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May 1, 2008

May 1, 2008

Direct Response Video for Small, Local Firms

Small and mid-tier businesses have long gravitated towards direct response marketing like yellow pages ads and dedicated phone numbers on late night cable ads. Startup Mixpo hopes they'll want the same action-oriented approach when it comes to Web video.

Online video advertising "is going to start going in that direction," suggested MixPo President and CEO Anupam Gupta. I met with the Seattle-based company yesterday morning nearby its headquarters before the Kelsey Group's local media conference kicked off.

"Whether it is [based on] CPA or cost-per-view, we'll see," he continued. The two-year-old firm sees great potential in the small and local online video sector, despite the array of competitive services going after the same pool of mom-and-pops, mid-size retailers, auto dealers and other smaller advertisers.

Measurable direct response mechanisms within embedded video and video ad units could give Mixpo an advantage. Advertisers can include lead-gen forms, track-able and geo-targeted phone numbers and other features, and alter ads dynamically to optimize or change offers. The platform enables video creation from repurposed TV spots and uploaded photos-turned-slideshows. The company also does custom video production.

Like others in the growing local video space, Mixpo is talking with a range of potential partners, from regional ad agencies to online yellow pages firms. The goal is connecting to small business clients through companies that already have relationships with such advertisers.

One distribution partner is Active Rain, a social site for realtors (i.e., people looking for easy, cost-efficient ways to create and optimize video of properties for sale). Some site users have tested the platform, which should be fully functional as an Active Rain offering ("powered by Mixpo") in a week or two, according to Gupta. The site will sell the videos for $30/per month, splitting revenue with Mixpo.

Spotmixer is yet another just-launched self-serve video company claiming it will "level the playing field" for video for SMBs. Others include AditAll, DMM, Spot Runner, EZShow and Visible World. TurnHere is also going after these smaller advertisers, though it's taking the custom video production route, and also working with lots of large brands.

Posted by Kate Kaye at 6:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Would Anyone Pay to Network on Facebook?

Media executives at "The New Kings of Media" breakfast in NYC debated the future of user-generated content, including who will pay for the stuff.

John Rose, managing director of the Boston Consulting Group, had an interesting theory. He sees UCG heading into two directions: public and private content.

In most cases, content developed and viewed by the public will have to be ad supported, he said, doubting there are enough folks willing to dish out money to support the vast amount of content.

Having said that, he anticipates some business users will pay for access to UGC. Those customers would get "proprietary first rights, first look access to content," he said. (Sounds an awful lot like what Barrons.com is doing with its weekly mag.)

"There will probably be company-paid models for things like LinkedIn and Facebook," he continued. "There are elements of Facebook morphing to provide interesting networks...It's not consumer pay, but it's direct pay."

If LinkedIn's already doing it (account holders can pay between $20 to $200 a month for more features), why won't Facebook users? Maybe a few more have to graduate from high school and college first.

Posted by Anna Maria Virzi at 5:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Google Flips Switch on TV Ads, Spot Runner Gets Granular

As expected, Google has begun offering TV ad production and placement services to all AdWords advertisers. The public launch indicates the company has partially resolved the inventory problems that plagued the program in its early months, though it's still only pushing ads to customers of its DISH and Astound cable partners. Google's demo, viewable here, shows how advertisers can choose programs and networks, fix day parts, secure production services, and schedule campaigns.

With the launch, advertisers will be in a better position to analyze and compare the relative merits of Google's system with competing offerings, most notably Spot Runner. Spot Runner, which hired Joanne Bradford and Marc Rosenthal in recent months, is going after national advertisers whose budgets were too small for TV in the broadcast boom years. A client example the company shared last month is that of a purveyor of home power generators. "When we see a storm rolling in, we turn on their campaigns," CEO Nick Grouf said.

While Google is giving marketers the option of uploading spots or contracting jobs, Spot Runner has taken the tack of proactively packaging video ads for specific business types. You can see its library here, including an interesting set of political advertising templates I hadn't noticed before visiting today.

Posted by Zachary Rodgers at 4:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

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