Chris Dessi - Vice President zanox, Inc

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!