Mike O'Brien

A former ClickZ editor, Mike O'Brien couldn't stay away and now contributes to the site in addition to working as a content marketer at Sailthru, the world's largest sender of personalized email. He primarily writes about the innovative ways brands use technology now and the ways they might in the future.

Are drones the next big thing in marketing?
Media

Are drones the next big thing in marketing?

10y Mike O'Brien

Are drones the next big thing in marketing?

The CES expo hall and a new Sheraton campaign point to drones becoming a hot-ticket for consumers item in the near future. Can the same be said for ma...

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The force is strong: The best of Star Wars marketing
Strategies

The force is strong: The best of Star Wars marketing

10y Mike O'Brien

The force is strong: The best of Star Wars marketi...

Brands have shown that you don't necessarily have to be involved or even relevant to the movie to cleverly insert yourself into the Star Wars buzz. Re...

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The 10 most cringeworthy social fails of 2015
Social Media

The 10 most cringeworthy social fails of 2015

10y Mike O'Brien

The 10 most cringeworthy social fails of 2015

For the second year, ClickZ ranks the top 10 social media fails from brands like Starbucks and Tinder, which range from embarrassing to egregiously of...

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Has targeting gone too far? How Amazon ruined Christmas
Data insights

Has targeting gone too far? How Amazon ruined Christmas

10y Mike O'Brien

Has targeting gone too far? How Amazon ruined Chri...

A Brooklyn man's live-in girlfriend knew her Christmas present based on Amazon recommendations. Has targeting become too sophisticated? Read More...

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What is the optimal length of a video ad?
Media

What is the optimal length of a video ad?

10y Mike O'Brien

What is the optimal length of a video ad?

All signs point to shorter videos being the way to go, but depending on which platform you're using - and what you're trying to accomplish there - tha...

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Native advertising 101: the good, the bad and the ugly
Display Advertising

Native advertising 101: the good, the bad and the ugly

10y Mike O'Brien

Native advertising 101: the good, the bad and the ...

Native advertising is all the rage in digital marketing, though not everyone quite gets it. Here are some of its pluses and minuses, as well as exampl...

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How this startup is keeping consumers [Von] Content
Social

How this startup is keeping consumers [Von] Content

10y Mike O'Brien

How this startup is keeping consumers [Von] Conten...

Von Content is all about brands sharing their content with the people who really want it, which makes marketing customizable. Founder Dustin Blank see...

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Why sponsored social is one of 2015's most effective marketing tactics [Study]
Social

Why sponsored social is one of 2015's most effective marketing tactics [Stu...

10y Mike O'Brien

Why sponsored social is one of 2015's most effecti...

Digital marketing is everywhere, but new research shows that sponsored social posts are actually getting noticed, explaining their growing popularity....

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Being 'social' helped brands win on Cyber Monday
Ecommerce

Being 'social' helped brands win on Cyber Monday

10y Mike O'Brien

Being 'social' helped brands win on Cyber Monday

Social media isn't known for being the best driver of ROI, but it's still played a big role in the success of Cyber Monday - the biggest online shoppi...

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What do ad blockers mean for mobile apps?
Display Advertising

What do ad blockers mean for mobile apps?

10y Mike O'Brien

What do ad blockers mean for mobile apps?

Ad blocking resulted in advertisers losing more than $21 billion last year, 98 percent of which came from desktop. But the latest iOS update shows tha...

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A beginner's guide to display advertising
Display Advertising

A beginner's guide to display advertising

10y Mike O'Brien

A beginner's guide to display advertising

Native ads are sometimes content marketing, and sometimes display ads, though display ads can come in various forms. Um. What? We break down display a...

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3 takeaways from Social Media Week Chicago
Social

3 takeaways from Social Media Week Chicago

10y Mike O'Brien

3 takeaways from Social Media Week Chicago

Relevance as a quantifiable concept and brands themselves being influencers were a couple of eye-openers I picked up from spending a day at Social Med...

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'Nostalgia is the enemy of progress,' says Hasbro's Lee
Conference Coverage

'Nostalgia is the enemy of progress,' says Hasbro's Lee

10y Mike O'Brien

'Nostalgia is the enemy of progress,' says Hasbro'...

During his opening keynote at ClickZ Live Chicago, Hasbro's Victor Lee discussed the fearlessness it takes to get ahead in digital marketing - an indu...

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Content studio helps Marriott corner the market on travel entertainment
Marketing

Content studio helps Marriott corner the market on travel entertainment

10y Mike O'Brien

Content studio helps Marriott corner the market on...

Marriott has ramped up its content marketing since becoming the first hotel brand to launch its own content studio. A year later, the chain is filming...

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Brands strategize as Black Friday moves online
Ecommerce

Brands strategize as Black Friday moves online

10y Mike O'Brien

Brands strategize as Black Friday moves online

By denouncing the practice of opening on Thanksgiving, retailers are getting in the public's good graces and boosting their e-commerce efforts as holi...

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Starbucks shows the power of silence during the red cup controversy
Social

Starbucks shows the power of silence during the red cup controversy

10y Mike O'Brien

Starbucks shows the power of silence during the re...

Starbucks' plain red holiday cup has been oddly polarizing. But rather than defend itself against the controversy, the brand came out ahead by letting...

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Tweets of the Week: Starbucks, singles, and supporting our troops
Social

Tweets of the Week: Starbucks, singles, and supporting our troops

10y Mike O'Brien

Tweets of the Week: Starbucks, singles, and suppor...

Responses to Starbucks' red cups spilled into this week, which marked Veteran's Day, Singles Day and National Sundae Day. Taco Bell celebrated none of...

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When should you start your holiday marketing?
Ecommerce

When should you start your holiday marketing?

10y Mike O'Brien

When should you start your holiday marketing?

Each year, holiday marketing seems to start earlier and earlier - but is it too early? Use this guide to determine when to start your email, social an...

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Interaction helps brands stand out in the vast volume of video
Media

Interaction helps brands stand out in the vast volume of video

10y Mike O'Brien

Interaction helps brands stand out in the vast vol...

With so many marketers utilizing video these days, it's becoming harder to stand out. Interactive videos solve that problem, while also naturally incr...

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5 tips to nail your next influencer marketing campaign
Marketing

5 tips to nail your next influencer marketing campaign

10y Mike O'Brien

5 tips to nail your next influencer marketing camp...

Everyone knows that social media influencers are often better at reaching people than celebrities. Here are five steps for implementing campaigns with...

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Ignorance: the cornerstone of the ad blocking issue
Display Advertising

Ignorance: the cornerstone of the ad blocking issue

10y Mike O'Brien

Ignorance: the cornerstone of the ad blocking issu...

Fighting ad blockers is not going to solve the expensive problem they pose to the industry. The key is to understanding why people use ad blockers and...

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Spotlight on: Cheetos' Chester Cheetah
Marketing

Spotlight on: Cheetos' Chester Cheetah

10y Mike O'Brien

Spotlight on: Cheetos' Chester Cheetah

Though our profile subjects are typically from brands and agencies, ClickZ recently caught up with Chester Cheetah to discuss his mayoral campaign, hi...

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As programmatic becomes more commonplace, what does that mean for creative?
Display Advertising

As programmatic becomes more commonplace, what does that mean for creative?

10y Mike O'Brien

As programmatic becomes more commonplace, what doe...

Though creative is just as it always was, it's being deployed in different ways as more brands and agencies do buy their ads programmatically. Read Mo...

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Ads of the week: Halloween edition
Display Advertising

Ads of the week: Halloween edition

10y Mike O'Brien

Ads of the week: Halloween edition

ClickZ is celebrating Halloween early with ads created in the spirit of the holiday. Check out some of our favorites from Target, Snickers, and Chipot...

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3 things you need to know about bot traffic
Display Advertising

3 things you need to know about bot traffic

10y Mike O'Brien

3 things you need to know about bot traffic

Most advertisers don't think they're affected by bots. But since more than half of the Internet's traffic is not human - though it's not necessarily n...

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3 lessons we can learn from the most 'contagious' brands
Social

3 lessons we can learn from the most 'contagious' brands

10y Mike O'Brien

3 lessons we can learn from the most 'contagious' ...

Nobody can predict virality, though some brands do create content that consistently gets lots of social shares. Here are three lessons from brands lik...

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4 ways Boomerang enhances the Instagram advertising experience
Social

4 ways Boomerang enhances the Instagram advertising experience

10y Mike O'Brien

4 ways Boomerang enhances the Instagram advertisin...

A new app adds GIFs to Instagram's list of video offerings for advertisers. Creating content that's inherently shareable is one way marketers can use ...

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