the new VIP program will give publishers with outstanding success access to exclusive premium services.

ZANOX.de AG will be at OMD in Hall 10, Booth A22.

Important links:
zanox affiliate marketing: http://www.zanox.com/en/publisher/products/prm.html
zanox landing page optimisation: http://www.zanox.com/en/landingpages/
zanox Web Services: http://www.zanox.com/en/publisher/products/web_services.html
zanox blog: http://www.zanox.com/en/blog

About zanox
ZANOX.de AG is leading the German market for performance-based online marketing and has established a strong presence in all core markets around the world. More than 2000 prestigious international companies rely on the zanox affiliate marketing network and sector-specific exper-tise in all sectors where innovation is taking place, such as retail and shopping, travel, T.I.M.E.S. (telecommunications, internet, media, entertainment, software) and financial ser-vices.

Affiliate programs provide companies with global solutions for efficiently marketing their prod-ucts and services on the Internet. zanox attaches great importance to the quality of its affiliate sites and to continuously educating their owners, who are in addition being motivated by fast and transparent compensation. zanox’s technological lead becomes manifest in its currently running 1 million euro idea contest for new applications based on its affiliate web services.

In addition to its 24 branches in foreign countries, zanox’s international focus is strengthened by its Global Alliance Partner (GAP) program. Furthermore, in June of 2008 the GAP campus op-ened its doors at zanox headquarters in Berlin to serve as an international meeting point for de-velopers and designers.

Since 2007, 60% of zanox have been owned by Axel Springer AG and 40% by PubliGroupe. Axel Springer AG is Germany’s largest newspaper house, ranks third among her magazine pub-lishers and is also one of the leading European media companies. PubliGroupe AG is an inde-pendent, internationally leading group offering marketing, sales and services to media and ad-vertisers, which it assists in the implementation of their communication and media strategies by delivering marketing and technology services to them.

I know I'm getting borderline obsessive here - but since Gary Vaynerchuk completely blew my mind when I saw him speak at the Web2.0 Expo there is one of Gary's little gems in particular that I enjoyed -

Legacy is greater than Currency.


Gary made the point that our great, great, GREAT Grand kids will know everything about us. It's up to us to decide what our legacy is going to be.

I thought long and hard about this point. Gary challenged everyone in the audience and for me it was such a paradigm shift that I can't seem to stop thinking about it. At no other time in history have we ever put so much "out there".

I think Gary's real message is: Maybe it's time to stop chasing the money, and start to do some soul searching about what you really want to do?

Something occurred to me today (after connecting with yet another high school classmate).

The best thing about Facebook is reconnecting with old friends. Facebook has been adopted by such a broad audience, and it accomplishes what sites like Reunion.com and classmates.com fail to do. Instead of reaching out to your old High School classmates via classmates.com - we run into them because Facebook.com provides such an engaging platform. I've been able to reconnect with more people from Mahopac High School in the past 3 months than in the years since I graduated (1993).
Facebook, Myspace, and other social networks have changed the game. Instead of luring a user in by the prospect of one specific thing (reconnecting with classmates), these social platforms offer you an opportunity to interact on such a more engaging - fun way - who knows if we even need classmates.com, or reunion.com anymore? How many of us tried to sign up on one of these sites, excited by the idea of reconnecting, only to be turned off after getting only so far in the process before we had to pony up some cash to continue.

Take note classmates, and reunion.com - your days are numbered.

Bummed to hear that Paul Newman passed away.

Recently saw a bio on Paul Newman and it struck me that this guy did things on his own terms, and followed his passion.

Top Newman films (in my opinion)

Cool Hand Luke
Butch Cassidy
The Color of Money
Slapshot
Road to Perdition

What a loss.

Side note - Newsmans Own has donated a total of $250 million to charities worldwide.

Last week while at the Web 2.0 Expo at the Javits Center I was lucky enough to see the tornado of energy and passion called Gary Vaynerchuk speak. I had been feverishly taking notes throughout the entire Keynote address because all of the speakers were amazing, but then Gary came out and I stopped writing. I was locked in.

Tonight I had my parents over for dinner, and gathered the family around the dining room table to share the power of Gary's message. It's taken a few more times for me to review the video of his presentation to truly grasp just how amazing this guy is. Jesus - I wanted to stand up and say F*CK YEAH.

This guy is pure content. Pure passion. Pure money. Pure hustle. Pure values. Pure work. Pure love about what he does.

F*ck....yeah.

I'm in.

I'm picking up with Gary Vaynerchuk is putting down. (Credit Alex Baydin)

Check out the video of what I saw below - you wont' regret it.

Hey - as I'm writing I was thinking to myself - I would love to interview Gary or someone who is just as passionate about what they do. If anyone has a suggestion about someone just as passionate about life, and their business, please let me know. I'd love to talk to them. Thanks!

I hope my web2.0 Expo overview was helpful and gave you some idea of the exciting things occurring in our industry. I'll post more in the coming days - in the interim - Here are more url's that you may already know - but I want to share including some top bloggers and resources:

www.visualcomplexity.com
www.many-eyes.com - take a look at the word most often used in John McCain's acceptance speech with the visualization chart
www.instantaction.com - owned by IAC
www.nowisgone.com
www.rapleaf.com
www.buddymedia.com
www.rocketon.com
www.smeet.com - Berlin based
www.etsy.com - great business model
www.diggnation.com
www.bringtheloveback.com
www.wearesmarter.org - great message
www.failblog.org - funny stuff
www.icanhascheesbuger.com - more funny stuff
www.drop.io - coolest stuff
www.deborahschultz.com - blogger
www.thisisgoingtobebig.com - blogger and founder www.path101.com
www.socialmediaclub.org
www.briansolis.com

As we slide into the last days of September suffice to say: Fall is officially upon us.

What does that mean if you're an affiliate marketer? Well, I thought I'd list the top 3 things that every affiliate marketer should be thinking about right now. Christmas is closer than you think, and Halloween is upon us.. So yes - you should be thinking about certain key things other than the Fall Foliage of course).

1. Halloween Offers
2. Christmas Offers
3. Ad:Tech New York

Regarding #1
For some networks this may be too little too late. Halloween offers are already converting like crazy, and if you don't have the bandwidth to get these offers up and running by early next week, then you're already behind.

Regarding #2
Christmas offers can mean simply reaching out to your best advertises on your network and requesting some great Christmas landing pages, or Christmas creative. Even requesting some special Christmas coupons, discounts, or any kind of "freemium" type of offering will help you out this holiday season.

Regarding #3
I'll be speaking at the show this year, and if it's even remotely near the insanity of last year than we're all in for a massive treat. The New York Hilton becomes a complete madhouse - and truthfully - I love it.

Finally - no, I have no idea what I'm going to be this year for Halloween -

Got any suggestions?

Here’s a quick break down by day
Day 1
Wednesday September 17th
HIGHLIGHTS:

A New York’s Web Industry from 1995 to 2008 From Nascent to Ascendant –
Fred Wilson
This was a terrifically fun blast from the past. It was obvious that Fred has been at the forefront of everything that’s happened in Silicon Alley since 1995 (although he did make it clear that he feels we should no longer call NY’s interactive scene Silicon Alley). It was also apparent that he has great affection and respect for everyone in the industry, and that helped to create a nice sense of community during his presentation. He spoke about how the internet has matured, and how the New York VC scene is currently responsible for 1/3 of funding in the online community - up from a paltry 1/8 of all activity back in 1995.

Building a Personal Brand within the Social Media Landscape
Gary Vaynerchuk
This was the best presentation of the day. Gary took his family company of wine sellers from $4million/annually to $54 Million. He currently hosts his own video blog at www.winelibrary.tv – I recommend you check it out. Gary’s enthusiasm for wine and making money is contagious.

Thursday September 18th
HIGHLIGHT: Repeating some details from an earlier post - but I wanted to show each day broken down.
We are Smarter than me: unleashing the Power of Crowds in Your Business presented by Barry Libert of www.mzinga.com

What an interesting, out of the box type of guy. Barry gave his presentation on the last session during the next to last day (I believe). It was late afternoon, and he was able to actually get us out of our seats and interacting with each other....wow. The main point of his presentation was that "WE are much more powerful than ME"....what a novel idea. A few points that stuck out for me that any company can readily apply to be more "we" friendly:
1. Be Social - Create a forum to open the lines of communication with your clients (Starbucks was cited as a great example)
2. Be Co- Creative - Start idea shares, and encourage innovation
3. Be Open - Start a company blog and join social networks
4. Be rewarding - hold contests - and give back to the community
5. Be Evaluative - Survey, review comments and ratings of your services to improve your product.

An interesting point that Barry made about Twitter and the upcoming election – Hillary Clinton has a few hundred people following her, but she is not following anyone. Barack Obama has a few hundred people following him on Twitter, and he is following MORE than are following him. WOW. We need to open our eyes and ears.

Friday September 19th
HIGHLIGHT(S)
Arianna Huffington was interviewed and made some great points that we can apply to our business:

1. Be Passionate, Engaged, and Excited
2. Screen the comments that you allow to be posted, but pre moderate quickly
3. Open an honest dialogue with your end users or in our case our advertisers and publishers
4. Unplug and recharge (again back to the first point that unplugging was a main theme during the show)

Ben Huh spoke about how simplicity powers large, growing, and complex communities like www.icanhascheesburger.com a compilation of photos with comedic tag lines generated 100% by users. Ben and his team are also working on new projects, and he had this advice to offer companies in the online community:

1. Keep it Simple – it doesn’t have to be perfect – just get it out there
2. 100% user generated is a good thing (we should be talking even more to our advertisers and publishers to find out that they want and need from us).

Also- I don't recall which day they presented, but one of the most exciting companies I saw present is called www.drop.io they’re a very simple way to share files online, that I feel is the next iteration of social networking. They walked us through a demo where a person can create a "drop" at a specific location in a city - add photos, details about what happened at that location and then share that "drop" with their friends. This is like a social network page on steroids!

I hope this overview was helpful and gave you some idea of the exciting things occurring at the Web2.0 Expo in New York.

Last week New York City’s Jacob Javits center played host to Web 2.0 Expo and I was lucky enough to attend. It was a rare opportunity to have extended exposure to software developers, VC’s and other great minds shaping the internet today. The speakers included a wide range of talented people - from Arianna Huffington of the Huffington post, to Anthropologists that spoke about how the internet is affecting the world we live in, as well as nations that don’t have the internet yet (apparently in Malaysia they burn paper laptops so the dead can use them in the afterlife). The daily schedule of topics was a wish list of what’s cool right now. Once the week was complete I was floored by the sheer volume of notes I took during each session. Main themes that were heard often throughout the entire conference:

1. Companies need to pay attention to their customers more
2. The next big theme online is going to be “unplugging” from the internet – Meetup.com was seen as a leader – moving people away from computers and into the real world (Akoha from Techcrunch50 was cited as well.)
3. Digg, Twitter, and facebook are on everyone’s lips. This should help us with our Marketing and PR decisions in the future –
4. Top German company presence – Smeet.com, Berlin Partner, and of course zanox, Inc.

After having worked at performance based ad networks for the past 3 years, you learn a lot about what offers work, and which don't. After our difficult economic downturn recently, people are panicking about their credit reports. These offers - or ones that seem to offer a "free credit report" don't really offer the credit report for free. Mostly they are placed on sites that incent the user to sign up in order to get something else in return (points for example - to purchase another product). In affiliate marketing, these offers perform exceptionally well. Don't be fooled.

I'm writing this post as a sort of warning to read the fine print. When you're looking to get a free credit report, certain companies don't offer the service for free at all. Annual Credit Reports are used as the lead in for a continuity program that could charge as much as $20/month if you're not careful. You may want to take a look at a few of the most reputable services first.

Here's a short list:

Experian
Equifax
Transunion

Good luck, and keep your eyes peeled for the fine print. These companies aren't doing anything illegal - this is just a heads up that you're going to get "pinged" $20 a month for the service.

Last week during the Web 2.0 Expo I was simultaneously awestruck, and jump out of my seat excited. There were so many amazing companies, brilliant minds, and individuals that not only came to the table with impressive resume's, but people that brought that intangible "something".

One of those people was Barry Libert of Mzinga.com. What an interesting, out of the box type of guy. Barry gave his presentation on the last session during the next to last day (I believe). It was late afternoon, and he was able to actually get us out of our seats and interacting with each other....wow.

The main point of his presentation was that "WE is much much more powerful than ME"....what a novel idea.

A few points that stuck out for me that companies can readily apply to be more "we" friendly:

1. Be Social - Create a forum to open the lines of communication with your clients (Starbucks)
2. Be Co- Creative - Start idea shares, and encourage innovation
3. Be Open - Start a company blog and join social networks
4. Be Rewarding - hold contests - and give back to the community
5. Be Evaluative - Survey, review comments and ratings of your services to IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT!

What a dynamic inspiring guy. A Session well spent - thank you Web 2.0 Expo!

In an interesting twist, my former employer Epic Advertising (former AzoogleAds) has appointed Robert Wilson Senior Vice President and General Manager, Europe. It wouldn't be so interesting to me if Rob weren't my boss here at zanox, up until a few weeks ago. Yikes.

I wish Epic Advertising the best with their new hire. Robert Wilson is one of the best in this business. Rob has laser focus that can cut through the clutter. He has an ability to execute that I'm certain Don Mathis and the rest of the team at Epic Advertising will be thrilled to support. Rob is certainly the right guy for the job, and I see him fitting in well to culture that the Epic Advertising team has fought so hard to cultivate.

This is a definitive move for Epic Advertising, who up until now have not made any major moves abroad. This indicates to me that they see huge potential in EMEA. I'm thrilled to see this move, and excited to see what unfolds in the coming months. The move supports my theory that major US business HAS to move abroad to not only survive but thrive.

See the PR Wire below:

Epic Advertising Appoints Rob Wilson

Former Zanox and 24/7 exec appointed to lead company’s European business

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Epic Advertising (www.EpicAdvertising.com), the New York-based online marketing leader, announced today that it has appointed international online marketing veteran Rob Wilson to the position of Senior Vice President and General Manager, Europe. Mr. Wilson will be based in London, England, and will start his new post on October 16, 2008.

In his position at Epic Advertising, Mr. Wilson is responsible for the further development and general strategic oversight of the company’s European-based businesses. He will also oversee all operational facets of the European-based division, including office expansion and staffing, as well as strategic oversight and P&L.

Prior to joining Epic Advertising, Mr. Wilson served as Regional Director for the US and UK markets for Zanox, a performance marketing company headquartered in Berlin. During his tenure at Zanox, Mr. Wilson maintained full P&L responsibility for the company’s English-speaking markets, and was critical in growing the UK market dramatically within a year. Additionally, Mr. Wilson championed several operational improvements including implementation of a revised set of Key Performance Indicators and a management restructure, while also leading a project team for the company’s Search Engine Marketing business.

Prior to Zanox, Mr. Wilson held several notable posts during his career. Most recently, he was the Managing Director, Europe for 24/7 Real Media, possessing full P&L responsibility over its European businesses. Previously, Mr. Wilson was the Director of Editorial & Customer Operations, Europe, for Yahoo! Search Marketing, where he was responsible for the creation, growth and continuous management of YSM’s European operations center. His impressive career also includes positions with Lexmark, One Direct and Guardian Direct Insurance. Mr. Wilson graduated with Honors from the University of Teesside in the United Kingdom, with a BA in International Business IT.

“Rob brings over a decade of experience in international business, sales, marketing and operations to our company,” said Don Mathis, CEO of Epic Advertising. “He has effectively combined strategic management skills with a proven track record of innovation and the rapid development of online and media businesses. He is a perfect fit for our company as we build upon our European presence and continue our journey towards being a dominant global player in the online marketing industry. We are fully confident Rob will help to lead this area of our company’s expansion and we’re excited to have him on our team.“

About Epic Advertising:

Epic Advertising (www.EpicAdvertising.com) is a global online performance marketing company that provides advertisers with measurable Internet advertising impact. Leveraging proprietary and patent-pending contextual and behavioral targeting technologies, and the over 35,000 publishers in its highly-acclaimed Azoogle Ad Network, Epic provides its advertising partners with performance and direct response marketing services, media planning, branded marketing campaigns and a targeted, worldwide online reach.

A pioneer in both the online performance marketing industry and in Internet advertising integrity assurance and compliance, Epic Advertising brings an intense focus on achieving the highest ROI yield for its advertising partners via transparent display and search consumer traffic. Epic scales its solutions by leveraging vast quantities of data, enormous internet reach and unparalleled industry expertise.

The company has achieved several industry accolades, including being named an AlwaysOn Global Top 250 Company as one of the top private companies in the world, a comScore top-50 ranking in internet reach (Ad Focus, July 2008) and being named a 2008 Inc. 5000 company.

Epic Advertising is headquartered in New York, with offices in San Francisco and Toronto. The company is privately held and backed by private equity firms TA Associates and Stripes Group.

7 years ago today Sean Lugano passed away. Sean and I knew each other because of our time on the Loyola College Rugby team. Sean was our All American, Captain stud on the team - and well, I wasn't. I was horrible at Rugby, but I loved it. I loved the camaraderie. I loved the drink-ups after the games, I loved the Rugby songs (I can still sing 90% of them), and I can't remember what I had for breakfast, and I loved the way it felt like a family. I longed for being on a team again in college after having played football and baseball in High School.

Sean was our leader. He was charismatic, athletic, and just a great guy. Now I know that this may sound like I've deified Sean in death, but I assure you if you ask ANYONE that knew Sean Lugano, they would tell you that this guy was the real deal. I chose to write about Sean today because it's the anniversary of his passing. I remember being told that he was "missing" and instantly starting to well up and cry. By midday Sept 12Th you knew that "missing" really meant. Anyone that was in NY that day (myself included) can remember the feeling of helplessness, and anger after seeing our city brought to its knees. I remember going to a memorial service at Xavier High School in the days after September 11Th, and I recall how packed the church was. Then I remember hearing the names of the "missing" that had attended Xavier. They were fathers, brothers, sisters, mothers....it was horrifying.

I don't want to comment on my position about Sept 11Th memorials, or lack thereof. Instead I want to remember Sean Lugano. He was a great guy that I once knew. I still tell a story about what type of guy he was - a guy that loved life - and it's summed up in the following:

We were playing Catholic University - I suppose this is going back to about 1995? After the game we had the traditional "drink up". I don't recall the name of the Catholic University captain, but I do remember that both teams after having fought it out on the pitch were really good friends afterward. We were all fired up to start drinking, but before we did (now I'm not certain exactly how this unfolded - like I said I can barely remember what I had for breakfast), but I do know that the Catholic captain had to pass Sean a boot so he could "shoot the boot".. (for those of you that don't understand Rugby vernacular), he had to chug beer from a shoe. But before he handed the boot to Sean - he hawked up the biggest nastiest flem ball ever and of course, spit it into the boot. The two teams roared with laughter. I didn't think the crowd could get much rowdier until after taking said boot from the Catholic Captain, Sean proceeded to hawk up his own flem ball - spit into the same boot, and before anyone could react - he chugged it down - THE BAR WENT ABSOLUTELY INSANE............THAT - is how I choose to remember Sean Lugano.

God bless you Sean - God Bless the Lugano family.

Finally - to honor Sean's life, and the lives of those that were killed on Sept 11Th, 2001 - tell your loved ones just how much you love them today. Hug your child just a little tighter. Smile at that stranger. Trust me, it won't kill you.

Thanks to UstreamTV, I have been able to "attend" TechCrunch50 virtually for the past two days. There is still another full day, and I'm loving it. Some of the presentations are amazing, but what I find even more amazing is the feedback that they get from expert panels. Immediate feedback about monitizing their businesses, and even brainstorming with each CEO on streams of income that they may not have thought of themselves.

Some of my favorites that I am pushing our marketing department to utilize immediately:

www.filtrbox.com

We can use the service to monitor our own press activity. We can use the information we get from Filtrbox daily e-mails and the dashboard to create reports for board meetings and other internal presentations. We can measure the effectiveness of our PR program and our market presence. we used Filtrbox to provide a snapshot of the effectiveness of our PR strategy, particularly in direct comparison to similarly timed announcements by competitors.

icharts.com
They make something like sharing our charts very very simple. They make the data and meta data visible to search engines as well, so if someone is searching for a performance based ad network with international expertise in retail, our retail presentation will show.

My favorite so far has to be fitbit.com which automatically tracks your fitness and sleep. This is so appealing to me that I immediately wrote to the founder to tell them how impressed I was with their presentation and product. You can wear the product (clipped on your pants or if you a woman - bra), you can sync it wirelessly with your basestation - where the fitbit site will aggregate your data and auto sync software - then you get to the fun part- anyone that's been using Mint.com - knows how much fun it is to aggregate details about your life in an attractive interface. In this case, they aggregate your caloric intake, steps and distance via that tracker. You can login to the fitbit.com website to check all of your data, and share with friends and family - can you say competition!!!

I love FITBIT.com!

If you've never attended an Affiliate Summit, I highly recommend it. The amount of information you can glean just from walking the floor is enough to make the most senior Affiliate Marketer's head spin, but I suppose that's half the fun.

Shawn Collins and Missy Ward have hit upon the zeitgeist of the Affiliate world, and their show proves it. The attendance has soared, and this last summit included a special treat.

Cory Booker

Cory Booker was the keynote speaker, and I have to say - I was blown away. My interest was initially piqued when I read a recent article on Cory Booker in Esquire Magazine to which the most inspiring part of the article wasn't the article itself, it was Bookers response on July 16th to the article in a fiery letter to the Editor slapping author Scott Raab on the hand. To put it bluntly - this guys has balls.

I eagerly anticipated hearing what Mr. Booker had to say, and I wasn't disappointed.

Mr. Booker's natural charisma was contagious. His passion clear by the energy level he conveyed to the audience. His lack of self apprehension was refreshing, and I could not wipe the smile off my face throughout the duration of his presentation.

I found myself reiterating his stories to my family, and more than once during his speaking time, I felt the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stand. This guy is the real deal. He shared stories that took the audience from murderous housing projects in Newark to the home of Gandhi. His easy manner helped to set the tone for the show, and I have to take my hat off to Missy and Shawn for selecting such an eloquent, and inspiring person to help kick things off.

Online marketing company celebrates continued momentum and company growth one year after being acquired by Europe’s largest publisher zanox, a global leader in performance-based online marketing, today announced the company has experienced continued momentum and company growth since being acquired by Axel Springer, Europe’s largest publisher, and PubliGroupe, an international Swiss-based multimedia group, in May 2007. Throughout the past year, zanox has achieved numerous milestones including 55 percent company growth, global expansion, key industry partnerships and customer acquisitions, product enhancements and industry accolades. Global Expansion and Partnerships Headquartered in Berlin, zanox is dedicated to continually expanding its global affiliate network, which encompasses more than one million sales partners in 200 countries worldwide. In the past year, zanox has expanded its international footprint with the addition of offices in Poland and Switzerland to join the company’s existing ground presence in the United States, UK, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Nordics and China. In addition, zanox has focused on growing company’s presence in the U.S. market including the hiring of Christopher Dessi, formerly of AzoogleAds, as the new Vice President of Advertiser Sales for North America. Since transitioning the company’s U.S. headquarters from Chicago to New York in order to be closer to advertisers and publishers in March 2008, zanox U.S. has recently expanded into new office space in Midtown Manhattan in New York City to accommodate the company’s growth. “Performance-based online marketing has experienced exponential growth over the past year, and we’re thrilled to be at the forefront of the revolution,” said Christopher Dessi, Vice President of Advertiser Sales for zanox, North America. “In addition to exceptional growth on a global scale, zanox has made significant strides in the U.S. market over the past 12 months and we’re dedicated to increasing that momentum throughout 2008.” In addition to global expansion, Axel Springer has provided zanox the opportunity to cultivate relationships with high-profile advertisers who had previously not engaged with performance-based ad networks. In November 2007, zanox introduced the Global Alliance Partnership (GAP) program, which is a unique, cooperative approach to affiliate marketing that benefits larger brand advertisers by providing transparency and global reach via GAP partnerships in more than 30 countries and 200 currencies. Since its inception, the program has been successfully implemented across the US, UK, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia with almost 100 partnerships worldwide. Enhanced Product Offerings and Industry Recognition zanox has continued to deliver product innovation over the past 12 months with a commitment to continually improving the zanox platform for advertisers and publishers, including increased transparency, better visibility into SEM campaigns and more accurate reporting. In addition to launching Look@Landingpages, which enabled publishers for the first time to see exactly which keywords convert into sales, zanox also unveiled a newly designed Web site in Q4 2007 that enhanced overall usability of the company’s award-winning digital platform, including the additional of zanox.TV and availability of the site in 13 languages. “zanox has maintained it’s commitment to driving innovation in online marketing for almost a decade with the ultimate goal of monetizing the Internet, and the investments made one year ago by Axel Springer and PubliGroupe have helped us take that commitment to a whole new level,” said Thomas Hessler, CEO of zanox. “Today we’re the only multichannel commerce provider to offer a true one-stop solution with an unparalleled global network. We’re proud of the progress we’ve made over the past year and have more exciting products and services news for publishers and advertisers in the coming months.” Over the past year, zanox has received industry accolades including third place in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 in October 2007 for the company’s innovation, leadership, forward-thinking strategy and annual growth of more than 100 percent, year over year. In addition, zanox was awarded the European E-Excellence Seal of Approval in 2008 for the third consecutive year and received the certificate of Finalist Recognition in the category Best Multinational Company in Europe in the 2007 International Business Awards. Be sure to check out the zanox Web Services Contest 2008 which will award One Million Euro (roughly 1.57 million US Dollars) Venture Capital for the best business model based on the zanox Web services. Deadline for entry is September 30, 2008; open to registrants in the United States. About zanox

zanox is the market leader for performance-based multichannel commerce and provides a global platform for efficiently marketing products and services on the Internet. zanox´s online marketing services include affiliate marketing and search engine management as well as email marketing and customer loyalty programs.

zanox was founded in 2000 by CEOs Thomas Hessler, Heiko Rauch and Jens Hewald and employs more than 350 people. Apart from its headquarter in Berlin zanox operates offices in USA, UK, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Scandinavia and China. More than 2,000 prestigious international companies across the business sectors TIMES, Travel, Retail & Shopping as well as Financial Services utilize the zanox network.

Since 2007 zanox has been part of the Axel Springer and PubliGroupe. Axel Springer is Germany’s biggest newspaper publishing house and third-largest magazine publisher. PubliGroupe AG is an independent, internationally leading marketing, sales and service group for media and advertisers, supporting these in implementing their communication and media strategies with marketing and

Last week was a whirlwind while attending the Affiliate Summit in Boston, but before I headed up to New England, I swung by the eTail show in DC.

Immediately a few topics were defined as "hot" -

Mobile

Obviously this is nothing new, but to hear mobile being discussed as a valid channel in the retail world is always exciting. Amazon's mobile storefront was cited as an example. The warning? Online retailers need to have not only mobil offers, but a mobil storefront of their ecommerce sites.

Social Commerce

Apparently the research tells the tale. Users are becoming more and more wary of business to consumer communications. Who do consumers trust then? They trust thier friends. 91% of consumers took the advice of their friends when looking for advice on a purchase. When consumers are in the process of purchasing a TV, 55% of consumers have done some sort of online research.

Consumer Experience

During eTail it's not surprising that the conversation centered around the consumer, and how to better serve them. One interesting stat was that apparently when a consumer has a good experience with your company they'll tell one person. When they have a bad experience, they'll tell 3 people. The most interesting stat (to me anyway) is that when they have a bad experience, but said experience is addressed and remedied expeditiously by the retailer - the consumer is likley to share that experience (in a positive light) with 5 other people.

While walking around logan airport in Boston today after spending a few days at the Affiliate Summit, I noticed the cover of US News - American’s Best Graduate Schools. This issue resounded with me, because although I have a Masters Degree in Direct Marketing from NYU, I feel that there are still some gaps in my education that I know I’ll need as my career evolves.

Then it dawned on me.

We’re in an industry with so much money being pumped into it by advertisers. The affiliate channel has become a legitimate venue for companies to generate new users online in a cost efficient manner. We’re all still making money during an economic downturn, and still I don’t see the MBA’s? Why?

There are CEO’s in our industry that have MBA’s from top Universities, but are our companies recruiting from top schools? There are very smart people in our industry for sure, but take one lap around the floor at the Affiliate Summit, and you will quickly be able to select the top tier executives, and the publishers that just don’t have the depth of experience to enter the board room.

Why? Is it our fault for not recruiting properly, or is it because there is a certain type of person that does well in this business, and your traditional MBA just isn’t it? I think in order for our industry to continue to grow we will need leaders that can make that transition from meeting and interacting with the young gun internet guys to the MBA’s that may be more attracted to the VC firms than the actual companies themselves.

The 1/2 Marathon was a huge success! I'm still sore, but can't wipe the smile off my face at what I've been able to accomplish in such a short time. It was only a few months ago when I entered my first 5k that I really focused on taking this a bit further. I'm encouraged by my performance, and I'm looking forward to my next event.

This week has been busy getting ready for the eTail conference in DC, and then of course we're all very excited about the Affiliate Summit in Boston. Shoot me a note if you're planning on attending either event, and I'll be sure to carve out some time to meet.

View my page on Affiliate Summit

Affiliate Marketing continues to move forward at an accelerated rate despite numerous predictions of a downturn. We're seeing record numbers across all country offices, and continue to be attentive to our bottom line.

Recently we also released news that we're planning on giving away 1million Euro....well not really "giving" it away. We're asking that developers submit their business plans for our review. We will select the best plan, and award a cool million....EURO no less!

Take a look at some of the details on our company blog:

http://blog.zanox.com/en/webservices/1-mio-eur-zanox-web-services-contest-2008/



interested candidates apply by setting up an corresponding account and accepting the terms of conditions.

zanox makes a pre-selection by analysing the zanox publisher statistics of the candidates during the entire contest.

the best 20 candidates will be asked on September 30, 2008, to turn in their business plans until October 5, 2008.

the ultimate top 10 candidates will receive invitations to the closing event in Berlin (probably October 24, 2008).

within a business plan-conference/-competition) the top 10 candidates will get the opportunity to convince the jury by giving a short presentation of their business model and team.

the jury will officially announce the top five candidates in the following recall party.

all participants will be promoted with their brand and Ranking to the campus sponsors and the zanox investors network.

This coming Sunday I'll be competing in my first ever 1/2 Marathon. After catching the running bug a few months back (I entered a 5k, then a 10k and now the 1/2 marathon), I'm feeling better than when I was 25. It's amazing what your body can do when you set a goal, define a road map to meet that goal, and execute.

I can't help but make the connection to our daily business lives. How many of us say "I want to be a CEO", but never map out the strategy to get there? Recently I've been able to start road maps outlining different aspirations in my life. What stimulated my recently found laser focus was that I stumbled upon a list of "things to do before I die" that I'd created when I was about 20, and updated when I was about 22. I had to take a moment to say "well done" because there were more boxes checked off than I expected when I first found the document. Afterward my wife and I sat down to review the list. We both agreed that I should map out what steps I need to take to accomplish each thing on my list. She also encouraged me to seriously evaluate the validity of said list. The activity in contention was "make-out with a Playboy bunny"....unless my wife decides to pose for the "hot wives of westchester" addition, I think I'll have to remove that one, but I digress.

I'll keep you posted on the 1/2 marathon, and hopefully I start posting my progress on some of the "things to do before I die"...

oh yeah...here's a pic of my triumphant finishing of my 10k on Father's Day!

NEW YORK - (Business Wire) zanox, a global leader in performance-based online marketing, today announced the company’s significant growth in the fiscal year 2007, including global revenue generation of more than 166 million EUR (261.8 million USD), across key sectors including the T.I.M.E.S. (Telecommunication, Internet, Media, Entertainment, Software), Travel, Retail & Shopping and Finance verticals. Overall, the Berlin-based provider of affiliate marketing experienced 55 percent company growth, surpassing industry averages of 33.2 percent for the online marketing sector (as reported in the PwC Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2008-2012).

“zanox brings affiliate advertisers and publishers together on a global scale with an international footprint unrivaled by other ad networks,” said Christopher Dessi, Vice President of Advertiser Sales, North America. “We’ve made significant strides over the past year and are dedicated to growing the company’s U.S. presence with new customers, key partnerships and product upgrades throughout 2008.”

zanox’s corporate growth and increased revenue are credited to investments from German Axel Springer AG and Swiss PubliGroupe AG made in May 2007, which enabled the company to grow the number of subsidiaries as well as significantly expand it’s global reach to encompass more than one million sales partners in 200 countries. zanox currently employs 350 staff in total with 150 in Berlin and has offices in 25 other locations worldwide, including the China, France, Spain, Italy, UK and zanox U.S. headquarters in New York City.

“Since its inception almost a decade ago, zanox has continually evolved with the online marketing landscape with an ultimate goal of advancing the monetization of the Internet,” said Thomas Hessler, CEO of zanox. "Looking ahead, zanox will continue searching for new and innovative ways to provide maximum value to advertisers and publishers through further collaboration with our partners, and continuous expansion of the network through global alliances.”

Be sure to check out the zanox Web Services Contest 2008 which will award One Million Euro (roughly 1.57 million US Dollars) Venture Capital for the best business model based on the zanox Web services. Deadline for entry is September 30, 2008; open to registrants in the United States.

About zanox

zanox.de AG is the global leading provider for success orientated online marketing and offers global solutions for efficient commercialism of products and services in the Internet for advertiser and supports publisher in achieving sales out of their traffics. The portfolio of zanox contains tools for cooperation- and search engine marketing to build up a decommission system and reference marketing via email.

zanox was founded in 2000 by CEOs Thomas Hessler, Heiko Rauch and Jens Hewald and employs more than 350 people. Headquartered in Berlin zanox operates offices in USA, UK, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, Poland, Scandinavia and China. More than 2,000 prestigious international companies across the business sectors TIMES, Travel, Retail & Shopping as well as Financial Services utilize the zanox network.

Since 2007 Axel Springer holds 60% and PubliGroupe 40% of zanox. Axel Springer is Germany’s biggest newspaper publishing house and third-largest magazine publisher. PubliGroupe AG is an independent, internationally leading marketing, sales and service group for media and advertisers, supporting these in implementing their communication and media strategies with marketing and technology services.

The Fatal Flaw of Pay for Performance

By Christopher Dessi, Vice President of Ad Sales for zanox, North America

The Harvard Business Review, however interesting, is not always at the top of my reading list for a seven-hour flight to the UK. I’m more of an Esquire kind of guy, but I recently relented and forked over the cash for good old HBR (I still bought an Esquire to keep me entertained). While flipping through the articles, it struck me that the issues discussed on those pages transcend industries and are widely appealing because they affect any business. The contents seemed to be custom produced by writers that perhaps had been listening in on my team meetings and brain storming sessions over the past six months. This reminded me that some dilemmas – strategic, operational, motivational and ethical – are universal.

One piece in particular sparked my interest immediately, as it resounded for the performance-based online marketing industry yet had little to do with it. Odd. The title of the article was something along the lines of “The Fatal Flaw of Pay for Performance.” I immediately devoured the article, quickly realizing that it had nothing to do with online marketing. It was, however, fascinating and perfectly applicable.

The article discussed how rewarding a CEO for performance may satisfy certain critics so they don’t get swept away with backdating stock options, or the like. One of the main points addressed in the piece, which I felt was perfectly appropriate for our industry, is that when people (or in our case publishers/affiliate marketers) are rewarded for performance only, there is a fatal flaw – the temptation to cheat.

We open the system up for fraudulent activity because the one responsible for performing is so desperate to meet a certain benchmark that they loose site of the bigger picture. The article listed examples of CEO’s who had “cooked” the books. In my mind, I thought about rampant fraudulent leads I’ve seen over the years – affiliates forging applications, entering fake emails, even using stolen credit cards – all with the intent to be paid for performance.

The bottom line is, however appealing it is for advertisers, if not properly regulated, this model is flawed. You don’t want a CEO to be rewarded for something he or she didn’t really do. Nor do we in the performance-based marketing industry want to reward someone for performance they didn’t achieve on behalf of our advertisers.

The model shouldn’t be just pay for performance, but rather pay for performance with integrity. Let’s be honest though, there are too many affiliates and publishers to cut out all of the shady guys. So, how do we solve this dilemma? The first step is to be AWARE of the issue, and then monitor, regulate and participate.

Once you’ve recognized the existing threat, it’s important to monitor your affiliates and the manner with which they generate leads for your advertisers. Have a task force assigned to not just monitoring, but identifying and then terminating the relationship if the publisher is seen to be doing anything out of the ordinary. It’s also crucial to regulate the publishers that join your network. It’s your integrity as well as your advertisers’ at stake, be in charge and lay down the law. Finally, participate in removing these publishers actively as well as educating your advertisers about the pitfalls of pay for performance (i.e. Don’t allow incentivized traffic on lead generation offers).

My trans-Atlantic encounter with HBR ultimately reminded me that pay for performance is flawed – a dilemma that echoes across all industries. For those of us in performance-based online marking, particularly affiliate marketing, it should be clear that pay for performance with integrity is always better, albeit difficult to execute, and therein lies the differentiating factor for the best networks.

Ad:Tech Miami Conference attended – June 3rd

After spending a full day in sessions and walking the floor at Ad:Tech Miami, the message is clear – the Latin market is growing exponentially

Highlights/Insights
Hispanic online market has grown 18% YTY
Top 25 % of Latin consumers use the internet 250% MORE than the general market
Bottom 50% use it 78% less than the general market
Most of those users are under the age of 25
38% have some college education
76% use cell phone as the PRIMARY phone
19% use the internet to connect with family and friends, and they’re generating their own content online – blogging, social networking etc.
Major US Markets = LA, NY, Miami, Houston, Chicago

Top Latin Markets = Brazil, Mexico
Latin American has 87% online search penetration - 3million searches per month
Brazil = 90% online search penetration

Mexico
2008 27.4 million Mexicans are online
70% have broadband. (Most likely due to the usage of internet cafés – this does not indicate that they have broadband services in the home).
97% of Mexicans multi task while online
- 50% on the phone
- 41% while working
- 35% listening to music
- 25% watch TV

49% user generated content
33% own a blog
96% growth this year
2011 = $192million
UP 134% in 2008
Only 1.5% of total ad spend is going toward digital in Mexico.

Brazil and Mexico have a great deal of online user’s spending money online. There is also a huge potential in the US market for advertisers to target Spanish speaking Americans. Latino culture in the US is becoming more educated, and more versed in the online arena. Social networks are exploding, and Latin Americans are generating content to stay in contact with family back in their mother countries.

After a lot of consideration, I finally competed in - an completed my first 10k. The New Castle 10k is a charity event held in my town (Chappaqua, NY). My wife, daugther and parents came out to cheer me on. It was really a great time. Afterward we met up with my brother, sister in law, and my two nieces for some brunch.

Next step is a half marathon held in July. Also, I'll be participating in a Father's Day 5miler in central park which should be fun as well. It's a fund raiser for colon cancer.

Ad Networks are not only alive; we're thriving and evolving along with the ever changing interactive space. For successful performance based marketers there are certainly additional sensitivities that networks must consider which may have been ignored in the past. The adoption of performance based marketing by larger brands has cast a spotlight on the industry as a whole, and this is good. No longer can networks remain "blind" to advertisers. No longer can we demand payment on pixels firing. We're at a tipping point where those networks that survive will continue to cater to global advertisers that seek much needed hand holding, and networks must acquiesce and service these brands. Those that ignore the needs and wants of larger advertisers will suffer. Agencies will only add networks to a media plan if they're confident that their partner can service an account with the level of integrity and service they promise their client. The "net-net” is that the model works. Especially with our declining economic climate, "pay for performance" is highly appealing.

This morning I read a great article about cookies in the wall street journal. L. gordon Corvitz makes some really interestng points in the article, and I feel it's worth commenting on.

The main intent of the article speaks about how there is a purpose for cookies in online, and since consumers aren't really 100 percent clear about how these cookies are being used, there is a fear about them, and the information we communicate online.

This is facinating to me. As the VP of Sales at a performance based ad network, cookies are an essential part of our business. They are necessary for our advertisers, and certainly necessary for our affiliates in the network. The longer a cookie term - the better the chance that an affiliate will gain a commission from the advertiser.

The article by Crovitz also mentions how some of the greatest minds working in the interactive space are addressing this issue today. They've proposed "cookie crumbs" or even smaller bits of information that me be communicated online while browsing. The issue here seems to be the amount of work involved in making cookie crumbs being a reality.

For now we'll have to focus on educating people about why cookies are necessary. If, as the consumer you've disabled your cookies because your concerned about privacy, you may not reap the benefits of advertising at it's best (no Geo targeted ads etc).

I can understand the concern about privacy, but I also think that people may not understand just how much information is availble about them outside of the internet, and that if they enable cookies, they will certainly have an enhanced browsing experience.

I've just gone ahead and registered to attend this years Ad:tech Miami, and I'm excited. I've been lucky enough to attend Ad:tech's in NY, San Fran and Chicago, but never in Miami. This should be a great event considering how the latino market has been exploding.

I'll be sure to offer a full rundown on the event.

Happy Earth Day!

After poking around online to see what people had to say about Earth Day, I found some really interesting ways in which we can participate beyond the simple recycling etc.

Plant a Billion Trees - On dollar - One Tree - One Planet.

On April 3rd they announced a plant a billions trees campaign.

http://www.plantabillion.org/

2008 has been filled with changes for the Dessi family. On January 7th I started my new job as VP of Advertiser Sales at zanox, Inc. In May my wife Laura and I moved into our dream town (Chappaqua) after buying a lovely Townhome. On April 14th the biggest and best change happened for our family. Talia Dessi came into the world at 5:02pm. She was 6 lbs, 8 oz, and 19 and 1/2 inches long. She's now home with us, and we're loving being new parents to this little Angel.

Here is my favorite photo of the little "muffin" as my father in law calls her.

My former employer AzoogleAds Re-Brands. This is a great step for AzoogleAds. I wish them the best of luck.


AzoogleAds Re-Brands as Epic Advertising
New Corporate Brand Identity Encompasses Broad Range of Performance Marketing Services

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Azoogle.com, Inc., the New York online performance-based advertising network, announced today that the company will change its corporate name to Epic Advertising, creating a single brand for its now fully integrated performance marketing businesses and services. The company will retain the AzoogleAds name as a unit of Epic Advertising, maintaining continuity as an industry-leading, performance-based ad network.

The re-branding will unify the company’s services under one name, strategy and vision for its performance marketing business, both in North America and globally. It also signals the completion of the integration of Bazaar Advertising, the search marketing firm acquired by the company and announced in October 2007.

Epic Advertising encompasses two main units focused on online consumer traffic acquisition: AzoogleAds and Bazaar Advertising. AzoogleAds continues to provide broad-based traffic acquisition services leveraging the company’s leading performance-based ad network business. Bazaar Advertising continues to provide search engine management and marketing services, specializing in keyword discovery, purchase and optimization of online search campaigns. Epic Advertising will market both units as an integrated suite of services to its advertisers, with a focus on direct response customer acquisition and performance marketing.

The Epic Advertising brand will also include the Epic Ad Center (EAC), a do-it-yourself tool-kit for small- to medium-sized businesses that automatically creates display, search and coupon ads on a performance basis. Advertisers are able to target their campaigns geographically, demographically and behaviorally using the ads.

Recently, the company announced its international expansion throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific, and it expects the name change to facilitate that drive. The company plans to continue this expansion throughout 2008.

“This symbolizes an exciting evolution for our company,” says Don Mathis, President of Epic Advertising. “Until now we were known primarily for our performance-based ad services in North America via our AzoogleAds brand. Our new corporate name will help to showcase all of our services as a seamless offering to advertisers, highlighting our multi-channel approach to performance marketing. As our company moves forward as a global enterprise, we’re working to take performance marketing to the next level.”

About Epic Advertising:

Epic Advertising (www.EpicAdvertising.com), founded in 2000 as AzoogleAds, is an elite, global performance marketing company, providing advertisers with superior customer acquisition marketing services. Leveraging its industry-leading performance-based ad network under its AzoogleAds subsidiary, and its search engine marketing capabilities under its Bazaar Advertising subsidiary, Epic provides advertisers with direct response marketing services with a world-wide reach that are second to none.

Epic Advertising utilizes proprietary and patent-pending optimization and targeting technology, and leverages a network of tens of thousands of publishers, to generate extremely high volumes of top quality consumer traffic for its advertising partners. A pioneer in both the online performance marketing industry and in Internet advertising integrity assurance, Epic Advertising brings an intense focus on achieving the highest ROI yield, and scales its solutions by leveraging vast quantities of data, its proprietary targeting and search technologies, and its unparalleled industry expertise.

Epic Advertising is headquartered in New York, with offices in Toronto and San Francisco. The company is privately held and backed by private equity firms TA Associates and Stripes Group.