Cut Supply: Testing a Theory

Earlier this month our Co-Founder, Eric Franchi, posted an article entitled, “Want to Save Display?  Cut Supply,” on Digiday. The article put forward the theory that the Web would be a better place if we didn’t have so many display ads.  His belief is that if there are less, but more immersive and engaging ads on each page, it would make the Web a better place for all those involved: consumers, content creators, and brand advertisers. 

It’s an interesting thought, particularly coming from an executive at a digital advertising company like Undertone… Apparently, however, the industry agrees. There was an overwhelming positive response to Eric’s piece as it was shared, tweeted, retweeted and commented on by people throughout the industry.

There are many questions that need to be explored further and we all realize that making an overhaul like this is no easy feat. But Eric is committed to testing this theory. It’s a big project, one that he is working with leaders industry-wide on over the course of 2012.

So stay tuned to hear more about his, and Undertone’s, progress to make the Web a better place for brands.

Standout Brand Experiences™ — a Purpose and a Promise

Digital isn't about devices anymore. It's possible to have digital functionality in nearly every item you own. We are quite literally surrounded by digital tools, apps, sites, videos, games, devices and yes, advertising.

And yet, brand marketers are still struggling to make digital work. Media clutter has created an attention economy made even more challenging by consumers that have developed an armor-plated capacity to ignore marketing appeals – particularly in the digital space.

There is a cacophony of voices debating what needs to be done to "fix" digital media to accelerate the shift of brand dollars to digital. Of all the voices, none matter more than our customers, which is why we spent a big part of 2011 listening.

We spoke to advertisers who represented over $8 billion in digital spend in 2010 — and publishers who accounted for over $1 billion in digital ad revenue. We spent hundreds of hours interviewing at every level, from senior VPs to junior planners. The findings weren't surprising — just overwhelmingly consistent.

The future for brands IS digital. Marketers are starved for solutions that will create immersive brand experiences that stand out and get noticed. The market research did more than just affirm the massive market opportunity in front of us; it gave us a renewed sense of purpose.

You'll see that purpose reflected wherever you see Undertone. On our website, in our product roadmap, our sales presentations, our proposals — in the superior service our clients have come to expect.

At Undertone, our mission is to make digital media, in all its current and emerging forms, work as a platform for creating experiences that can build brands over time — and sales overnight. We call this promise delivering Standout Brand Experiences™. And we'll do it by combining the best creative, context, people and technology.

We're in a unique position to help make the Web a better place for brands. There are a lot of exciting developments ahead: New partnerships, new products, new offerings. In the meantime, we'd love to continue to hear more: what is a Standout Brand Experience to you?

New Year, New Opportunities

We all know that the holiday season is the busiest time of the year for online retailers. While there are numerous stats and studies released each year around ad performance in November and December, there is a lack of useful data available surrounding what happens after the dust has settled on the holidays. We decided to investigate and this is what we discovered…

Performance in January Trumps the Holiday Season

Based on data analyzed from the 2010 holiday season, we found that daily click-through rates (CTR) in January were 14% higher than over the holiday season. Drilling deeper, the data revealed that there was a slight decline in CTRs in the first week of the year, but beginning the second week in January, performance rebounded strongly — up to 36% above the holiday season baseline.

The increased performance across Undertone could be attributed to New Year sales offers or possibly the need to exchange holiday gifts, but either way, performance in January surpassed that from the holiday season.

Retail Advertisers' Performance in January Trumps Overall Performance

It's no surprise that retail advertising accounts for the bulk of online ad dollars spent during the holiday season, but what about in January? What results can retailers expect after the hype of the holiday season is over?

Well, it's good news and additional opportunity.

Our data revealed that retail advertisers saw a 27% increase in CTRs during January 2011 compared to the 2010 holiday season baseline. This 27% increase represented a 13 percentage point increase over January's overall improvement.

So what does this mean for retail advertisers?

Simple: It means that retail advertisers, or any brand looking for an early boost in the New Year, shouldn't discount the prospects available in January. Although the holiday season may get all the attention, the New Year brings with it new opportunity to reach audiences and build brand equity online.

PageGrabber™ – A Year Old and Already an Award Winner!

It's hard to believe that we only launched our PageGrabber ad unit a year ago. Since the launch we've run PageGrabber campaigns for some of the world's leading brands.

We hear from our clients time and time again that what makes PageGrabber so compelling is the combination of its immersive creative options and the ease with which it can be run at scale across a broad range of high profile publishers. And it seems the industry is taking notice — two recent PageGrabber campaigns have been named award winners:

1. HBO Ricky Gervais PageGrabber | Silver Davey Award Winner
2. Tourism Ireland PageGrabber | Silver Davey Award Winner and W3 Silver Award

We're focused on designing ad units that push the creative envelope, so watch this space for more as we move into 2012.

Undertone Named a 'Best Place to Work' Again!

Earlier this month, Crain's unveiled its annual roundup of the 50 ‘Best Places to Work' in New York. We're proud to have made the list... again! This is the fourth consecutive year that Undertone has been included on the list.

It's exciting to be recognized by Crain's because the heartbeat of Undertone is definitely its people. We put a lot of effort into ensuring that Undertone is a place that we all want to get up and go to work to. We're focused on creating an environment full of passion, energy and shared goals.

We're a rapidly expanding team but as we expand we never lose sight of the culture that has got us to where we are today. Because we think having the right culture and energy inside our four walls helps us to better serve our customers.