InPage eyes New Zealand

International Internet advertising company InPage Incorporated is poised to launch in New Zealand in the comming month. The company has completed registration with the NZ companies office.

The advent of the World Wide Web as a giant retail mechanism brought with it a means to reach consumers all over the world. However, as with all communication media when they are young, it takes time for and effective advertising vehicle to evolve.

In the Internet space that time has arrived with the launch of InPageAds ­ a solution that promises to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Internet-based advertising. Furthermore, the new tool also has interesting longer-term implications for other forms of product promotion such as electronic billboards, kiosks and cell phones; however the initial launch will focus solely on Internet Advertising as a branding impact tool.

And this couldn’t be happening at a better time because advertisers are moving to the Internet in their droves. According to ZenithOptimedia, online advertising accounted for 4.3% of the global market during 2005 (worth some $406 billion) and the organisation expects this to climb reach 5% by 2007.

However, Safa Rashtchy, senior analyst at Piper Jaffray, is far more bullish: Online is on its way up to 10% share much faster than we anticipated, he says, giving a "conservative" estimate that online advertising will exceed $55 billion globally by 2010, a 27 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over 2005. He points to large advertisers like Absolut Vodka, GM and Ford, all of which plan to spend 20 percent of their marketing budgets online in 2006.

This is despite the fact the shortage of online advertising inventory, which Gustave Truter, marketing director at InPage, says is not holding anyone back. Networks, remnant space and contextual search all continue to expand, even if inventory on large portals is sold out. Therein lies the opportunity for InPage because it expands the advertising inventory available within a portal as it displays ads between pages in the white space between clicks; and it does so by providing a full screen branding solution.

He notes further that the product has been specifically designed to improve branding impact. Brand impact is attributed as one of the driving force behind the upswing in online advertising spend as agencies are increasingly able to tap into the clients traditional branding budgets, he explains.

Grant Jackson, CEO of InPage Incorporated, says InPage differentiates from traditional forms of banner advertising with the ability to display ads between pages and makes use of dead bandwidth. When you visit a web site there is always dead time while you’re reading. InPage use that time to download the next advert. Then, when you click on a link, it typically takes around three seconds ­ regardless of how fast your Internet connection is  to return the next complete page. It is during those three seconds that InPage display.

InPage also categorises web sites as either private or public. The former could be a site that employs people to sell advertising (such as a CNN or an online news publication) or a consumer-focused company that advertises its own products on its web site, including portals.

Access is critical in such cases. Sites are locked down but employees are provided with an electronic key to allocate and design media campaigns on the site. Advertising agencies can also be equipped with keys allowing them to update branding material. Different pricing structures can also be accommodated with these keys, he says.

To illustrate the second type of private site he pulls a conceptualisation out of the ether: Imagine that you’re motor vehicle portal and you want advertising on your site to be more appropriate to the content being viewed. If they’re looking at pages featuring the x-series, for example, you want them to see advertising specific to that model. InPage can do that, notes Jackson.

Both public and private sites require an initial registration with InPage. When a site is registered it is first categorised according to the site owners preferences, it is this categorisation of sites by their owners that determines whether a site is public or private, this in turn enables InPage to ensure that both content and ads are delivered in accordance with the owners specification. Once you are signed up the InPage program requires virtually no maintenance.

Public sites receive adverts from a pool of generic consumer adverts. If a Coca-Cola, Nike or Red Bull wants to advertise broadly on the web they can reach a broad cross-section of public web sites in this way, maximising your revenue potential from your site. InPage automatically place relevant CPC (cost-per-click) and CPM (cost-per thousand impressions) ads into the Public site, generating the maximum revenue per page and for the site owner. he adds.

In addition, the company’s InTouch technology delivers ads that are relevant and pertinent to public websites and includes features allowing site owners to block competitive ads through a filter system. All ads served by InPage are reviewed through a combination of human and automated processes, we apply sensitivity content filters to ensure that ads are not inappropriate, says Jackson

InTouch also allows site owners to monitor ad performance through the online reporting facility that provides data on the number of page impressions as well as clicks and click through rate. A public demonstration of InPage can be found on the web at: www.inpageads.co.nz

 

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