Google announced its "Doodle 4 Google 2009" competition Tuesday. According to the company, all kindergarten through 12th grade U.S. students can design a Google logo based on the theme, "What I wish for the world." Applications will be accepted until March 31 and the winner's doodle will be displayed on Google's homepage on May 21. The winner will receive a $15,000 college scholarship and a $25,000 technology grant for their school. Google will also award a school district $10,000 for the "greatest quality participation." Student drawings will be evaluated by a panel of independent judges and Google employees.
Video creation service, Animoto, announced Tuesday that in time for Valentine's Day, users can send video love letters framed in the company's heart-themed animated page. Users will also be able to combine images from the company's new themed collections into their videos, which include Valentine's Day, birthday, travel, nature, and scenes. Animoto's Valentine's greeting is free for a 30-second spot, but costs $3 for full-length videos.
Online video advertising service, Jivox, announced a video advertising platform affiliate program Tuesday. The new program will allow online publishers and marketing agencies to make a co-branded version of the company's video ad service available to their advertisers or clients and market those across their sites. According to the company, its affiliate partners will receive a customer access page and a publisher portal to allow them to administer and manage their advertising campaigns. Its new platform will help clients create, place, and track video ads.
Kabooza, an online backup service, raised $840,000 in a seed funding round that was led by Aggregate Media. According to the company, the funding will be used to increase its ability to maintain user's data. Kabooza offers unlimited storage and a 25GB limit per month. The service costs $49.95 per year.
Video advertising service, Mixpo, has raised $4 million in a round of funding that was led by Madrona Venture Group and Yaletown Venture Partners. According to the company's executives, they will use the cash to expand their business with other firms and cover expenses over the short term.
Local.com, a search site that helps people find places in and information about their community, said Thursday it will start integrating local video ads throughout the company's site in an attempt to increase ad relevance and revenue.
According to the company, it has inked a deal with Jivox, an online video advertising company catering to local businesses, to use its geo-targeted ads for now. Local.com hopes to sell its own local video ad units through its own list of advertisers at some point in the future.
"We believe that video advertising provides consumers with relevant, timely information about local businesses, products and services," Kim LaFleur, Local.com's vice president of product management, said in a statement. "It's natural for video to be integrated into our local search ecosystem over time."
Targeting people based on their locale is becoming an emerging trend in the marketplace. Just Wednesday, real-estate search site Trulia announced it is partnering with 1020 Placecast to target individuals based on their location.
As advertisers become increasingly concerned over the effectiveness of ads, relevance through geographic location could become a coveted attribute.
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