Interpublic Group tapped Microsoft?s Atlas; The Nielsen Co. partnered with mobile advertising company Mobclix; hawkeye partnered with Txt4CRM; and CPX Interactive tapped Nexage?s AdMax.

Interpublic Group integrates Microsoft's Atlas
Microsoft Corp. and Interpublic Group, one of the world?s largest advertising holding companies, have entered into a partnership agreement in which IPG will designate Microsoft?s Atlas as a preferred ad-server solution.

The agreement covers IPG?s North American agencies and puts into place preferred pricing agreements for Atlas enterprise technology for IPG clients.

?IPG and Microsoft have a mutually beneficial partnership that spans technology, collaboration and growth opportunities,? said Randy Wootton, general manager of U.S. specialist sales at Microsoft Advertising, Seattle.

?This particular agreement will create preferred pricing agreements for Atlas enterprise technology for IPG clients when certain volume targets have been achieved,? he said.

?Also, Microsoft will benefit from increased opportunities for collaboration between the two companies if IPG?s North American agencies decide to work with Atlas.?

The foundation for the agreement was a partnership between IPG?s global media planning and buying unit, Mediabrands, and Microsoft to jointly develop technologies and services designed to streamline the way digital media is planned and bought.

The partnership extends to the mobile channel.

?Through the Atlas Media Console, advertisers can run mobile campaigns as well as track impressions, clicks and conversions, though tracking capabilities may vary based on constraints of the device, the carrier or the mobile vendor,? Mr. Wootton said.

Nielsen partners with Mobclix
Marketing and media information company The Nielsen Co. has partnered with mobile advertising company Mobclix to bring its analytics platform to the mobile channel, with a focus on Apple?s App Store.

Per the deal, Nielsen PRIZM and Nielsen ConneXions segmentation systems will be integrated into the Mobclix mobile ad exchange.

?This partnership extends Nielsen?s reach with our segmentation system, PRIZM and ConneXions, and adds mobile advertising to the mix,? said Mark Nelson, San Diego-based senior vice president of the corporate partner program at Nielsen Claritas, a Nielsen Co. product family. ?Our goal is to make our segmentations systems available to advertisers across a broad range of media, from online to offline and from TV to mobile.

?We help advertisers plan their campaigns across media and reach vehicles using our segmentation systems,? he said. ?We helping advertisers increase ROI, because we?re making the ad planning and buying process more efficient, so they?re better able to reach their intended audience.

?It helps ad networks, publishers and developers, because when advertisers see increased precision, efficient analytics and increased ROI, that helps CPMs, which is good for all groups.?

By bringing traditional marketing techniques to mobile advertising through Mobclix Complete, ad network partners will now enable mobile advertisers to reach more than 150 unique audience segments, which the partners claim will result in improved conversions over legacy mobile platforms.

?One of the big issues in the mobile space is having reliable data to judge campaign performance,? said Krishna Subramanian, cofounder of Mobclix, Palo Alto, CA. ?Brands don?t have enough on targeting optimization on mobile campaigns as they do in the PC Web world.

?We?ve partnered with Nielsen to create a brand-new mobile database that we?ll have exclusive ownership of,? he said. ?Brands can go into our dashboard, here are the campaigns details, here are the types of people I want to target, here?s the inventory that?s available and here are the sites and apps on which I want the campaign to run.

?Developers will reap the benefits through those higher CPMs, which we expect to be 20 percent to 100 percent higher than typical run-of-network buys, basically doubling their CPMs.?

Hawkeye partners with Txt4CRM for mobile marketing
Hawkeye, an independent marketing agency that combines data, digital and direct marketing to deliver response-marketing services, is partnering with Austin-based mobile engagement company Txt4CRM to offer mobile marketing services using the company?s enterprise-class SMS/MMS and .mobi technology platforms.

?At hawkeye, our clients ? as part of their overall marketing strategy ? currently or will soon require a variety of mobile strategies to reach customers wherever and whenever they want to be reached,? said Steve Dapper, founder/chairman and of hawkeye, Dallas.

?Rather than build an in-house mobile technology department, we searched for the best-in-class mobile provider who we were absolutely confident could meet our clients? needs, and our quest led us to Txt4CRM.

?Hawkeye will provide our clients with the creative and conceptual ideas for mobile programs,? he said. ?Txt4CRM will use their technological experience to bring these programs to life.?

Hawkeye?s clients include Capital One, Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, the NCAA, The North Face and VHA.
The company is discussing opportunities to build the mobile component in to its clients? marketing strategies on both the B2C and B2B sides.

This includes loyalty and rewards programs, promotional programs and contests, added-value content marketing programs and experiential and event marketing.

?Partnering with hawkeye allows Txt4CRM to co-develop integrated mobile engagement solutions as part of a holistic marketing strategy for hawkeye?s clients,? said Carrie Chitsey, CEO of Txt4CRM, Austin, TX.

?Our ability to deliver the mobile strategy ? as well as the technology solution to support it ? is what these clients will value the most,? she said.

CPX Interactive taps Nexage to go mobile
Online ad network CPX Interactive has tapped Nexage?s AdMax platform, allowing their advertisers to reach mobile audiences within mobile Web sites and applications.

CPX Interactive delivers more than 30 billion impressions to more than 200 million unique users in more than 60 countries every month.

Nexage, a developer of mobile yield optimization services, processes billions of mobile advertising ad requests on a monthly basis. 

?Nexage is able to provide high-quality, high-reach bundled mobile audiences across the mobile Web and mobile applications, connecting the mobile silos,? said Dev Gandhi, CEO of Nexage Inc., Waltham MA. ?We alleviate the burden for online ad networks to make relationships publisher by publisher and streamline the launching and management of mobile ad creative for online networks.

?To media buyers mobile has typically been treated as s separate opportunity, but we are now allowing leading online ad nets such as CPX offer one-stop shopping for online and mobile,? he said. ?Many online ad networks are looking for high-quality mobile audiences they can make available to their valued advertisers.

?Online ad networks are also eager for a solution that enables simple launching and management of mobile campaign creative, and Nexage is filling this need.?