J&J Launches Animated Shorts to Reach Gen Y Mommies

Johnson & Johnson has launched an online video campaign for its baby lotion. The goal is to reach young, web-savvy moms.

The campaign emphasizes the power of a mom's touch to build a bond with her child.

J&J believes the online shorts will touch Gen Y moms in particular, because they "grew up" on the web.
The company worked with animation studio Animation Collective and actress Mariska Hargitay from NBC's Law & Order: SVU to create the shorts.

They began running on http://www.touchingbond.com last Wednesday and are promoted via video banner ads on BabyCenter, Discovery Health, TLC, Meredith publications websites, and emails sent to BabyCenter and Baby.com customer lists.

A Spanish version is also promoted on babycenter/espanol and Univision.com.

Ad Infuse Introduces First Video Advertising Solution for the iPhone

Ad Infuse Introduces First Video Advertising Solution for the iPhone

Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :

Advertising Writers/Business Editors/Technology Writers

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--February 6, 2008--Ad Infuse, a leader in delivering highly personalized mobile advertising experiences, today announced a new mobile advertising unit designed specifically for the Apple iPhone. The new solution enables brands to uniquely reach the millions of iPhone subscribers in the US and Europe, bringing together video and browsing formats for the first time. The company introduced the new product to meet the growing demand from top brands and premium publishers for a more visual, rich multi-media experience that can leverage the unique mobile web capabilities of the iPhone.

The new ad unit is already in production with several early advertiser and publisher partners, with global availability later this month. Ad Infuse’ s platform will now automatically recognize the iPhone, and deliver advertisements optimized specifically for that device. The multi-format capability enables advertisers to gain broader reach with their target audience, delivering presence in more areas where subscribers are spending time on the mobile device. Publishers are now able to open up more of their content for more compelling multi-format campaigns, ultimately gaining from higher revenue opportunities.

“The iPhone has undeniably set new benchmarks in providing a rich and dynamic user experience for the mobile Web,” said Liz Ross, President of Tribal DDB West, one of the world’ s top digital marketing agencies. “Being able to leverage its full potential, especially in video, is an exciting development for creating innovative and compelling ways to interact with consumers.”

Ad Infuse offers full flexibility through a choice of video, browsing, or integrated multi-format campaigns. Utilizing progressive downloading for video, the solution delivers the same user experience as streaming but with a much higher image quality, ensuring the best presentation of an advertiser’ s creative assets. Video ads and content are able to stretch and rotate with the phone without any interruption, delivering a seamless user experience. In addition, dynamic ad insertion allows real-time targeting, and advertisers can rotate multiple ads throughout a campaign to keep it fresh and interesting for consumers.

“Ad Infuse continues to spearhead innovation in rich media and multi-format advertising solutions,” said Brian Cowley, CEO of Ad Infuse. “As top publishers create content optimized for the iPhone and premium brands look to interact with consumers in exciting new ways, our new solution delivers exactly the kind of user experience and targeting capabilities the market is seeking.”

Since its debut in June 2007, almost four million iPhone’ s have been sold worldwide according to Apple. And the user experience is drawing more users to the mobile web. In a recent study by M:Metrics, almost 90 percent of iPhone owners try to access the mobile web, compared to 10 percent of regular cell-phone users.

About Ad Infuse

Ad Infuse is leading the industry in personalized mobile advertising solutions. With a technology platform that delivers relevant advertising experiences targeted to each mobile subscriber, Ad Infuse is replacing mass communications with a direct, brand-to-consumer relationship. Uniting carriers, brands, content providers and consumers, Ad Infuse is creating a marketplace for mainstream mobile media consumption. For carriers, Ad Infuse offers an ad-serving technology solution architected to protect consumer privacy and to deliver a blend of ad-supported and subscription-based premium content. For brands, Ad Infuse redefines advertising with truly dynamic ad insertion, allowing marketers to personalize their message and build a direct, high-impact relationship with the consumer. For content providers, Ad Infuse offers a path to mobile syndication supported by a balanced combination of subscription and ad-supported revenue. For consumers, Ad Infuse reveals all the possibilities that the mobile Web has to offer -- from intriguing user-generated content and games, to the latest in news stories and pop culture videos.

For more information about Ad Infuse, please visit www.adinfuse.com or call 415.315.3400.

MindBranch: "Asian Americans Online" by eMarketer February 2008

MindBranch: "Asian Americans Online" by eMarketer February 2008

M2 PressWIRE via NewsEdge Corporation :

RDATE:12022008

Asian Americans are a prime target for online marketers. As a group, they are Internet savvy and have high levels of disposable income. In 2007, there were 11 million Asian Americans online, and eMarketer projects that number will grow to nearly 14 million by 2011.

The Asian Americans Online report examines the behavior patterns of this educated, affluent and rapidly growing segment of Internet users.

US advertisers have long thought of the Asian-American market as complex and difficult to reach. Asian Americans are from a wide range of original nationalities, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indian and Filipino, and they are further divided subcultures and language.

Some marketers take a fragmented approach and target each subculture separately. Others view Asian Americans as a single entity that will respond to a one-size-fits-all message.

But which strategy works best online?

Key questions the 'Asian Americans Online' report answers:

How many Asian Americans are online?

What trends affect Asian-American media consumption?

What do Asian Americans do online? Are Asian Americans online buyers, or just shoppers?

What are Asian-American attitudes toward advertising? And many others

eMarketer Reports-On Target and Up to Date

The Asian Americans Online report aggregates the latest data from marketing and communications researchers with eMarketer analysis to provide the information you need to make smart, accurate business decisions.

For full report details visit: http://www.mindbranch.com/products/R203-547.html

 

eMedTV Offers Nearly 3,000 Embeddable Health Education Videos for Free

eMedTV Offers Nearly 3,000 Embeddable Health Education Videos for Free

Market Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :

SEATTLE, WA, February 13 / MARKET WIRE/ --

eMedTV (www.emedtv.com), a health information Web site that strives to empower its users with reliable and easy-to-understand medical information, today announced that nearly 3,000 of its health education videos can now be embedded on anyone's Web site -- free of charge.

Since eMedTV launched the Web's largest library of original health education videos last year, its award-winning content has received positive response from patients and healthcare providers alike. In fact, after seeing the breadth and depth of eMedTV's professional video library, some health sites have even asked if they could license the videos.

However, Dr. Art Schoenstadt, MD, founder and president of eMedTV, wasn't interested in selling his site's content, which has taken years to create.

"While practicing medicine, I personally saw how difficult it was for patients to make informed healthcare decisions," Schoenstadt said. "The lack of health literacy in this country is a serious problem, and that's why I created eMedTV -- to ensure that health information is both easy to understand and more accessible to the public. Plus, by offering this new embeddable feature for free, even more patients can now find the health information they truly need."

Only about 36 percent of America's adults have a basic or below basic health literacy, according to the U.S. Department of Education's National Assessment of Adult Literacy from 2003. Plus, the expense associated with low health literacy to the U.S. economy is staggering: $106 billion to $238 billion annually, according to a 2007 analysis.

"At eMedTV, we have a solution that tackles health illiteracy head on," Schoenstadt said. "In fact, studies show that interactive video-based technology improves both patient understanding and adherence."

Any Web site can now post eMedTV's videos for free -- no licensing fees are required. Similar to the embeddable feature provided by YouTube.com, users can simply find a video on eMedTV and copy the provided code for use on their own Web site. The tool is especially helpful for physicians and other healthcare providers, who can embed the videos on their own Web sites as future reference for their patients.

eMedTV's vast library of multimedia content has been used by the National Institutes of Health, as well as top medical centers within the United States and overseas. In addition, each of eMedTV's original videos and articles are produced by health, fitness and medical experts.

"Join us by making high-quality, video-based healthcare information available to as many people worldwide as possible," Schoenstadt said. "We all benefit from teaching patients how they can improve their health -- and their lives."

About eMedTV:

eMedTV is the only health information Web site that combines straight talk from medical experts with the Web's largest library of original health education videos.

eMedTV provides consumers with thousands of short videos and articles designed to quickly and easily educate them about a wide variety of diseases, treatments and procedures. The site's award-winning original content has been used by the National Institutes of Health and top medical centers both within the United States and overseas.

eMedTV is health information brought to life, online at: www.emedtv.com.

Report shows that social media may be recession-proof

Report shows that social media may be recession-proof

Despite the economic downturn, marketers will likely continue to invest in social media, according to a Forrester Research study. A combination of the cost effectiveness of many social media applications along with their ability to produce measurable results, could allow social media to not only survive but thrive in a possible recession, the report says. Social marketing may also be more resilient than traditional media. For example, Procter & Gamble's online community for adolescent girls, BeingGirl.com, is four times as effective as a similarly priced marketing program in traditional media, reports Adweek.

Aricept dominates newly diagnosed Alzheimer's disease patient share

Aricept dominates newly diagnosed Alzheimer's disease patient share

Physician familiarity and a better side effect and safety profile are among the factors leading to high Aricept prescription rates, according to a report from Decision Resources. The Eisai/Pfizer drug has a 42.4% patient share for first-line treatment for newly diagnosed Alzheimer's disease, the report says. That's compared to Novartis's Exelon, which has a 2.8% share, and Shire/Janssen/Ortho-McNeil's Razadyne with a 1.4% share. The patient share data is from a report that's part of Decision Resources' Treatment Algorithms Insight Series. The reports in the series examine different diseases and provide qualitative diagnosis and referral patterns, quantitative treatment algorithms, physician opinions, and other data.

iCrossing Study Finds the Internet is Top Resource for Health Information

iCrossing Study Finds the Internet is Top Resource for Health Information

PR Newswire via NewsEdge Corporation :

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- iCrossing (http://www.icrossing.com/), a global digital marketing company, today announced the results of "How America Searches: Health & Wellness," the latest in an ongoing series of studies commissioned by iCrossing to quantify how people search for and find information online. The report provides insights into the habits of online U.S. adults seeking information about health topics.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20051130/NYW105LOGO )

The study finds that the Internet beats doctors as the most popular resource for healthcare information, but healthcare professionals still hold the upper hand in retaining consumers' trust when addressing health-related issues and questions. The study also finds that one-third of online health searchers use social media resources, and that search engines dominate as the starting point for health care searches. The complete report, as well as past HAS studies, can be found at http://www.icrossing.com/research.

    KEY FINDINGS     * Internet is the most widely used resource for health information: 59% of       adults use online resources to obtain health and wellness information.       55% go to their doctors and 29% talk to relatives, friends or co-       workers.      * Doctors retain patients' trust: Not surprisingly, more than three-       quarters of consumers named health care professionals (primary care       physicians, specialists, nurses, and pharmacists) as their most trusted       health resource.  Internet resources, however, are considered by       respondents more trustworthy than friends/coworkers, pharmaceutical       companies and television.      * Social media an important health resource: 34% of health searchers use       social media resources to delve into health-related topics, with       Wikipedia, and online forums and message boards the most important       individual tools.  Social media holds a particular appeal for 18-to-34       year old health searchers, while overall, men appear more likely than       women to use online social media to research health and wellness issues.      * General search engines dominate: Two-thirds of online adults have used       general search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo!, MSN and Ask) to find       health-related information, making them the default gateway for this as       well as many other topics; usage of health-specific search engines --       such as Healia, Medstory, Fealth, Kosmix and Healthline -- is minimal by       comparison.  

IMPLICATIONS

The results of "How America Searches: Health & Wellness" suggest that online resources, particularly general search engines, healthcare portals and a range of social media, play a central role is steering consumers towards care and treatment options. To take full advantage of opportunities to connect with in-market health consumers, content must be available in and optimized for a range of formats, and ideally should comprise a truly interactive component that allows consumers to socialize. In order to maximize relevancy, content should be oriented around the health topics that most preoccupy consumers, such as symptoms, treatment, conditions and wellness issues including exercise, nutrition and weight loss.

Methodology

This report presents the findings of a survey conducted among a sample of 1,084 adults comprising 513 men and 571 women 18 years of age and older. The online omnibus study was conducted twice a week among a demographically representative U.S. sample of 1,000 adults 18 years of age and older using the Greenfield Online panel. Interviewing for this survey was completed on December 3-4, 2007. The raw data was weighted by a custom designed program. Each respondent was assigned a single weight derived from the relationship between the actual proportion of the population based on U.S. Census data with its specific combination of age, sex, geographic characteristics and race and the proportion in the sample. Tabular results show both weighted and unweighted bases. Because the sample is based on those who initially self- selected for participation, no estimates of sampling error can be calculated. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to multiple sources of error, including, but not limited to sampling error, coverage error, error associated with non-response, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments.

EveryDay Health top-gaining Web property of 2007

EveryDay Health top-gaining Web property of 2007

Everyday Health topped comScore's list of the top-gaining Web properties of 2007. According to the data, Everyday Health was the No. 1 gaining property by percentage change in unique visitors, jumping from 2.69 million visitors in December 2006 to 12.07 million in December 2007. The site's 349% gain was driven by its acquisition of Drugs.com and other sites, said comScore. Also showing big growth in 2007 were Glam Media, which grew 213%, and iVillage.com, which gained 27%. Click the link below to read more.

Link to Comscore press release.

New microsite educates men about common cause of ED

New microsite educates men about common cause of ED

Cook Medical has launched www.MensHealthPD.com, an educational microsite about Peyronie's disease, a form of erectile dysfunction (ED) that affects more than 1.4 million men in the United States. MensHealthPD.com includes videos of healthcare experts answering the most commonly asked questions about Peyronie's disease, a searchable physician finder tied to the American Urological Association, and a Q&A forum where patients and physicians can discuss Peyronie's treatments and coping with the disease. The site also includes information about the signs, symptoms, and progression of Peyronie's disease and a list of questions to ask a doctor. According to Cook Medical, a recent study showed that more than half of primary care physicians were unsure whether any effective treatments for Peyronie's disease existed. Cook Medical makes a repair graft for Peyronie's disease, according to its Web site.

 

Boomers feel young but are neglecting age-related health issues

Boomers feel young but are neglecting age-related health issues

Although baby boomers feel younger than their age, they may be overlooking age-related health issues. Energizer Holdings (yes, the battery company) conducted a survey of baby boomers and found that 64% feel younger than their chronological age, and 55% feel healthier than their parents did when they were the same age. Although 57% reported that they eat healthy, and 41% regularly exercise, 46% have never had their hearing checked despite the fact that 33.3% said they think that they might have hearing loss. Also, the National Center for Health Statistics shows that half of Americans aged 55–64 have high blood pressure, and two out of five are obese.

WonderHowTo.com Launches Web's Biggest How-To Video Site...

WonderHowTo.com Launches Web's Biggest How-To Video Site

Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :

Business Editors/Internet Writers

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 30, 2008--www.WonderHowTo.com, the video guide for a curious world, has unveiled the world’ s biggest free how-to video index, cataloging and linking to more than 90,000 curated video clips at launch. The company has also closed a Series “A” investment led by General Catalyst Partners and ad sales will be powered by Scripps Networks. The announcements were made today by Stephen Chao, co-founder and CEO, WonderHowTo. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

“At WonderHowTo.com, our passion is to search, curate and organize the fascinating but fragmented category of free and informative video that has recently become widely available on the web,” said Chao. “There is a quiet yet thrilling revolution happening in the how-to video world. Historically, people have spent around a billion dollars a year in the U.S. buying instructional videos about fitness, self-help, dancing, languages, auto repair, gardening and all kinds of other things. But the market forces of the internet are swiftly liberating the realm of video just as they liberated text a few years ago. As our community grows, WonderHowTo will become the free video guide for a curious world.”

WonderHowTo.com’ s team of pre-launch video curators has amassed an impressive collection of free, high-quality how-to video features from the farthest reaches of the Internet, classifying and ranking more than 90,000 videos in more than 400 categories over the last few months. With today’ s public launch, WonderHowTo.com will also begin accepting community submissions of new videos and soliciting user ratings of videos featured on the site.

During his successful career as a television executive, Chao left an imprint on the primetime landscape that persists today. As a young programmer at Fox, he commissioned Cops, created America’ s Most Wanted, and earned a reputation for creating commercial success by pushing boundaries and questioning conventional wisdom. Chao rose to president of Fox Television, and later held the same position at USA Cable where he launched Monk.

“WonderHowTo’ s content and community-centric approach to the web how-to video sector makes it a very attractive investment for us,” said George Bell, special venture partner, General Catalyst Partners. “Add to that the opportunity to work with Stephen, one of the great explorers in the media business, and it’ s easy to see why we became enamored with this company.”

WonderHowTo.com aggregates community-submitted links and reviews of how-to video from across the Internet. From mainstream queries such as how to tie a tie, to the eye-opening presentation of how to perform a Balducci levitation, to the long-tail eccentricity of how to train your cat to use the toilet, WonderHowTo embraces the ever expanding visual imagination of the collective web to provide the most comprehensive and revelatory results in the instructional video space.

Ad sales for the site are managed by Scripps Networks. Because videos on WonderHowTo are organized into extremely targeted categories, the site offers outstanding opportunities for contextually relevant advertising placements. On the content side, Scripps Networks has provided WonderHowTo with thousands of video assets from its library.

"Scripps Networks is already a leading web content publisher in this space and WonderHowTo dovetails perfectly with our distribution strategy of continuing to make our videos even more widely and easily accessible to do-it-yourself enthusiasts," said Doug Hurst, senior vice president and general manager of non-linear distribution for Scripps Networks. "We felt right away that WonderHowTo’ s vision of community-powered universal search for online instructional video would be a good fit for us and have been working together since April 2007 to index thousands of the best video clips from our networks - HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network and Fine Living - at WonderHowTo."

"With more than 400 categories of how-to video and continually expanding coverage of the long-tail curiosities of the web, WonderHowTo offers marketers a tremendously flexible ad targeting framework," said Jeff Meyer, senior vice president of interactive ad sales for Scripps Networks. "We are excited to add this site to the multi-dimensional solutions that the Scripps Networks Ad Sales team presents to advertisers. Marketers realize that those actively seeking how-to content are also actively seeking purchasing advice and information."

Kip Kay, the all-time top video publisher and earner on short-form online video site Metacafe said, “It was easy to submit my library of instructional videos to WonderHowTo, and the site does a great job of organizing and spotlighting my material. Every video view on WonderHowTo registers directly on my Metacafe channel, which results in more money in my pocket. I am excited to see such an outstanding community-powered search tool begin to centralize the how-to video search experience.”

By pointing to how-to video around the web, rather than hosting the videos, the ad-supported site sidesteps the cost structure issues that face many other online video communities. In addition, the company’ s approach enhances the monetization strategies deployed by pioneering content owners by increasing traffic and video views for publishers. WonderHowTo’ s dynamic user feedback and continuous web spidering keep the site’ s video index current by organizing new material and suspending any expired, broken, or otherwise misleading links.

In head-to-head tests, WonderHowTo’ s human-powered indexing and ranking mechanism consistently provides how-to video search results of significantly better quality and accuracy than existing general purpose web search engines.

Analysis of available data suggests that U.S. special interest instructional videos approach $1 billion in retail and direct-to-consumer sales annually. Additionally, the tremendous growth of special interest cable networks and the larger do-it-yourself movement suggest a very robust marketplace for informational content. Meanwhile, in the web search arena, Hitwise.com, the online competitive intelligence service, reported recently that “how-to” queries on the web have risen nearly 20% since the start of 2007, confirming that the consumer appetite for how-to knowledge continues to spill over from traditional media to the web.

About WonderHowTo.com

WonderHowTo.com is the video guide for a curious world. The privately-held company was founded in 2007 by Stephen Chao and Mike Goedecke, and is backed by Cambridge, MA-based General Catalyst Partners. Chao is a media industry veteran, and Goedecke is the founder of Belief, an award-winning broadcast design firm. WonderHowTo.com is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA. For more information, visit www.wonderhowto.com.

About General Catalyst Partners

General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital firm that invests in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building the technology-based companies that will lead innovation and transform industries. Founded in 2000, General Catalyst Partners leverages its principals' extensive operational, business development and technological expertise to provide portfolio companies with a catalyst for success through business-building and partnership development assistance. General Catalyst has approximately $1 billion under management and is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. For more information, visit www.generalcatalyst.com.

REMICADE EXAMPLE:

http://www.wonderhowto.com/diet-health/prescription-drugs-pharamceuticals-video/how-to-find-relief-for-psoriasis-5301/

Manhattan Research service goes beyond consumer online numbers

Manhattan Research service goes beyond consumer online numbers

Analysis of online pharma resources, company and product Web sites, search engine use, and social networking are some of the topics covered in Manhattan Research's latest research and advisory service, ePharma Consumer. The online study of U.S. consumers, available now for subscribing clients, includes more than five years worth of trended data and insight from Manhattan Research. Other topics include DTC advertising, utilization and trust of online prescription information, blogs, podcasts, and wikis. "The study ePharma Consumer was built as a result of numerous conversations with our largest clients who wanted to go above and beyond typical server and media usage data," said Mark Bard, president of Manhattan Research. Rather than asking whether sites are being used, Bard said pharma companies now want to know what kinds of consumers are using their sites, how they use them, and what they do when they leave.

Learn more about ePharma Consumer by clicking below:

http://www.manhattanresearch.com/products/Strategic_Advisory/ePC/

 

Interactive site gives users personalized info about their bone health

Interactive site gives users personalized info about their bone health

A new interactive Web tool aims to help people assess their bone health and learn about osteoporosis. The tool, Check Up On Your Bones, is from the National Institutes of Health Osteoporosis and Related Bone Diseases ~ National Resource Center.

 

By completing a five-minute personal profile, users can receive individualized information about their risk factors for osteoporosis and information about how to protect their bones. The tool also generates personalized steps people can take to keep their bones healthy and prevent osteoporosis, a summary sheet to share with the doctor, and a list of tailored Web resources.

 

The personal profile collects information about gender and age; family history of osteoporosis and broken bones; lifestyle habits, including diet and exercise; and other medical conditions and medications. Click below to see the tool:

 

http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/bone/Optool/index.asp 

23andMe(TM) Launches Web-Based Personal Genome Service(TM) Outside U.S., Empowering Individuals to Access and Understand Their Own Genetic Information

Business Wire via NewsEdge Corporation :

Business Editors/Science Writers

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 22, 2008--23andMe, Inc., a privately-held personal genetics company, announced today that it has begun making its services available to consumers in Canada and 49 European countries. The company, which officially launched in the U.S. on November 16, 2007, helps individuals understand their own genetic information through the latest advances in DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools.

23andMe was recently selected as a 2008 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and will be participating in the 2008 World Economic Forum Annual Meeting from January 23-28, 2008 in Davos, Switzerland. Representatives from the company will be available to press and forum attendees at the 23andMe Booth on Wednesday, January 23 rd to Saturday, January 26 th 2008 from 10.00am – 2.00pm and 5.00pm – 11.00pm CET daily. The 23andMe Booth will be located on the first floor of the Belvedere Hotel (Promenade 89/7270 Davos-Platz) in Davos.

The 23andMeTM service enables its customers to:

Search and explore genes contributing to their personal characteristics, such as lactose intolerance, athletic ability, and food preferences;

Learn how the latest research studies relate to their genomes;

Compare their profiles to family and friends who are also 23andMe participants and trace the inheritance of genes associated with specific traits;

Discover genetic roots and find out where and how their ancestors lived and learn about the prehistoric events they experienced, and;

Actively participate in a new research approach and contribute to the advancement of the field of genetics.

Linda Avey, co-founder of 23andMe, said, "We are receiving overwhelming interest in our services outside the U.S. and are pleased to now offer them in Canada and Europe. Our web-based service model has made the European and Canadian offering possible, and we hope to continue to expand our global footprint to additional locations in the future. Ms. Avey continued, "We believe 2008 will be a year in which our understanding of the human genome will increase significantly through international research efforts, and we are eager to continue connecting individuals to this growing knowledge base of genetic information."

“23andMe came together because we believe in empowering individuals by helping them understand their genetic make-up and actively engaging them in the development of new ways to accelerate research,” said Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of 23andMe. “We enter the European and Canadian markets with great momentum and are excited to continue toward our goal of offering our services to the global community.”

How 23andMe’ s services work:

23andMe sends individuals a saliva kit containing a bar-coded tube for saliva collection. Customers then use the enclosed mailing materials to send their samples to 23andMe’ s contracted laboratory. The DNA is then extracted and exposed to a microchip-like device made by Illumina, Inc., a leading developer of genetic analysis tools (Nasdaq: ILMN), that reads more than half a million points in the individual's genome, including a proprietary set of over 30,000 information-rich markers, chosen by 23andMe scientists, to produce a detailed genetic profile.

Once the analysis has been completed, individuals are able to use their own private login to access their data via 23andMe’ s secure website. Using 23andMe’ s web-based tools, individuals can explore their ancestry, see what genetic research means for them and compare themselves to friends and family members.

Participants become part of a community that works together to advance the overall understanding of the human genome.

Joining the 23andMe Community

To learn more and embark on your own personal genetic journey, please visit: www.23andMe.com.

23andMe is now available to consumers in the following locations: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vatican City State.

About 23andMe

23andMe, Inc. is a privately-held personal genetics company dedicated to helping individuals understand their own genetic information through DNA analysis technologies and web-based interactive tools. The company's Personal Genome Service enables individuals to gain deeper insights into their ancestry and inherited traits. 23andMe, Inc., was founded by Linda Avey and Anne Wojcicki in 2006, and the company is advised by a group of renowned experts in the fields of human genetics, bioinformatics and computer science. Its Series A investors include Genentech, Inc., Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and New Enterprise Associates. More information is available at www.23andMe.com.

23andMe and Personal Genome Service are trademarks of 23andMe, Inc. All other marks belong to their respective owners.

Women More Likely to Turn to Web than Friends or Family for Health Info (The Contraception Marketplace)

Women More Likely to Turn to Web than Friends or Family for Health Info

source: COMSCORE For health information, women turn to the internet more than to friends, family or significant others - and second only to consulting physicians - according to comScore; moreover, 85 percent of online women have researched women's health issues, including 63 percent who've researched birth-control options, reports MarketingCharts. The comScore Pharmaceutical Solutions study was designed to help explain how women choose their birth control method, how they view alternative methods and ultimately whether their online activity influences their offline decisions. chart: http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/comscore-women-health-sources-of-info.jpg "Traditionally, women have relied on friends, family or a significant other for health-related information, including sexual health and contraception," said Carolina Petrini, comScore senior vice-president. "But today, with the influx of newer-generation birth control methods and nontraditional pill regimens, more and more women are turning to the internet to sort through the clutter and organize their findings." User-Generated Content an Opportunity The comScore also study evaluated the use and appeal of user-generated content (UGC) - such as blogs, forums, or chatrooms - among women seeking birth-control information online: One-third of respondents said they have consulted birth control-related UGC, with more than 40 percent being open to the idea. chart: http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/comscore-women-health-birth-control-ugc-attitudes.jpg Choosing Birth Control - Drivers and Deterrents With regard to factors influencing women's birth control choice, survey respondents said effectiveness was the most valued attribute. However, only 9 percent said they have objected to various forms of birth control because they believe them to be ineffective. The two main reasons that respondents would not consider a specific form of birth control are perceived side effects (45 percent) and inconvenience (42 percent): chart: http://www.marketingcharts.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/comscore-women-health-birth-control-reasons-for-not-considering.jpg The study findings also showed that perceptions about side effects and inconvenience varied across the many forms of birth control: For example, some survey respondents said they would not consider switching to the birth control pill, hormonal injections, patches and implants because of perceived side effects. Alternatively, some respondents said they would not consider vaginal rings and diaphragms because they perceive them to be inconvenient or difficult to use. "The findings suggest that because women generally believe birth control to be effective across forms, their decision-making process is largely based on their perceptions about side effects or inconvenience - which can differ from form to form," said Petrini. "It is important for healthcare professionals and manufacturers of birth control products to understand these differing perceptions and behaviors so they can more effectively communicate with consumers and dispel misconceptions about a specific form of birth control." About the study: For "The Contraception Marketplace" whitepaper, comScore surveyed 921 women between the ages of 18 and 44 who had been sexually active in the previous six months and had used a form of prescription or over-the-counter birth control.

 

A&E Viral Gets 'Freaky'

A&E Viral Gets 'Freaky'
May 17, 2007
By Brian Morrissey

NEW YORK When the grungy guy in the video gets the second letter of your name right, interest is piqued. When he gets the full name and follows up with your phone number, eeriness sets in.

While Criss Angel, the magician star of A&E's Mind Freak show, might not be truly clairvoyant, he has a viral video campaign that makes it seem like he is. The push, created by Omnicom digital agency EVB, uses hundreds of dynamically combined video shots to create the illusion of mind reading.Launched Tuesday, the viral push begins at www.freakyourmind.com, where visitors enter a friend's name and phone number. The site generates a Web address to forward, which hosts a video with the mind trick employing the recipient's name and number. Angel then follows up shortly afterwards with a pre-recorded, personalized call to say it was all a joke—along with a reminder to tune in to Mind Freak's premiere episode June 5.

Shop CEO Daniel Stein envisions the "Freak your mind" campaign, which targets 18-34-year-old males, approaching the viral success of EVB's "Elf yourself" push for OfficeMax, which generated for 35 million views in five weeks.

A key to both campaigns is that they require minimal effort, according to Stein. "That's one of our best practices," he said. "The time investment is next to nothing."

EVB spent a day filming Angel using 500 different names and a series of numbers. Once a user enters a name and number, a video file is automatically assembled to match the details.

"It's not like the 411 operator," he said. "We had to make sure everything would come across seamless."

To enhance the illusion, the user is not sent to a freakyourmind.com URL, but instead EVB uses a time4vids.com site that appears like a run-of-the-mill video sharing site.

EVB is tracking video views and visits to freakyourmind.com, but its goal is to lure viewers to the show.

"The measurement and tying viral to metrics is still probably the most difficult thing," Stein said. "There's no real benchmark yet."

 

What Do Casual Games And Pharmaceuticals Have In Common?

What Do Casual Games And Pharmaceuticals Have In Common?
by Justin Ehly , Tuesday, January 22, 2008 (Media Post Publications)

 I RECENTLY FLIPPED THROUGH AN issue of Time magazine and noticed that pharmaceutical companies not only push their latest sleep aids, cholesterol suppressors and erectile dysfunction meds, but they also compete for market share amongst themselves.

The issue I looked at had ads for Actonel, AdVair, Ambien, Cymbalta, Cypher Stent, Medco, Rozerem and Zetia. My first thought was, There is an awful lot of money used to advertise these well-known drug brands. At the same time, I thought about the value proposition of online video advertising:

• touches millions of consumers each month.
• has sophisticated consumer targeting and tracking with each ad served.

Out of curiosity I looked at Time's online rate card, and with simple math I calculated the combined monthly ad-spend of all the pharmaceutical companies to be in the neighborhood of $3 million  -- just one issue. I looked deeper into what Time offers advertisers and found that the magazine guarantees 19.5 million impressions per month, charges a hefty $48 CPM for black-and-white full-page ads and a whopping $74 CPM for full-page color ads.  I also noticed that each pharmaceutical ad was two full pages:

• Page one -- the actual full-color ad.
• Page two -- the full-page disclosure that generally appears on the back of the page of the color ad

This suggests each drug company buys two pages per month for an average cost per thousand of $61. WOW.

With my background primarily in radio and television advertising, I was initially shocked by these prices, but then I considered that Time is printed weekly and has great pass-along rate -- think about those old magazines you see in your dentist's office. So, I can possibly justify that CPMs for ad space in a prestigious magazine such as Time far outweight national television CPMs (range is generally $5 to $60 including cable and broadcast).

 

According to Time's online media kit, the audience's

• Median age is 48.
• It skews 54 percent male.
• Median household income is $68,500.

Time also offers advertisers the opportunity to appear adjacent to or wrapped around contextually relevant articles. I believe this is a pretty good place for the pharmaceutical companies to reach potential or existing customers.

 

Now let's take a look at how the pharmaceutical companies can take advantage of online video advertising. Assuming most of the pharmaceutical ads in Time have corresponding television creative:

• The initial hurdle of no video assets is eclipsed.
• Television ads can be repurposed.
• In most cases, videos and banners are clickable.
• In most cases, consumers can go directly from an ad to a landing page of the advertiser's choice (in this case the pharma companies can link directly to their product pages).

 

Online video advertising is as easy to buy as television, yet more accountable in terms of metrics, costs less per thousand impressions, and has the ability to link a consumer directly to an advertiser via ad click-thru capabilities. So what else? Different types of inventory fit a variety of advertiser and marketer needs, including in-game, in-stream, overlay and custom options.

Consider online casual gaming for a moment. Often video ads run while the game player loads and during natural breaks in game play, i.e. when the cards are shuffled or between game levels. According to an eMarketer study, 80 percent of online casual gamers are female, with a median age of 47, 33% have children under 18 in the home, and the worldwide casual gaming audience is estimated to be over 200 million unique players. Median age of 47 -- that sounds familiar, maybe because Time's median age is 48. So, if I am P&G Pharmaceuticals and marketing Actonel to women suffering from osteoporosis, this is a prime place to target the demographic. Casual games are time wasters, and while traffic is highest from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the week, there are lots of people logged on to play late at night because they are up and cannot sleep; this creates a natural environment for this brand to reach the night owls.

Overall the Internet is a vast space of content. While many advertisers are weary of going from traditional media outlets to the cyber world, online video advertising offers access to the Web's hottest ad space while keeping advertisers in their comfort zone by executing media buys like television buys. Add in the engaged audience factor and the clickable videos, and the potential is astounding.

The Doctor's Channel adding videos based on physician newsletter

The Doctor's Channel adding videos based on physician newsletter

Streaming videos are adding another layer to medical news and information coverage for physicians. Online physician video site The Doctor's Channel and medical information provider VerusMed are teaming to produce one- to two-minute videos based on articles from the weekly publication VerusMed Neurology Update. The Doctor's Channel will create short videos summarizing key briefs from the newsletter, which will be viewable online at The Doctor's Channel and VerusMed Web sites. The Doctor's Channel allows physicians to personalize the site with groups, messages, and storing their favorite videos. When viewing certain pharma-sponsored videos, doctors can instantly request additional information or samples from a sales representative.

Manhattan Research: Type 2 diabetes patients searching more online

Manhattan Research: Type 2 diabetes patients searching more online

More than 24 million consumers researched diabetes online in 2007, more than double the number who researched the condition online in 2003. With diabetes medications in the news last year, the increased online interest in the disease is no surprise to Manhattan Research, which just completed its newest study, ePharma Consumer v7.0. According to the research, more than half of surveyed type 2 diabetes patients were online in 2007, and of those, almost half are online for health information. The research also showed which pharma sites got visitors to act. Visitors to Actos.com were most likely to fill a prescription after visiting the Web site, whereas visitors to the Byetta site were the most likely to go on to request a prescription for this treatment from their physician.

Go to the Manhattan Research Web site <http://www.manhattanresearch.com/>  for more information.

Burst Media Launches Ad Network for Online Mommies

Burst Media Launches Ad Network for Online Mommies

Burst Media marks the latest company to target 'net-savvy moms with an
ad network.

The Burst Moms Network includes 150 sites identified by Burst as
influential and high-quality. The sites reportedly accumulate 197
million impressions monthly. Standard ad units and rich-media and video
spots will be offered on the sites. Custom sponsorship opportunities are
also available.