Top Story

• Pre-roll video ads are getting cheaper as inventory increases
  An inventory glut is driving down the price of digital pre-roll video ads, according to TubeMogul data. Inventory has ticked up 7.3% a month during 2012, and pricing has dipped from an $8.83 CPM during the first half of the year to $8.18 CPMs at present. MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily (12/6)     

Trendwatch

• Spotify update should be music to marketers' ears, says ad chief
  New features unveiled by Spotify this week will help brands reach the site's users, says advertising chief Jeff Levick. The site's updated music-discovery section offers "another new canvas" for brands, Levick explains. "Ads can be and should be about content, and we plan to use this content-rich experience to let brands test out new things," he says. Advertising Age (tiered subscription model) (12/6)     

• Old Navy's BuzzFeed takeover includes interactive holiday cheer
  An Old Navy homepage takeover of BuzzFeed via AKQA encouraged users to "Deck the Web" pages by applying Christmas-related iconography to websites and sharing the pages. "We were trying to make something endearing and engaging for the holidays that matched other things Old Navy was doing," said BuzzFeed Chief Creative Officer Jeff Greenspan. The brand has also purchased a series of eight sponsored posts to promote holiday sales. ClickZ (12/5)     

Getting the Word Out

• Microsoft may sell Atlas platform to Facebook
  Facebook and Microsoft reportedly are holding talks that could see the social network acquire Microsoft's Atlas Solutions ad-serving platform. The acquisition would potentially assist Facebook as it seeks to develop a third-party advertising network to rival Google's DoubleClick service. All Things D (12/6), Reuters (12/6)     

• Brands, networks are getting a taste for social TV
  Social TV is emerging as a major word-of-mouth-marketing tool, says Wharton professor Shawndra Hill, with networks and brands encouraging people to talk in real time on social networks and custom websites about shows and ad spots. "People like to talk about television. ... And whenever advertisers notice that people are doing something on a large scale they get very interested," Hill says. Knowledge@Wharton (12/5)     

Developer Update

• Mozilla exec: HTML5 improvements make recent complaints obsolete
  An article on VentureBeat this past month bemoaning the development of HTML5 is already outdated, Mozilla's Ron Piovesan writes. For example, responsive design such as the kind used on the Boston Globe's website demonstrates that cross-platform application development via HTML5 is not only happening, but working. Quixey and everything.me belie the notion HTML5 has no discovery mechanism equivalent to an App Store. And Mozilla's browserless runtime obviates the need for hybrid apps to run only on particular browsers, Piovesan writes. VentureBeat (12/5)     

Design Corner

• Want a boring website? Use Helvetica
  Helvetica is the corporate typeface du jour, writes Alastair Johnston, in part because it has a reputation for being extremely legible. But in fact, Johnston writes, there are more legible and much less dull alternatives available to designers. "We see it everywhere -- that's why we think we can read Helvetica. ... Helvetica is neutral, but it also symbolizes blandness and conformity," he complains. SmashingMagazine.com (12/6)     

Small Businesses & Entrepreneurs

• Third-party services help SMBs get more from Facebook
  Facebook is eager to encourage small businesses by making it easier for them to find third-party tools that can streamline their use of the site, says Dan Levy, the network's small-business lead. "In an ideal world complexity wouldn't exist ... Until that day comes, we think there's a lot of third-party service providers that can help companies use Facebook," Levy says. MediaPost Communications/Online Media Daily (12/6)     

Association News

• Do You Have "Award Winning" Integrated Advertising Campaigns?
  Integrated advertising campaigns are those that use multiple ad formats to get their message across to the consumer. The Web Marketing Association judges will select the best integrated advertising campaigns in 86 industries as part of their 11th annual Internet Advertising Competition (IAC) Awards. Companies or agencies wishing to nominate their work for consideration may do so before the deadline of Jan. 31.     

Featured Content

On Leadership

Top five news stories from SmartBrief on Leadership this week. Want more leadership news?

• 6 reasons that women make great leaders (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Leadership)

• Smart bosses take their enemies to lunch (ThoughtLeaders blog)

• Turn off your computer and go talk to someone (The New York Times (tiered subscription model))

• Burger joints' obscene branding could backfire, experts say (Bloomberg Businessweek)

• The CEO who started in a gang (Bloomberg Businessweek)

SmartQuote

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it." --Charles Buxton, British brewer, philanthropist, writer and legislator