Headlines from this week included promising news about the online ad industry, the launch of Twitter’s Business Center and a new mobile strategy from Starbucks that utilizes location-based social network Brightkite. We recap these stories and more below.

Report: Online Ad Market Rebounds in First Quarter of 2010

New comScore data signaled a display advertising rebound in early 2010, with U.S. Internet users receiving a record-high 1.1 trillion display ads during Q1. This figure reflects a 15-percent jump year-over-year. ComScore estimates that total display ad spend reached $2.7 billion in Q1 at an average CPM of $2.48.

In a press release, comScore Senior Vice President Jeff Hacket said he sees a strong resurgence in the online display ad market. “The first quarter of 2010 posted strong volume in online display ads, coinciding with increasing expenditure from advertisers and higher CPMs for publishers,” he said. “This pickup in activity should bode well for the online advertising industry as we move forward in 2010.”

Business Center Launch Positions Twitter as a Stronger Marketing & CRM Tool

On Tuesday, Mashable confirmed that Twitter has launched a beta test of the Twitter Business Center, a set of tools which provides more legitimacy and greater flexibility to businesses operating on the platform. Official businesses, both large and small, will soon have a prominent “verified” badge on their profile pages, along with a suite of new features.

Bravo is one of the first companies on board Twitter’s new Business Center.

While it’s surprising that it took so long to release this functionality (Twitter has had badges for “verified” individuals, such as celebrities and political figures, for a long time), at 360i we see this as an important step in Twitter becoming an even more powerful marketing and CRM tool. Read our full blog post to learn about the new features and what they mean for marketers utilizing Twitter for their businesses.

Survey: Search Marketing Remains Strong for Retailers

A recent study from Internet Retailer found that search engine marketing (both PPC and SEO) remains a strong source of traffic and sales for retailers. More than a quarter of respondents said that SEM efforts were responsible for 50%+ of their online sales. Half of the respondents said a quarter of their site traffic comes from paid search.

Via Internet Retailer

Nearly half of the retailers surveyed said they increased their paid search budgets in the past year, and a similar proportion say they plan to increase it in the year head. More charts from this study are available on the Internet Retailer website.

Study: Women Embrace Personalized Advertising on the Web

According to a recent study by Q Interactive, women have positive perceptions of ad targeting and would like to see more targeted offers from “brands they trust.”

Key Findings:

• The large majority (88 percent) of users surveyed would like to see more targeted offers from trusted brands.
• Two-thirds said such personalized advertisements were “cool,” compared to only 10 percent who thought the targeting was “weird.”
• More than 50 percent of women surveyed said they formed relationships with brands and websites prior to targeting.
• The top way for brands to establish positive relationships with women online was to provide exclusive offers and deals.

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Starbucks Teams Up with Brightkite for Mobile Frappuccino Promotion

MobileMarketer reports that Starbucks has partnered with location-based social network Brightkite to launch a mobile prong of the coffee brand’s integrated push to promote Frappuccino Happy Hour. Starbucks is promoting the special across several social channels, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, foursquare and MyStarbucksIdea.com.

Via MobileMarketer

The Brightkite promotion works by allowing users to earn a Starbucks badge if they check into a location during the Happy Hour via the Brightkite iPhone app. Starbucks spokeswoman Lisa Passé told MobileMarketer that the Brightkite integration “links the real time in-store experience to the online community.”