Here are a few of the top stories in which eMarketer data and analysis were featured this week:

6/17: Forbes.com – What Digital Marketers Can Learn From Cooking Fried Chicken
Every American loves fried chicken, so much so that fried-chicken recipes have become a sacred part of American cuisine. And who among us can think of fried chicken without Colonel Sanders springing immediately to mind? Read more.

6/17: Mashable.com – 4 Rules of Engagement for Mobile Marketing
Smartphones, the most powerful data-collection tools ever created, don’t just tell brands what consumers want but where consumers are. Sometimes they even tell brands what consumers are doing at different times of the day. Read more.

6/17: USA Today – Cannes ad fest kicks off this weekend
Marketing messages are all around us. They appear on our TV screens and near our Facebook profiles. They arrive through Outlook email and via Twitter tweets. They stare up from the plastic bins at the airport security check and are on the plastic keys used to unlock hotel room doors. Read more.

6/16: AdAge.com – TV Ad Services Provider DG Buys Online Ad Firm MediaMind for $414 Million
Another day, another big transaction in online advertising. Days after Google finalized its $390 million deal for Admeld, Texas-based DG acquired online ad firm MediaMind for $414 million in cash. Read more.

6.15: WSJ.com – Bubble Worries Hit Tech Firms Based in China
Concerns about a new bubble in the tech sector have spread to China’s Internet industry, combining with questions about accounting issues at Chinese firms to drive down share prices from sky-high levels, and raising questions about the appetite for further U.S. listings by Chinese Web companies. Read more.

6/14: eMarketer.com – Geoff Ramsey & Vipin Mayar Predict Display Growth at 2011 IAB Innovation Days
eMarketer CEO Geoff Ramsey and McCann Worldgroup EVP Vipin Mayar predict 20 percent growth in online advertising, fast growth in display ads and the dynamic need for metrics, measurement, and frameworks. Read more.

6/13: MediaPost.com – Brands Waste Budgets In Misdirected Attribution, Media Buys
Between 36% and 60% of companies’ digital advertising revenue could be at risk for misdirected media buys. That’s according to a ClearSaleing study released Monday. Read more.

6/13: WSJ.com – Google Sees Admeld Boosting Display Ad Efforts
Google Inc. (GOOG) on Monday confirmed a deal to buy online-ad firm Admeld Inc., as the technology giant bolstered its offerings for selling graphical and interactive ads. Read more.

6/13: Reuters.com – Facebook looking at IPO in first quarter
Facebook is preparing to file for an initial public offering as early as October or November that could value the popular social networking site at more than $100 billion, financial news channel CNBC reported on Monday. Read more.

6/13: FastCompany.com – The Twitter Paradox
There’s an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Twitter is a paradox that redefines that old saying to, “If it’s broke, don’t fix it, because it works.” Read more.

6/13: BusinessInsider.com – Is Groupon An Overvalued One-Trick Pony?
The moment Groupon goes public later this year, it becomes a takeover target — it can’t happen too soon, given the latest turn of events. Read more.

6/13: Mashable.com – Display Ad Spending Jumped 14.6% in the First Quarter
In another sign of confirmation that the display ad business is booming, Kantar Media estimates such advertising grew 14.6% in 2011′s first quarter. Read more.

For more of eMarketer’s recent news coverage, click here.

With Thanksgiving weekend expected to be among the biggest online shopping times ever, several fashion- and shopping-related websites have been making headlines, blending online shopping with more interactive experiences. But Google Boutiques, which debuted in beta last week, isn’t getting the same rave reviews as Fashism. Fashism is a year-old start-up that is garnering a lot of buzz having raised $1 million from the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore, angel investors and fashion mavens, and now has the funds to kick-start growth. New products from Google get buzz automatically; however, Fashism earns this buzz by providing social networking

Consumers, addicted to using social networks to connect with friends and business associates, want to interact with people while shopping online. And those people don’t even have to be their friends. According to a Carat and Microsoft Advertising report titled “New Shopper Journeys: How Touchpoints Lead to Purchase,” 14% of US internet users would ask for advice about shopping decisions from people online they don’t personally know.

Google’s Boutiques.com, on both its website and iPad app, allows users to take a style quiz, refine preferences and create a personalized boutique. The experience becomes social only when they begin following other boutiques created by celebrities, designers and friends. (Although users can receive recommendations based upon their tastes, these are site-generated, not user-generated.)

This recommendation feature is not incredibly useful for most shoppers, unless you’re obsessed with Mary-Kate Olsen’s style or plan to stick with the “edgy” look day in and day out. As for the user experience, it comes up short—functionality is limited and the site itself feels like a regular shopping site that’s trying too hard.

Fashism, which also has a website and mobile app, uses crowd sourcing to allow consumers to discuss possible purchases or outfit suggestions. By centering around feedback rather than the items themselves, Fashism is inherently more social, allowing users to get outside opinions on how to wear certain pieces and which accessories would work best with an outfit. Fashism users don’t actually need to know anyone else on the site in real life, and can simply upload a photo or email an iPhone picture to ask questions of the community. Additionally, they can earn points for being “helpful” and unlock discounts for being active on the site.

Many online buyers are looking to get involved with a retail community because they value information from like-minded consumers, an activity Fashism makes a central feature of its site and Boutiques.com ignores.

Ultimately, users will gravitate toward the sites that fit their needs. Boutiques hasn’t been able to identify those needs, at least not on a mass scale. It is just for women’s clothing for now, and doesn’t allow for as much peer-to-peer interaction. Marketers and retailers will pay attention because it’s Google-backed, but that won’t really matter because shoppers will lose interest quickly.

The China Daily recently reported that China Mobile, the world’s largest wireless operator, announced a competition for video submissions for potential inclusion on a new mobile video channel. The carrier, which has more subscribers than the US has residents, will share video ad revenues—which could prove substantial in the near future—with the contest’s winners. In his latest eMarketer report, my colleague Noah Elkin estimates that mobile content revenues will soar in the US, driven partially by ad-supported video and music. Several factors suggest that the mobile content market in China—especially revenues from mobile TV and video—is headed down the same path.

ResearchInChina found that as of December 2009, mobile TV and online video adoption rates were relatively low, at 16.5% of mobile internet users in China. However, the popularity of other forms of online communication and entertainment suggest a highly receptive mobile audience.

eMarketer estimated in February 2010 that China will have over 850 million mobile phone subscribers by the end of 2010, for a penetration rate of 64.3%. We also projected that mobile internet users would increase 62.5% in 2010 to 372.8 million, with prospective growth rates remaining high through 2014.

What do these bits of information add up to? As more users buy smartphones and other entertainment-enabled phones, China Mobile is looking to maneuver itself to tap the potential of mobile video and TV revenues. According to Netsize and Informa Telecoms & Media, mobile video and TV account for only €127.27 million ($176.2 million) and €34.38 million ($47.8 million), respectively—less than 1% of all mobile content revenues in 2010.

China Mobile continues to expand current 3G coverage and is heavily investing in 4G, as InformationWeek reported, partnering with mobile hardware developers Nokia Siemens, Huawei and Samsung, among others, on their new proprietary 4G network standard. They are upgrading their network to broaden revenue generating services beyond messaging, voice and basic mobile internet.

All of this makes China even more attractive for multinational marketers and content providers.

With the clout of the largest wireless carrier in the world behind it, the push for mobile video and TV seems like a sure bet to expand subscriber usage far beyond current levels in China. And as smaller carriers such as China Unicom and China Telecom follow suit, marketers will literally be in position to easily place mobile video content — including ads, apps and entertainment — directly into the hands of the Chinese consumer.

The iPhone has been slowly losing its dominance in the minds of marketers as Google’s Android operating system gained share over the past year or so. The complication of creating apps for multiple operation systems has been an issue for marketers for some time, but as Android becomes a major player in the app world marketers may also have to start thinking about the way those apps are monetized and how that fits in with the norms of different user groups.

There is evidence across several studies that Android users are somewhat less willing to pay for apps than their iPhone-loving counterparts. AdMob found in February that while 50% of iPhone owners worldwide purchased at least one paid app each month, just 21% of Android users did the same. Credit Suisse reported that less than 70% of Android users had paid for apps in the month prior to being surveyed, compared with nearly 80% of iPhone owners.

According to a May 2010 report from Distimo, an analytics tool for mobile developers, the Android Market is the only store with a majority of free apps.

That could mean Android users are simply responding to supply—a large base of free apps means less need to purchase them. Credit Suisse also found that Android users spent slightly more on average than iPhone owners did on mobile applications, suggesting that they are willing to open their wallets as well.

But the rise of an operating system whose owners are used to relying on free apps could mean a user base that is more open than average to receiving the advertising support necessary to support those apps. In-app advertising and app sponsorships tend to be especially effective forms of mobile marketing, and are also found less annoying or intrusive by mobile users. An expanding base of Android users may mean not only a larger audience of smartphone owners, but also a growing share of that audience receptive to marketing messages that support their app habit.

Colgate-Palmolive had a unique marketing challenge in launching Colgate Wisp, its new mini disposable toothbrush. Colgate began introducing the mini brush in April 2009 with help from Big Fuel, a social media marketing agency. The mini brush created a new product category for Colgate and meant marketing to a young, urban target—18- to 25-year-old men and women—a demographic the personal care giant doesn’t typically focus dedicated attention on. It was clear that the company needed to figure out how to introduce the product into relevant conversations and contexts where its college student and young professional target hangs out.

Challenge: Colgate wanted to get Wisp into the hands of young, urban consumers who are active daters. The audience is active and mobile and dating opportunities can be created in an instant via text. “Wisp is almost a brand new product category,” said Avi Savar, Founding Partner and CEO of Big Fuel. “It’s an on-the-go product. The biggest challenge for us was making the product and brand relevant to the young consumer market.”

Not surprisingly, Colgate turned to social media to help it launch a multi-pronged campaign. But who wants to “friend” or follow a disposable toothbrush on Facebook? Colgate and Big Fuel tackled the challenge by conducting a lot of research. Big Fuel worked up several creative strategies and testing the concepts. “We wanted to know, what does this product represent or mean to the audience?” Savar said.

Typically, Colgate talks to moms, but with Wisp, the marketer knew it needed unique social media components to introduce the product and seed interest. Big Fuel worked closely with Y&R and VML, Colgate’s creative and digital agencies respectively on the TV campaign, microsite, online banners and social media elements.

Strategy:Big Fuel came up with a “Be More Kissable” creative platform that positioned Colgate Wisp as a kind of technology advancement that it believed would connect with the target audience. The idea centered around self-confidence: “Everyone wants to be more kissable not just within the context of a physical kiss, but all the time. Feeling kissable is about feeling confident. From a social media standpoint, we thought it was a good platform,” Savar explained. Colgate thought so too.

The concept, one of four that Big Fuel developed, was tested in four different markets. The linchpin involved creating irreverent online video content and syndicating it on YouTube and other video-sharing hubs. Along with a strategy focus on online video, Colgate Wisp developed a Facebook application and a Be the Face of Wisp photo contest.

At the heart of the strategy—online video. Big Fuel developed a series of viral videos, partnering with eight different publishers including CollegeHumor and YourTango and Web celebrities like Kip Kay, known for his how-to and prank videos, to syndicate the content. It released eight wacky videos targeting niche interests among the target audience, contextually integrating Colgate Wisp into how-to, comedy and talkshow-genre video content. The goal was to achieve a seamless content integration with no heavy brand sell. Online video syndication offered Colgate the potential to scale its vast consumer target.

The photo contest sought to identify the most kissable person in America: Participants who entered the contest uploaded a photo to colgatewisp.com and received a widget that enabled friends to vote for them. The widget was shared via the Facebook and MySpace networks and via the microsite. “It was like a syndicated version of ‘Are you hot or not?’, Savar said.

Big Fuel turned the contest into a social experience by enabling the widget to syndicate the photo content. Participants uploaded their photo, chose a specific Wisp color and placed it in the photo as an overlay. The contest enabled segmentation by geographic area as well. For example, when a man entered the contest, he could choose to look only at women in Chicago who entered the contest and decide whether they were kissable or not. On average, Big Fuel reports that there were 11 votes cast per person or one individual voting on 11 different people.

To drive brand engagement further, Big Fuel created a Facebook app called Spin the Wisp. Once the app was installed, it had the names of the consumer’s Facebook friends. Consumers could have the app randomly pick Facebook friends for the game or they could handpick up to 16 people to fill it. The Wisp landed on exotic locations and flavors—a woman could send a virtual kiss from Paris to her crush. Spin the Wisp became a novel way to flirt.

Results: Big Fuel reports that a Real Life Twitter video produced with CollegeHumor netted more than 1.7 million plus views. The video featured man-in-the-street style interviews by a standup comic who walked around blurting out things like: “I just found this new wisp. Anybody want a kiss?”

The Kip Kaye video “Quick Draw Gadget” in which Kip constructs a quick draw gadget out of a Colgate Wisp, has generated more than 1 million views. In total, the eight videos in the “Be More Kissable” series racked up more than 4.1 million views on YouTube as of late June 2010.

The two most recent videos for Colgate Wisp are College Humor POV “New Year’s Eve” which logged 1,255,872 views and Michelle Phan’s “Kissable Lips” video which has 1,791,352 views as of late June. All the videos were seeded on multiple video-sharing sites.

The game saw a 10% click-through rate. Each time someone received a virtual kiss, they got a notification that appeared on their wall. The 10% click-through rate was based on the total number engagements vis-à-vis the notifications.

The average number of spins per install on Spin the Wisp was 7.6. There were more than 100,000 engagements and 40,000 + installations of the widget and more than 1 million unique impressions of the widget. There were 500,000 views of a faux Wisp infomercial.

Overall, as of May, 2010, Big Fuel reported 6 million+ total engagements with the Wisp campaign (widget installs, video views, game plays, pass-alongs). Big Fuel considered “engagement” as active participation, meaning someone played the game, shared it, watched a video—there was a 10-second minimum on viewing—and commented on a video, Savar said.

Key Takeaways: Colgate learned the value of what an engagement is, according to Savar. “It was the first time they ever measured anything based on engagements. They are accustomed to the number of impressions.”

Now, Colgate is working to extend the engagement metric to its more mature brands. The brand has begun to understand what the value of video, game and other content is vs. framing content only within the context of an ad buy, Savar explained.

While the campaign was in the market for four months, the videos and game continue to run.

Next Steps: Colgate has moved forward with content marketing and social marketing for others of its product brands. Colgate shot new videos for the Wisp product site and two additional viral video. The brand says it’s looking to turn customers into audiences and its brands into social identities.

Image via Facebook