Search retargeting and post-click behavioral targeting is the future of search. The future’s here – now – with the launch of Platform A’s integrated search marketing platform using Tacoda technology.

Call it Platform A.O.L.

ClickZ’s reporting that the use of Tacoda technology will begin in June across the whole Platform A network. That means marketers will have a single software platform for tracking, reporting and delivering, and running behavioral marketing campaigns.

For anyone following innovations in search marketing campaigns, that’s exciting news.

We’re sure some savvy marketer will be the first to design an award-winning search campaign on Platform AOL.

What holiday is today? Today is April 30 – not April 1 – so the Jeff Koons iGoogle artwork first spotted in the UK this morning is no April Fools Day joke.

Google commissioned Jeff Koons, the controversial modern artist, to create graphic images for iGoogle backgrounds. Koons’ Google Doodle today features his interpretation of (chrome) tulips. “Where art thou?” asks Marissa Mayer, VP of search products & user experience, in her official blog post this morning:

“Did you notice the chrome tulips on Google’s homepage today? They are part of a special Google doodle done by renowned artist Jeff Koons. And that isn’t the only art appearing anew on Google today. As part of our iGoogle Artists project, we have collaborated with almost 70 artists in 17 countries on 6 continents to create special iGoogle themes — works of art that appeal to all ages and interests.”

Our response: “O Brother, Google, where art thousands of dollars going?”
Or perhaps, “O Pop, Where Art Thou?”

Most of the time, the controversy about Koons — at 53-years old modern art’s aging bad boy — centers on whether he’s a brilliant artist or the emperor’s new clothes.

Jeff Koons isn’t the only Google artist designing for iGoogle: non-artist artists like UK rockers Coldplay and U.S. kiddieboppers The Wiggles (shown below); fashion designers Mark Ecko (rhino logo) and Diane von Furstenburg (wife of Ask.com owner Barry Diller of IAC); architects Phillipe Starck (W Hotels) and Michael Graves; and New Yorker cartoonist Robert Mankoff.

Why in the world would a world-famous artist like Jeff Koons hire himself out for graphic design work?

It seems the multimillionaire artist and ex-husband of an ex-porn star may need the moolah.

Jeff Koons famously married a European porn star, La Cicciolina (“fleshy one”), after hiring her as his muse for photos, paintings and sculptures.

The artwork Koons spawned from their union was graphic but not graphic in a Googley design way. Think NSFW: sexually explicit in a flashy, fleshy Paris Hilton – Britney Spears – Lindsay Lohan kind of way. The only difference? Koons’ sculptures starred Jeff and (as Brit wits might say) his naughty bits.

A few weeks ago, La Cicciolina, AKA Ilona Staller, sued her ex-husband, Jeffrey Koons, for $2.4 million dollars (1.5 million euros) in child support for their 15-year old son, Ludwig Maximilian Koons, according to papers filed in Manhattan State Supreme Court.

Child support payments of 15,000 euros a month were ordered by an Italian court in June 2007. Koons has only paid 191,426 euros for child support during the roughly nine year period (Oct 1998 – Dec 2007), leaving a balance owed of about 1.5 million euros.

Staller starred in X-rated films in Italy as La Cicciolina before she was elected to serve as a member of Italy’s parliament for five years.

After the jump we have a two-minute clip from the Sundance Channel: fashion designer “Tom Ford on Jeff Koons” from the Iconoclast series. You can see what Jeff Koons Safe-For-Work art is all about in a SFW video.

Click to read the rest of this post…

While many are saying how Jerry Yang seems to be silent on last weekend’s come-and-gone Microsoft ultimatum, his life is anything but silent. Kara Swisher reports that his wife had a baby!

But I’m not sure why people expect Yang to pull himself away from his new bundle of joy to simply repeat what he’s said all along: Yahoo is undervalued by Microsoft’s bid and the answer to the offer as it stands is No.

Marchex today announced the expansion of its local advertising services into the mobile market. The new offering will include call-based advertising, which is a result of its acquisition of VoiceStar. The call-based services will be part of agreements with three mobile advertising providers: AdMob, Ringleader Digital, and 4INFO.

Call tracking will accompany the new agreements and offer up the following features:

1. Track the calls generated by advertisements on their network
2. Determine exactly which advertisements delivered the calls
3. Track and report key information including the duration, time of day and geographic location of callers
4. Record the calls.

“Marchex is focused on partnerships with leading aggregators of local advertisers across all channels: online, offline, and mobile,” said John Keister, Marchex President and COO. “We believe that the mobile advertising opportunity is significant and is poised to realize tremendous growth over the next five years. Our call tracking and pay-per-phone-call capabilities provide a significant advantage for Marchex in the mobile search advertising market.”

While we await the news of Microsoft’s next move in its pursuit of the unsolicited Yahoo acquisition, the Wall Street Journal has learned that the software giant plans to spend $1.5 billion to retain Yahoo employees should a merger – or takeover – occur.

The plan was revealed in court transcripts regarding a suit by shareholders against Yahoo’s directors. The shareholders who filed the suit feel that Yahoo hasn’t responded in good faith to Microsoft’s bid. The suit was brought forth by two Detroit pension funds. The lawyers for the funds argued that a recent expansion of Yahoo employee benefits make it difficult for shareholders to get maximum value should an acquisition take place.