Advertisers and agencies who work on display ad campaigns often wonder "How do I know if my display ad campaigns are doing well?" and "What credible benchmarks can I use to compare the results on my current campaign?"

Some might rely on past campaign performance metrics while others might compare across multiple campaigns and advertisers within their client roster. All are fine means in the absence of larger, more comprehensive industry benchmarks.

This is why we're particularly pleased to make available DoubleClick benchmarks so that marketers, agencies, and publishers have a reference by which to evaluate the performance of online display advertising campaigns in the U.S., relative to industry norms.

These benchmarks are derived from a robust data set across DART for Advertisers, based on rigorous methodology with input from the Advertising Research Foundation. Benchmarks in this report cover those for 2008 and transect ad format, ad size, and industry vertical. The benchmarks are normalized across hundreds of advertisers, thousands of campaigns, and tens of billions of ad impressions.

You can download the report here. More in-depth benchmarks by industry are available exclusively to DoubleClick clients so contact your account manager to discuss further.

If you're interested in learning more you can attend our webinar, "Benchmarking Ahead: IAB Reveals the DoubleClick Benchmarks Report," co-hosted with the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) on June 24th at 12pm EST.

Posted by Pamela Eng

At DoubleClick, we've had the privilege of picking the brains of several of the industry's thought leaders and innovators in digital marketing. We've captured a few of these key insights through our ThreeQuestions for Innovators video interview series: These interviews span the gamut of key industry themes and issues, including current trends and influencers, ad exchanges, social media, emerging media, and the future.

This month we're honored to highlight interviews with Carla Hendra, Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy North America, as well as Ian Schafer, CEO and Founder of interactive marketing agency Deep Focus. Carla speaks to us on the challenges in the brave world of digital marketing, while Ian shares his insights on rich media, video, and the role of the agency in the advertising process.

We're excited about our lineup of thought leaders and the conversations they spark - whether it's about opportunities in a challenging economic environment, trends to watch for in 2009 or ground-breaking insights from innovative fields such as neuromarketing.

Posted by Min Li Chan

Before the election, we hosted an informal web poll that asked our visitors the following question, "Which issue do you think the next U.S. president should make a primary focus during his or her first 100 days in office?" Visitors resoundingly voted for the issue of economy/recession. Here's how the 1760 responses broke out:

• Economy/Recession 62.27%
• Foreign Policy 11.59%
• Environment 8.01%
• Healthcare 7.50%
• National Security 5.85%
• Immigration 4.77%

If you're ready to get even more participatory, head over to The Davos Debates on YouTube where The World Economic Forum invites you to send in your solutions and suggestions for the key issues facing us today. The focus issues include the state of the economy, the environment, US politics and business ethics. The four questions up for public discussion through the YouTube platform are:

• Are you confident that global growth will be restored in 2009?
• Will the environment lose out to the economy in 2009?
• Will the Obama administration improve the state of the world in 2009?
• Should company executives have a code of ethics similar to doctors and lawyers?

The person who submits the best video will be invited, all expenses paid, to attend The World Economic Forum's upcoming Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters and interact with world leaders in person.

To learn more, watch the video about joining The Davos Debates:

Visit youtube.com/davos to join in.

Posted by Sally Cole

Every year since 2003, the ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards has recognized "the technologies, companies, and campaigns that made a positive difference in the online marketing industry." To win, a product or solution must be selected by a judging committee of industry practitioners, which includes contributors to ClickZ and Search Engine Watch. This year, DoubleClick was recognized as a winner in three categories: Ad Management, Mobile Marketing Tool, and Video Ad Format or Platform. We are very honored to receive these awards and would like to share the judges' thoughtful comments with you for each award.

On DART for Advertisers' win in the Ad Management category, Tessa Wegert, Interactive Media Strategist with Enlighten and ClickZ Media Buying columnist commented, "DFA remains the industry gold standard for ad serving and ad management. This is the technology that's behind the majority of the more notable and impressive campaigns we see and a sure bet for any advertiser on the fence about which company can offer the most seamless, streamlined campaign solutions."

On DoubleClick Mobile's win in the Mobile Marketing Tool category, Courtney Jane Acuff, VP and Director with Denuo and ClickZ Mobile Marketing columnist commented, "It is critically important for mobile advertising (buyable off-the-shelf solutions) to have a standard serving and reporting platform. The DoubleClick Mobile product enables digital buyers and planners to have consistency in reporting and publishers the ability to sell through integrated mobile packages."

On DoubleClick Rich Media's HD Video format win in the Video Ad Format or Platform category, Christine Beardsell, VP Creative Director with Digitas's Third Act and ClickZ Online Video Advertising columnist commented, "You want the creative and content you develop for your brands to look great. But, unfortunately, video placements in general have suffered from low-bandwidth specifications and site-publisher limitations. So any media partner that can make your content look its best, and that won't degrade your original vision, is a partner worth having. The new DoubleClick HD looks great. And if your content already has a compelling idea and creative execution behind it, HD quality is really the icing on top!"

Thank you Tessa Wegert, Courtney Jane Acuff and Christine Beardsell for your support and to all the other ClickZ judges.

Posted by Sally Cole

I am pleased to share the news that Google has acquired DoubleClick. Please go here to read Eric Schmidt's blog post.

Posted by David Rosenblatt