The growing ranks of online marketers gathered this week at ad:tech Chicago. Big technology players like Google, DoubleClick, WebTrends, Omniture, and Advertising.com were present, along with email marketing firms, large online agencies, and whole raft of smaller players with new tools for RSS, mobile, and video advertising.
The coolest new tech company I found there was from the Netherlands: Adjustables. They were showing, for the first time in the U.S., a patent-pending technology for placing non-intrusive ads within video streams - instead of those annoying pre-rolls or banners surrounding the player.
No More Pre-Rolls?
The company's Windows-based "AdDesigner" is a tool that lets you create adverts for your online video streams, in any of four different types. AdDesigner automatically saves your Adjustables to the AdServer. You also need the company's "AdScheduler," which places the Adjustables you created within your videos. Software for both products can be downloaded from the company's site for free.
Adjustable's ads are clickable, so the viewer can interact with the video at just the right moment. The default is that, when clicked, the video pauses while the viewer goes to the advertiser's site. The intregration of the ad with the streaming video happens on the viewer's computer. Ads can be targeted by geography or behavior. I was impressed with the look and minimalism of the ads. Not too distracting and about as tasteful as ads can be in this medium.
"Is anyone else doing this?" I asked cofounder and VP marketing, Menno Biesiot. He said that YouTube and Metacafe are working on something similar, but his firm sees this as validation and hopefully it will lead to standard-setting in this area of much-needed innovation.
Adustables is a recently VC-funded startup based in the Netherlands (with a new office in SF). They announced their technology at the ad:tech conference in Hamburg in May. The software is available now for download at the company's site, and a demo is available there.
Graeme Thickins is a blogger and tech marketing consultant based in Minneapolis. For more coverage of ad:tech Chicago, check out his blog Tech-Surf-Blog.com.
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