Earlier this month in Los Angeles, Kontera participated in the annual ThinkLA! Interactive Golf Romp. In true LA fashion the Interactive Golf Romp is more about socializing with friends, colleagues and associates, and less about golf.

This year the Interactive Golf Romp was held at the Executive Course of the Manhattan Beach Marriot. Eighteen foursomes enjoyed a 4pm shotgun start and embarked on 9 holes of the worst golf ever played.

At the Kontera sponsored 4^th hole, golfers were treated to fabulous Kontera swag like water bottles and the extremely popular bottle openers.

Our fearless server Manny kept the party lively by drenching each and every golfer with mass quantities of Bud and Bud Light.

The Interactive Golf Romp concluded with a heavily attended mixer where schmoozing was at an all time high. Attended by a wide range on industry types from partners at RPA, to planners at OMD, to brand managers at Sketchers, the Interactive Golf Romp was a great way for Kontera to mix, mingle, and spread the good in-text word in LA.

While we might not have dominated the Golf Links, Kontera still tops the In-Text leaderboard, and a fun afternoon was had by all; conversing with our Ad Agency and Marketing friends about the virtues of In-Text, against the most scenic of backdrops.

Everyone had a chance to submit a proposal for a project, and to vote for their favorite partner organization. After some passionate debates, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy was selected as the lucky winner for our first “Kontera Serve” initiative.

On the afternoon of August 11^th, 34 of our San Francisco employees headed to Ocean Beach, the largest urban beach in California, for a clean-up expedition.

The weather forecast proved once again that it’s not an exact science, and just because it’s August, doesn’t mean we should expect it to be warm and sunny (supporting Mark Twain, who once asserted: “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”). Yet, our fearless crew was up for the challenge!

Armed with gloves, jackets, hats, tongs and a contagious positive energy, we thoroughly combed about a mile of the beach – as far as the eye could see, and collected more than 30 bags of trash!

After three hours, we gathered for a well deserved break, accompanied with food and drinks – a great opportunity to hang out with some old friends, and to bond with more recently hired colleagues. We all enjoyed the opportunity to come together as a team, and the rewarding feeling of having accomplished something positive!

Check out the video below to see us in action.

A special congratulation to the winners of our trash collection contest: Cory, MariCate and Brian for the largest amount of trash collected, and Lauren, Aliza and Ammiel for the most unexpected piece of trash found (if you’re wondering: an old Russian VHS tape, of “Fire in the Snow”).

In four separate events taking place in downtown New York City, Konterans stirred up summertime nostalgia with free Mr. Softee’s ice cream, served straight from the iconic truck.

Undaunted by humidity and the crowds, employees at NY Ad Agencies, such as Mediacom, Mindshare, Maxus, Mediavest, and Mediaedge, thronged the sidewalks in search of a scoop. Konterans mingled with the crowds as the queue wove around city blocks, giving us a chance to catch up with old contacts and greet new faces. As an extra cherry on top of generous helpings of vanilla and chocolate soft serve, agency employees had the chance to win an American Express gift card in the Kontera sponsored raffle.

After a great afternoon “meet and eat”, there was no doubt Kontera had found the right way to beat the heat.

Back in the air-conditioned office, Kontera employees got busy once again setting up Topically-Targeted Campaigns with our sophisticated new Synapse Engine, to deliver our advertisers what they REALLY want (besides a cone of Mr. Softee)… Great Results!

We set out to the Sea of Galilee in Northern Israel, the lowest fresh water lake in the world, (and also where it is said that Jesus had walked on water). For one day, we left our air conditioned bubble to commute with nature and chill out with our colleagues.

A splendid time was had by all, as we broke bread at a rustic horse ranch, hiked through a waist deep stream, and took some down time relaxing on the shores of the Galilee, before finally experiencing a crash course in yoga, where we pulled muscles we never even knew we had.

However, the highlight of the trip had to be dividing into 4 groups, each building a raft out of rope and bamboo, which we fastened to metal barrels before testing it’s buoyancy in the sea. All four rafts successfully floated, as apparently Kontera’s engineering brilliance extends to the tactile world as well.

The entire Kontera Israel team is now rejuvenated, and our focus is again full steam ahead on delivering innovation and performance to our partners on the Kontera Network. Yes, it might be a while before our next field trip, but we’ll always have the memories, and of course, the Facebook photo album.

Getting ready for a stroll down the stream

Chilling out

Building a raft

It’s harder than it looks…

Pumped up – Getting ready to sail

Taking it for a spin..

Oh My God! It floats!!!

Racing to the Finish line

The team that (thinks they) won – Jury still out..

All 75 employees in Israel packed up their belongings and made the massive track yesterday to an office building just across the street from our previous location. Okay, while the move might not have been a big one geographically speaking, the luxurious new digs are a sight to behold for everyone present.

Most of Kontera’s employees in the Israeli office are part of our R&D organization. Those brilliant developers are responsible for bringing to life our vision and cutting edge technology.

Our R&D organization prides itself on working in Agile methodologies, within a SCRUM framework. Agile is a work method that emphasizes teamwork, self-organization, and accountability. With that in mind, the layout and working environment of the new Israeli office were designed to reflect those Agile values of collaboration, transparency and team-work. The sprawling 1,200 square meter office is spacious but interconnected, as multiple doors and glass walls at every turn make each room seem equally accessible, increasing communication and productivity.

Decked out in Kontera’s familiar white and lime color scheme, the new office also features almost entirely new furnishings, including flat screen TVs, a recreational area, spacious kitchenettes, multiple conference rooms, custom chairs, new desks, lime trim cabinets that look suspiciously like a mini fridge, and many more niceties. When you are ready for lunch, the scenic hallway bridge overlooks the finest local eateries.

The Israeli office, as does Kontera worldwide, continues to expand, and the new office even has furnished rooms and work stations for new employees that will be joining us soon.

To see more pictures of our exciting new home, visit our Facebook photo album.

Kontera’s Eastern Region’s flagship New York office has recently packed up and moved to its brand new spacious location on 22 West 19^th Street.

Now located on one of the best and most colorful neighborhoods in the buzzing metropolis, in the heart of the Chelsea neighborhood, the new office is just a few blocks north of Union Square, south of Midtown, and within walking distance to the world famous Washington Square Park … not to mention down the street from former Cheers’ star Ted Danson who lives nearby (but even Danson knows that the In-Text leader is the true New York Celebrity ).

The team’s response to our new space has been outstanding. Enjoying everything from the luxuries of newly built offices and multiple  conference rooms to choose from, to simple niceties such as boutiques on every corner, the trendiest night life spots, and a cupcake truck around the corner, the team has blossomed in the new location.

With a 40 seat wide open trading floor-like layout, the new office space encourages colorful dialogue, shouting matches and the occasional game of catch between ADs AM and Sales.  We are also in the midst of planning a welcome to Union Square party, open to our agency clients – so be on the lookout for your invite!

While business continues to develop, and the company’s growth is reaching new levels, our other offices worldwide are also upgrading their work environment- as our San Francisco office literally brought the walls down as they expanded their office space, and our Israeli office will be moving to a new, larger, office next month!

To celebrate the big move, several visitors joined the rest of the office in a night out at a local tapas bar for cocktails and appetizers.

Already hard at work in the new office.

Last week at Kontera’s Israel office, we celebrated Purim; a holiday observed in Israel with customs somewhat similar to those of Halloween in America.  We celebrated with a party at the office, that included a costume contest, food, music, and lots of laughs.

Take a look at our Purim Photo Album on Facebook, to see some of the people behind Kontera in their best (and strangest) attire.

We are endorsing UNICEF and the American Red Cross which are two organizations central to worldwide efforts matching resources with need.  Both organizations are active at the epicenter of the recent disaster that has left a mass of destruction and a country unfathomably changed forever.

We are running a focused campaign across our network of more than 15,000 publishers. The Haiti assistance campaign will be shown on pages that relate and discuss the Haiti disaster, and will target phrases and concepts having to do with aid, assistance, and relief for the people of Haiti.

If you’d like, you can make a direct donation right now:

In the words and spirit of Harace Mann, a 19th century US educator, “To pity distress is but human; [but] to relieve it is angelic.”

Mèsi (thank you in Haitian-Creole) for your support and we’ll be sure to keep you posted on our efforts.

It’s no secret that the holidays were in full force, with words like recipe, meal plan, menu, filling our dinner tables, bellies, and manifesting themselves right on our computer monitors.  With Rachel Ray, surpassing all other big names, it seems we even like our celebs to be all about the food.

Fitness, running , and workout plans are on the top of the list to try to cancel out the excessive eating.  And as we all know, drinking water and watching your nutrition intake will help jump start your diet.

In addition to eating and exercising, we can clearly see that people were traveling in style this holiday season with our travel segment of keywords getting quite a bit of attention.  Looks like chartered yachts, planes, trains, and trails were popular means to arrive at your dream destination–anything from the beach, national parks, campgrounds, hotels, hiking, and luxury cruises.

We will keep you posted on 2010’s top keywords, but with everyone back to their full productivity, be sure to focus on blackberry, iphone, and applications as these are winner keywords from what we’ve seen so far this month.

1) Pursue a higher education: Ok while we aren’t actually signing up for college courses, we want to continue to educate ourselves on the needs of our publishers, and advertisers alike.  We know that through continued development of relationships, we can become better aligned with market trends as well as what you are looking for from us.

2) Diversify and expand: As your rich uncle may advise you, diversify, diversify, diversify.  This is exactly our thinking as we are constantly expanding our network of publishers,  ad offerings, while continuing to provide remarkable user experience.

3) Reduce life stress: Stress can contribute to poor health, and other negative effects on the body and mind.  At Kontera, we think that making money from your websites can be a breeze.  In 2010, let’s relax, feel good, and let your site work for you.

4) Keeping in touch with family and friends:  So while we probably aren’t immediate family or even long lost cousins, we want to continue to work towards keeping our partners and users completely informed about our latest news and developments.

5) Retain our edge:  A new look can always help spice things up.  In 2010, we will strive to enhance our products and services continue bringing you fresh and engaging content.

What kind of web-based resolutions are you planning to work towards this year?  From all of us at Kontera, we wish you a happy, healthy, and successful 2010.