—ValueClick Hit With Another Shareholder Suit:  Shareholders of lead gen ad firm ValueClick have accused the company of violating the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Federal Trade Commission Guidelines and have filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Already the

subject of an inquiry by the FTC, as well as several other similar shareholder suits, ValueClick says these suits are “ripe for a pretty vigorous defense.” Lead gen has increasingly become noted for some questionable practices, such as offering web surfers a chance to win an iPod or a store gift certificate in return for releasing some personal information that is then sold to marketers.

—Publicis Creates Dedicated Mobile Arm With Phonevalley Acquisition: Ad holding company Publicis Groupe has bought fellow Parisian Phonevalley, a mobile marketing and communications agency.Financial terms were not disclosed. Phonevalley organizes SMS, MMS and WAP marketing campaigns for such companies as Paramount, Virgin, Sony, and Universal. The purchase comes on the heels of Publicis’  recent acquisitions of China’s Communication Central Group and French web agency Business Interactiff. (More details on our sister site, MocoNews.net)

—Turning User-Generated Video Into Testimonials: Online ad network Tremor Media and ExpoTV, the self-described “videopinions” site, are working together to turn user-generated reviews into visual testimonials for marketers. The plan calls for ExpoTV to distribute the “videopinions” it collects throughout Tremor’s 800-site ad network. The ads will then be targeted toward online video users. 

—Gray TV Taps Pixsy For Online Video Search: Local broadcast operator Gray Television (NYSE: GTN) has inked a one-year deal with video search engine Pixsy to use its technology on 30 of its TV station websites. In addition to offering various search options related to archived videos from Gray’s broadcast and website properties, marketers will also be able to target ads to video search queries.