Following a relatively slow period after Google announced it would allow gambling ads in the US, it seems they've done another $witch and have started to allow ads for hard liquor to target US audiences. Just in time for Festivus, it seems.
Also, in something that's a bit more relevant and interesting for my line of work, advertisers are going to be able to
target iPhone and G1 users specifically through AdWords. It's actually a simple tick of a box, where you are able to target (or not target) users with iPhones or other devices with full browsers (basically the G1). I logged into my own (dormant and dummy) AdWords account, and you can also solely target iPhone and G1 users in the device platform section - ideal for mobile-centric searches. What kind of business or advertiser is this suited for? A very quick list could include social networks who might advertise and want to break down their mobile vs desktop demographic (although with so many social networks opting for phone specific applications, this might be a moot endeavor), people searching for taxis after a night out or even perennial favorite Kim Kardashian (yeah, I said "who!?" too). This comes immediately after Yahoo released their
top mobile searches of 2008 (and compared it with "regular" searches), none of which are on my list of top searches. A lot of people with smartphones (including myself), have bookmarks of news sites they visit regularly, or use their browser to look up an
IMDB article for an actor in the movie that they're watching whom they swear they've seen in another movie before and just can't place him. Interestingly, there's no clear mention of being able to break down the reporting on campaigns which are dually targeted to both the Desktop/Laptop option and the Mobile option. If you wanted to test a certain product, you would then have to create an entirely separate campaign just for mobile users, mirroring the campaign for regular searches. Not so hard, but it would be a nice 1-column addition to a report you would generate anyway.
Just a thought.
