Top Story

• Marketers embrace DMPs for turning data into targets
  Driving higher return on investment, leveraging data for audience targeting and creating a targeting profile were the top reasons marketers used a data management platform, according to a Radar Research survey for BlueKai. Separately, improving ad targeting and shifting to the "audience buying" media model were cited by more than 8 of 10 marketing pros as reasons for using DMPs in a survey by the Winterberry Group and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. eMarketer (12/24)      

Marketing Trends & Research

• Food brands take aim at children's smartphones
  Food marketers are shifting their ad spending to mobile and social in a bid to target smartphone-wielding children, according to a Federal Trade Commission report. Social campaigns and branded mobile applications are seen as a cost-effective way to target young consumers, researchers say. "These online media are not necessarily as costly as display advertising, yet potentially have a farther, and more immersive, reach than display advertising," the report notes. The Wall Street Journal (12/23)      

Company Watch

• Privacy-policy fight could delay Instagram's ad strategy
  Instagram is backtracking on changes to its privacy policy after users complained the revised rulebook apparently allowed the service to claim ownership of their photos. The uproar could force the site to rethink, or at least delay, its monetization strategy. "We are going to take the time to complete our plans, and then come back to our users and explain how we would like for our advertising business to work," Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom wrote in a blog post. Adweek (12/21)      

• Facebook makes last-minute holiday push for Gifts service
  Facebook is targeting last-minute Christmas shoppers with Web and mobile banner ads touting its Gifts service and reminding users that recipients receive instant notifications of their gifts. The campaign, combined with the service's recommendations engine, might make sending virtual Gifts an appealing option for flustered shoppers who've missed the window for Christmas gift delivery, notes Josh Constine. TechCrunch (12/22)      

Agency News

• Lenovo is in final round of choosing new media agency
  Lenovo is hearing pitches for a new media agency, Adweek is reporting. Deutsch, Digitas and Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners have made the final round; incumbent Neo@Ogilvy is not defending. A source says the computer company is looking for a media shop embedded within a full-service agency, though Saatchi & Saatchi will remain its creative lead. Adweek (12/21)      

Marketer News

• Marissa Hunter gives Ram truck a digital country beat
  Chrysler in 2013 plans to extend the reach of its "Road to the Ram Jam" marketing program that featured country artists such as Zac Brown Band and Kellie Pickler, says Marissa Hunter, head of Ram Truck advertising. The broad-ranging partnership will continue to include Yahoo Music and other digital channels. "We saw a big spike in brand visibility metrics when we promoted Ram on the artists' own fan pages, on social media and through Ram Country [on Yahoo]," says Hunter in this interview. MediaPost Communications/Marketing Daily (12/21)      

Sponsored Content

Interactive Media

• Lincoln mobile effort looks to push consumers to dealerships
  Ford's Lincoln is promoting year-end sales events at dealerships via a mobile campaign. The ads, which are running on mobile-optimized sites for the New York Post and Accuweather, seem purposeful and clear to analyst Marci Troutman, CEO of Siteminis. "I see automotive brands starting to understand the mobile ecosystem better in 2013 and start to break away from taking all things Web, mobile, tablet, social and push/pull-related and dumping them all in one bucket, but rather pulling apart and placing a real strategy for mobile in place," she says. Mobile Marketer (12/21)      

Hot Topics

Top five news stories selected by IAB SmartBrief readers in the past week.

• Video ads are more effective in shorter clips, study shows (VentureBeat)

• Amazon is on track to become ad-industry giant, experts say (Adweek)

• Mobile video's rise will dominate 2013, says IAB exec (ClickZ)

• IAB aims to stop data leaks with best practices guide (Advertising Age (tiered subscription model))

• Online ad spending rises 18% to $9.3 billion (PaidContent.org)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

IAB News

• Digital Decision Makers Debate the Value of Big Data: IAB annual leadership meeting
  Join media, brand and big data experts on Feb. 24–26 in Phoenix for a conversation that changes the way you think about the future of advertising. Explore the impact of big data on everything from politics to buying behavior. Hear how and why The Weather Channel is hiring veteran ad sales leaders to take digital by storm. And do business with the most influential decision makers in digital. Speakers include Curt Hecht, global chief revenue officer, The Weather Channel; David Kenny, chairman and chief executive officer, The Weather Channel; Nate Silver, author, statistician and founder, FiveThirtyEight.com; Michael Wolf, founder and managing director, Activate; and many more. Learn more here. Register before Dec. 25 to save.      

Editor's Note

• SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday
  In observance of Christmas, SmartBrief will not publish Tuesday. Publication will resume Wednesday. Enjoy the holiday!      

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In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy." --William Blake, British poet and painter