Remember the days before terms like "click-thrus" and "impressions" dictated advertising sales? Slowly but surely, the importance of branding is sinking back into the minds of marketers, and new technologies are helping them escape the antiquated redundancy of the old 468 x 60 banner ad parades. A public company called Hypermedia Communications, Inc. has put its best foot forward in the effort to finally turn the corner. The company has developed a unique online ad model for newmedia.com, the daily information resource for Internet professionals. The new site will feature 100 percent rich media advertising, and runs time-based ad "spots" rather than cpm-based banners. The ad model has been designed to provide maximum return for clients, and a seamless, rich-media experience for users.
"Our user never leaves the homepage, so we can run ad spots in full 15-second increments, uninterrupted by page clicks and unobscured by scrolls," explained Chairman and CEO Richard Landry, "and we can offer permanently-placed exclusive sponsorships."
Newmedia.com has developed two rich media initiatives to facilitate the technology. The company has partnered with Enliven, a division of Excite@home, to offer site advertisers preferred access to their rich media services. When a user interacts with a 15-second spot, that spot spawns a larger rich media window for the full duration of that user's activity.
The Digital Receipt Alliance announced last week a new standard for digital receipts that can be sent over email or viewed on the Internet. Heavyweight companies such as Microsoft, AOL, and Hewlett-Packard's Verifone unit are participating in the project. The XML-based digital receipts would include transaction data, links to vendors' and manufacturers' sites, and possibly promotional offerings. Ultimately, the receipts would eliminate the need for paper receipts and would help brick-and-mortar stores reach online consumers.
Rankstreet.com, a SwiftyNet.com, Inc operating company, has revealed plans to launch an all-in-one Web site that includes a directory Web counter, and business-to-business Internet advertising agency. The new site will provide Web site owners and Web masters with a directory and sophisticated Web counter
that allows them and other advertisers to purchase ad space in participating Web sites. Rankstreet.com says the approach will serve a market segment that's untouched by many major Internet advertising agencies, such as DoubleClick, Inc. and 24/7 Media, Inc. Their premier services only allow Web sites with at least one million hits a month to join its network. Smaller businesses will soon be able to link their Web
sites with Rankstreet.com and create a revenue source not previously attainable due to hurdles placed by large Internet advertising agencies.
The Dallas/Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association (DFWIMA) will host a program with two preeminent Internet research companies Roper and Nielsen NetRatings on February 9. The two companies will provide their perspectives on what's really happening on the Web from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., at the La Cima Club, Las Colinas (5215 N. O'Connor Road, Suite 2600). Guest speakers include Jed Meyer, vice president and director of sales at Nielsen NetRatings, and Rande Price, with Roper. Meyer will share his latest research findings, while Price will discuss the 1999 Roper Cyberstudy which details what people are doing in interactive households. For more information, visit http://www.dfwima.com.
Mediaplex, Inc. an advertising technology company, and Freestyle Interactive, an online advertising and digital content developer have announced a partnership to co-market their online advertising technologies to provide clients with rich-media messaging customized to reflect both viewer profile and internal business data in real time. The collaboration leverages Mediaplex's pioneering MOJO
TM (mobile Java objects) ad-serving technology to coordinate front-end viewer data with back-end business data, such as inventory, pricing and customer information, and intelligently serve the most relevant
content to Freestyle's Java-based rich-media platform. The result is more dynamic advertising that carries
messaging finely targeted to both the online viewer and an advertiser's business in real time. Visit www.mediaplex.com and/or www.freestyleinteractive.com to learn more about this technology.
Emily Swoboda is the senior staff writer at IGamingNews. She lives in St. Louis, Mo.