Premium Vertical Advertising Networks
Written by Lawrence Johnson | April 2, 2008
Russell Fradin’s recent article for Adotas - Ad Networks: On the Verge of Extinction? - posits that vertical ad networks are next generation media vehicles bringing brand advertisers to the premium independent publishers that are attracting the audiences they target. He concludes that different types of ad networks are conceived for different objectives — and solving very different problems.
This is not news as it is typical of the evolution of most marketing strategies. Fradin was looking to reconcile the seemingly disparate strategies espoused by leading players, namely ESPN dismissing ad networks as being detrimental to the integrity of their brand and Forbes announcing the launch of a network of 400 financial blogs.
The subtext is that of two leading brands addressing business imperatives with different digital strategic responses aligned to the value of their brand and market demands.
It is no longer sufficient to state that target audiences are becoming more elusive and that advertisers are looking for new ways to reach them with relevant content in the right context. While this is certainly true, it is not the right answer in this case. Like the Sun Microsystems tag line of yesteryear, ESPN is the network, and Forbes is deftly extending the ability to maintain multiple conversations with its wide audience.
We have to see that It is not always about exploiting ad networks but really about a marketing and communication fundamentals and the quest to deliver value to your clients.
Conversely it is up to vertical advertising networks to align with these fundamentals. They must start by paying close attention on the role they play in the value delivery system, and the contribution they can make in this regard.
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