IAR Bits and Bytes

Priceline.com Installs New CMO

Name-your-own-price specialist priceline.com Tuesday said it has promoted Brett Keller to the post of chief marketing officer, a post newly vacated by Michael McCadden, who will leave the firm at year’s end.

Keller previously served as vice president of marketing at the Norwalk, Conn.-based firm since his arrival in 1999. Keller has been responsible for the creation and promotion of the outfit’s Web-based store, in addition to overseeing customer segmentation, online marketing, database development and management and online advertising sales.

Jeffery H. Boyd, priceline.com president and chief operating officer, gave Keller praise in a public statement.

“Brett is an Internet and priceline.com veteran whose work and guidance has been key in enabling priceline.com to make significant and continuous improvements to its Web site and customer experience, and to build a highly effective Internet marketing presence,” Boyd said. “With our evolving mix of online and offline marketing, Brett has the experience and the skills to continue the growth of priceline.com’s brand and business.”

Xdrive Technologies, United Online Strike Marketing Agreement

Web storage firm Xdrive Technologies plans to promote its online hard drive through an alliance with ISP United Online.

Through the arrangement, Westlake Village, Calif.-based United Online — formed earlier this year through the merger of Juno and NetZero — will promote Xdrive’s online hard drive. In April, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Xdrive abandoned its advertising-supported Web storage space in favor of a paid offering, and the terms of the deal call for United Online to encourage its users to subscribe.

United Online, the third-largest ISP after AOL Time Warner and MSN, recently unveiled its first advertising following the merger.

Study: Automotive Manufacturers Increase Web Buys

In an effort to push year-end sales and introduce new models, automotive marketers are ramping up the number of impressions they purchase, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.

A new study from Nielsen//NetRatings, a joint venture between Nielsen Media Research and NetRatings, concluded that Web advertising from auto brands jumped 30 percent from August to October — to more than 132 million impressions.

Additionally, Web ad spending for the automotive category jumped from $1.6 million to $2.3 million from August to October.

“Car manufacturers have been one of the most persistent and creative advertisers this past year,” said Allen Weiner, vice president of analytical services at NetRatings. During the fall months, manufacturers launched “integrated advertising campaigns across different media, including television, print, radio and the Internet. Incorporating the Web into their overall advertising strategy has allowed automotive manufacturers to deliver a single marketing message across all media.”

Toyota purchased the most impressions, nearly 26 million in October alone, and reached nearly 6.4 million surfers, according to NetRatings. Nissan followed closely, with more than 21 million impressions and the largest audience, nearly 6.5 million unique viewers.

General Motors purchased nearly 20 million impressions, and drew more than 4.2 million surfers, while Ford had more than 13.5 million ad impressions which were seen by 3.9 million viewers. Rounding out the top-five list, Mazda bought more than 9 million impressions which attracted more than 2.7 million surfers.

L90, Adtegrity.com Ink Resell Deal

Web ad rep L90 said it would be representing inventory on the 200 Web sites managed by Adtegrity.com, through a new partnership between the two.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Adtegrity said it would provide L90 rights to sell inventory across its network, which generates about 500 million impressions monthly.

L90, based in Los Angeles, recently divested its ad serving platform to industry leader DoubleClick, in an effort to concentrate on media representation rather than technology.