Facebook looks to boost advertising profile

Facebook’s founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will take to the stage at Cannes in a bid to connect with advertisers wary of the internet

Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, will make a rare on-stage appearance before the world’s advertising community this week as the social network strives to generate revenues that match its huge reach. Mr Zuckerberg, who is usually more at home among software developers than ad men, will receive the “media person of the year” award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival on Wednesday, after being interviewed in front of its audience of agency bosses and marketing chiefs.

This year’s Cannes Lions, historically an opportunity for ad creatives’ backslapping, will see more representatives than ever from the companies that pay ad agencies’ fees.

Chief marketers from Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Kraft and Coca-Cola, some of the world’s largest advertisers, will all present seminars at the event, in a sign of the shifting balance of power in ad land.

But agencies and their clients alike are desperate to better understand the world of social media, where brands can be built and broken by consumers beyond the control of traditional marketing.

In turn, Mr Zuckerberg’s attendance signals how determined Facebook is to woo the big consumer brands that have historically been wary of advertising online.

According to Experian Hitwise, Facebook displaced Google as America’s most popular website this year, with traffic to social networks also overtaking search engines in the UK.

With about 500m users, estimates of Facebook’s revenues range between $500m and $800m for 2009, with sales of about $1bn expected this year.

Ian Maude, analyst at Enders, says Facebook is “firing on all cylinders”, but adds: “They’ve really got to make [advertising] work. The fact that Zuckerberg is going to one of the main advertising events shows they are taking that very seriously.”

Just two years after beginning to monetise its audience in earnest, Facebook’s revenue per user is already half the level of that achieved by portals such as MSN and Yahoo, Mr Maude says. But relative to the many hours most users spend on Facebook each month, its income is “way behind” that of those more established sites.

Richard Pinder, chief operating officer of Publicis Worldwide, says Mr Zuckerberg should keep his pitch to Cannes attendees simple.

“Most of the people making the big decisions [in ad spending] are not on Facebook,” he says. “They fear Facebook. Zuckerberg should explain what it is and why it works, and not make them feel bad about it.”

David Jones, global chief executive of Euro RSCG, says recent controversy over users’ privacy did little to dent clients’ interest in Facebook, but warns: “If they keep making these missteps, it’s going to be way harder. Their biggest challenge is how they monetise the unbelievable success they’ve had.”

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Bank note nanotechnology based on butterfly wings could beat forgers

Banknotes could become as beautiful as butterfly wings one day using technology borrowed from nature.

British scientists have found a way to mimic the iridescent colours of tropical butterflies, created by light bouncing off microscopic wing structures.

The research could be used to make banknotes and credit cards that are visually striking and harder to forge.

“These artificial structures could be used to encrypt information in optical signatures on banknotes to protect them against forgery,” said Mathias Kolle, a PhD student at the University of Cambridge. “In future we could see structures based on butterflies’ wings shining from a £10 note or even our passports.”

The Cambridge team studied the Indonesian peacock, or swallowtail, butterfly — Papilio blumei — whose vivid green-and-blue wings have an intricate surface pattern.

They made identical copies of the structures using nanotechnology.

Recreating the colours of beetles, butterflies and moths has previously proved elusive because of the technical challenge of precisely shaping materials on such a small scale.

“We have unlocked one of nature’s secrets and combined this knowledge with state-of-the-art nanofabrication to mimic the intricate optical designs found in nature,” Mr Kolle said.

“Although nature is better at self-assembly than we are, we have the advantage that we can use a wider variety of artificial, custom-made materials to optimise our optical structures.”

The research is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The Indonesian peacock may use the security potential of its wing structure to encrypt itself, the scientists believe.

“The shiny green patches on this tropical butterfly’s wing scales are a stunning example of nature’s ingenuity in optical design,” Mr Kolle said.

“Seen with the right optical equipment these patches appear bright blue but with the naked eye they appear green.

“This could explain why the butterfly has evolved this way of producing colour. If its eyes see fellow butterflies as bright blue, while predators only see green patches in a green tropical environment, then it can hide from predators at the same time as remaining visible to members of its own species.”

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