Over the last year, I’ve written several posts ‘outing’ clearly fraudulent ads I’ve seen online. There was the “American Anti-Aging Association“, a fake trade association with a fake building and fake wrinkle cream ratings; the Yahoo Answers ‘results’ that were really just an ad; and the MarketWatch ‘article’ that was actually a press release for a ‘turn your cash into gold site.’ I thought of this point again when I saw an ad claiming you could lose 45 pounds in three weeks through a combination of the Acai … Continue reading →

Here’s an article with the answer. By way of background, WebVisible was formerly called SME Global. I did a biz dev deal with them way back in 2003! I think their model is to provide white-label PPC management solutions to IYPs and the like. So I imagine that the acquisition of Adapt is for the Adapt user interface and bid management technology. Interestingly, WebVisible has raised a total of $17 million since inception, which makes me think that this acquisition was a mostly stock transaction, or a merger.

Last year when Terry Semel resigned as Yahoo CEO and Jerry Yang – Yahoo’s co-founder – was announced as the new CEO, I was a little concerned, to say the least. I wrote: The guy is 38 years old, he’s only worked at one company – ever, and he has been a senior executive at Yahoo during their losing battle to Google over the last six years. If Yahoo needs some new blood to shake the moss off the log, having the founder return as CEO doesn’t seem … Continue reading →

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, “fear” is one of four base human emotions that work well in direct marketing (the other three being: greed, exclusivity, and vanity). But it seems to me that this latest LowerMyBills banner ad, which appears to show a video of a peasant woman frantically protecting her baby from an unseen terror, goes a little too far. To me, the video evokes a Russian pogrom or similar genocidal event. I am OK with salsa dancers, giant butterflies, and other such nonsense, but … Continue reading →

One of my client’s received this terse email today from Adapt Software, the LA-based small to medium business paid search software company: Hello [Name Removed], We are writing to inform you that the Adapt SEM business is in the process of being sold to another company. We wanted you to know that the Adapt SEM product will continue to be maintained and sold and that you should enjoy a seamless transition with full support while we complete the sale. In a few days, you will be receiving a … Continue reading →