Volkswagen iAd: Tiguan ...

Here is a neat iAd from Volkswagen which ran in the Auto Esporte tablet magazine recently. Created for the Tiguan, the iAd showcases the Park Assist II feature that is now available, even off road. The iAd challenges readers to place their finders on the target spots which triggers the Volkswagen Tiguan to “self park” Related Digital Buzz Posts: Volkswagen Tiguan Website Volkswagen: The People’s Reviewer Volkswagen: Virtual Test Drive Inside Print Ad

Samsung’s DV300F Dual-V...

Many of you may remember that I was straight-up infatuated with Samsung’s MV800 point-and-shoot . And why wouldn’t I be? It’s absolutely the best point-and-shoot if your favorite subject to shoot happens to be yourself. While Samsung’s latest camera isn’t quite as narcissistic, the new DV300F announced today still has a pretty awesome trick up its sleeve. This is one of Samsung’s Dual-View offerings, meaning it sports a 1.5-inch screen up front to accompany the usual 3-inch LCD display (which doubles as a viewfinder.) What sets the DV300F apart, however, is its WiFi capabilities. You’ll be able to share pics and clips directly to Facebook, Picasa, YouTube, etc. If you’re not in the mood to go public right away, you’ll also be able to upload the entirety of your SD card to your PC with the Auto PC Backup tool. The 16-megapixel camera is capable of 5x optical zoom and comes equipped with a 25mm wide-angle lens. You’ll also find the expected microSD slot present. Color flavors include black, silver, navy and red and each can be had for $199. Shipping is expected to begin in March.

Mobile Marketing Associ...

It was announced today that the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has added three new members to its global board of directors — including Curt Hecht, CEO of VivaKi’s Nerve Center; Tobin Ireland, group director, commercial development, Vodafone Group; and Joe Kennedy, CEO & President of Pandora. The three new mobile industry leaders were elected to fulfill the 2012-2014 term.  ”I want to welcome Curt, Tobin and Joe to their new positions on the MMA Board and thank them for their commitment,” said Greg Stuart, CEO MMA. “They are pioneers in their respective fields and the unique perspective, expertise, and leadership that they bring to the MMA Board will be critical as we work shoulder-to-shoulder to build mobile into the most effective marketing channel there ever has been.” Here’s a quick overview and background for each new addition . . . Curt Hecht is CEO of the Nerve Center, VivaKi’s hub of new media companies and ad serving, analytics and performance media tool capabilities. He is focused on developing the next generation of technical platforms to allow Publicis Groupe and its clients to migrate from analog media processes, and scale their digital marketing efforts as both media channel and consumer become digital.  Curt is also the Groupe’s primary liaison to digital media companies such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Canoe (Cable MSOs) and telco companies, architecting open and scaleable platforms that can be activated by all of VivaKi’s agency networks.  Prior to leading VivaKi, Curt was Chief Digital Officer at Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), a subsidiary of Publicis Groupe. Tobin Ireland joined Vodafone in 2010 and serves as the London-based global mobile operator’s Group Director of Commercial Development, where he is responsible for global commercial strategy and new business development. This includes mobile marketing and mobile commerce where Tobin has been leading industry efforts to create an open m-commerce ecosystem supported by all mobile operators. Tobin started his career at McKinsey & Company specializing in retail and media turnarounds as has subsequently served as the Commercial Director of BSkyB (where he spearheaded early interactive TV advertising) and as Chief Marketing Officer of AOL Europe. Tobin is also an active advisor and investor in early stage digital media businesses. Joe Kennedy joined Pandora as CEO & President in 2004 following a five-year stint at E-LOAN, where he was President and Chief Operating Officer. From 1995 to 1999, he was the Vice President of Sales, Service and Marketing for Saturn Corporation, which he grew to over $4 billion in revenue and established as the top brand for customer satisfaction in the auto industry. Joe joined the initial start-up team at Saturn, four months after its founding, as a marketing manager and held positions of increasing marketing responsibility over the course of his 11-year tenure there.  Joe holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Princeton University, where he dabbled in music theory and learned to compose his own Gregorian chants. He is Pandora’s resident pop music junkie. Joe has also been playing the piano for more than 30 years, most of which has been spent attempting to master Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Shazam Ditches The Mont...

Back in late 2009, then-free music identifying service Shazam made a rather drastic change to their business model: they went freemium. Everybody got 5 free song identifications per month… but after that, they’d have to cough up for premium app, “Shazam Encore”. That worked well enough for a while — then the competition rolled in, and gave away what Shazam was trying to charge for. Shazam responded with an experiment: they’d remove the tagging limits in their app, with a single “sponsor” covering their costs in exchange for ad placement — but only for Android, and only until the end of the year. Seems that worked well enough, as Shazam has just removed the tagging limits in their iOS and Android apps indefinitely. Shazam’s launch partner in all of this is Capital One, so don’t be surprised if a B-list celebrity pops up to ask “What’s in your wallet?” every time you stumble out of the bar bathroom and try to ID the tail-end of that song that has been stuck in your head for four days. (Oddly, eBay was supposed to be sponsoring the Android side of things until 2012. What happened there?) Both the iOS and Android apps should have their monthly limitations removed as of this morning. As for the folks who already purchased the premium app: you’ll continue to get unlimited tagging, won’t be subjected to ads, have access to some fancy features like the auto-synced LyricPlay feature, and you get the warm, fuzzy (but nowadays rare) feeling that comes from actually, you know, paying for something. Crunchbase SHAZAM ENTERTAINMENT Company: Shazam Entertainment Website: shazam.com Funding: $32M Shazam® is the world’s leading mobile discovery application - enabling consumers to experience and share content with others across mobile devices and the Internet. Launching eight years ago as the first mobile-specific service to help people discover new music, Shazam has now expanded beyond its music roots to enable viewers to interact with broadcast media and brands, via its Shazam Audio Recognition Advertising (SARA) initiative. Headquartered in London, UK, Shazam’s services enhance the... Learn more

Car Price Comparison Co...

TrueCar , which publishes real-time vehicle transaction data in the US market for both new and used cars , has secured over $200 million in debt and equity financing to grow the business and explore acquisitions. TrueCar was one of the finalists of our TechCrunch50 conference back in 2008. The capital injection comes from existing investors USAA, Capricorn Investment Group, GRP Partners and Silicon Valley Bank (which provided the debt funding). New investors include Keating Capital, GSV Asset Management, Passport Capital, McCombs Enterprises, Allen & Company and International Investment House along with strategic investors Guthy Renker and DealerTrack. The financing announcement comes on the heels of two recent acquisitions made by TrueCar: the recent purchase of Automotive Lease Guide from DealerTrack and the acquisition of CarPerks (which will be announced tomorrow). TrueCar also recently bought Honk.com from News Corporation. TrueCar says it has helped users buy over 350,000 cars since its inception (20,000 last August alone), in part thanks to the auto buying program partnerships it built with the likes of Farm Bureau, American Express and US Bank. Previous backers of TrueCar have opted to exchange their preferred stock for common stock on a 1-for-1 basis, while the new investors purchased common stock, the company says in a statement . Said Stan Shuman of Allen & Co: “It is refreshing to see such astounding performance and profitable growth – the TrueCar team and business is poised to transform one of the largest and most dysfunctional retail categories in America.” TrueCar is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and has offices in San Francisco. The company was founded in 2005 and has been self-reportedly running a profit since 2009. A source tells Reuters that the next step for the company is an IPO, slated for the first half of 2012. Crunchbase TRUECAR Company: TRUECAR Website: http://www.truecar.com/ Launch Date: 5/2008 Funding: $38.3M TrueCar was created by automotive and technology pioneers to show consumers how much people actually paid for a particular new car in their geographic area. More importantly, TrueCar... Learn more