SpotWinner™ Delivers Guaranteed Commercial Views. Targets Below-the-Line Marketing Budgets for Traditional Media Companies

By The Media Ecologist Archives
Cover image for  article: SpotWinner™ Delivers Guaranteed Commercial Views. Targets Below-the-Line Marketing Budgets for Traditional Media Companies

Each month, Jack MyersMedia Business Report provides corporate subscribes with insights into emerging companies and exclusive introductory opportunities. SpotWinner is a new form of online and mobile advertising that features the :30-second commercial as the destinationin a fun, entertaining online casual game format. The game is built around the most entertaining ads and network promotion IDs on TV, each carefully targeted to a specific media/marketer partner's audience. Consumers share and compete with friends and earn valuable prizes playing the daily game. The SpotWinner Game was developed by BrandPort, Inc., and is launching on a network of major online media sites, set-top boxes and mobile platforms. BrandPort's business customers are media companies, marketers, and the advertising agencies that create compelling and entertaining video advertising. Detailed information on the SpotWinner program and special introductory opportunities are detailed in the extended report available exclusively to Jack Myers Media Business Report subscribers.

BrandPort, Inc. is privately held and was founded by Kivin Varghese, whose experience includes marketing research at The BASES Group, Media Marketing Management Analytics, trade marketing and traditional brand management at Duracell and Gillette, and online brand and direct-response marketing. CEO Tom Beusse has over 20 years of experience in the media industry as former CEO of Westwood One, former President at Rodale, Inc, and former President of Time4Media, a division of Time, Inc. CTO Guy Resh has 20+ years of executive technology experience at both startups and large enterprise organizations, most recently serving as VP Architecture for Fidelity Investments.

Among numerous senior advisors who offer counsel to BrandPort are notable digital media industry leaders Mike Kelly, Former President of AOL Media Networks and current Chairman of the Board of Eyeblaster, Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo and Chief Innovation Officer of Publicis Groupe Media, the management board that oversees two major media networks: Starcom MediaVest Group and Zenith Optimedia, and William Pierce, VP Technology at Fidelity Investments and Former VP Technology Goldman Sachs. Directors include Jeff Nixon, founder and Managing Partner of Interactive Capital, an investment banking firm and strategic investor network, Joe Poletto, former GM of US Advertising Sales for the MSN Network, and Hank Uberoi, a highly regarded leader in technology and finance, formerly serving as COO of Citadel Investments and COO of the technology group at Goldman Sachs. (Jack Myers provides advisory counsel to BrandPort, Inc. and is offering special SpotWinner introductory services and opportunities to corporate subscribers. For more information contact jm@jackmyers.com. Kivin Varghese can be contacted directly at kivin@brandport.com )

There are several powerful macro trends that influence the growth of companies such as BrandPort that target "below-the-line" marketing budgets such as couponing, sampling, e-commerce, research, cause marketing and direct marketing:

1) Rapid consumer embrace of online video viewership(43% of online consumers watch video at least 1x/week). On the advertising side, online video advertising is in its early stages and poised to grow significantly, and BrandPort is well positioned to capitalize on this trend.

2) The rapid penetration of DVRs, resulting from consumers' desire to take control of their viewing interests. DVR penetration is growing rapidly, at 30.6% of US households today, up from 12% in January 2007 (Nielsen 2009).

3) Engagement in casual games. Online games, as a fun past-time, continue to increase and participation today crosses all demographic segments. Aside from search, "gaming" dwarfs virtually all applications in terms of active users on the web. Within Facebook, "gaming" apps are engaged in by users 4X the second highest app segment of "dating". The gaming environment drives high ad performance due to positive and receptive consumer state-of-mind (Dynamic Logic Market Norms, March '08.)

Pay-for-Performance Business Model:
The "Watch. Play. Win" platform changes the traditional ad model by charging marketers only for each engaged and completed targeted ad view, and by tapping into additional revenue streams by monetizing activity 'below the line' with direct response CPC, CPA, and commissions on product sales. The platform delivers a portion of the ad revenue back to the consumer in the form of redeemable points, sweepstakes entries, and a deep slate of daily prizes relevant to the audiences served. The marketer gets not only a measurable ROI of its marketing message, but substantially greater consumer engagement with its brand through the entertainment value of playing the game and earning rewards. The revenue model is powerful: At a targeted $0.20 per engagement, for every 100,000 active users watching 10 daily ads, the platform can generate $200,000 in daily revenues on video views, and more on DR and sales activity after the view.

Audiences Enjoy the Game & Rewards:

· 25%+ play daily.

· Average of 9.8/10 full 30-sec video views/day per person + Q&A and feedback.

· Click-through rates on DR typically 3%-12%, but often over 35% if samples/coupons are involved.

· Great viral activity: 10%+ share ads with friends.

· Positive environment: audiences engage because they like the ads, like to play the ad games, and the daily slate of prizes is compelling.

Delivers Strong Engagement Results:
According to BrandPort, the SpotWinner program has delivered unmatched results to Fortune 500 brands, typically delivering 90%+ brand & key message recall, 5%+ click-through rates, and triple-digit lifts in key branding metrics like top-of-mind and key message association. SpotWinner's consumer base is a mass market audience, and BrandPort believes two large core target groups will emerge from expansion of the site and the application through distribution partners and launch of the applications: (a) The Gen Y audience who are highly coveted by large national marketers and also are casual gamers, socially active, and early adopters of opt-in marketing incentives, and (b) women 18+ who are proven casual gamers and heavy users of opt-in loyalty programs. BrandPort's distribution partners include traditional publishers' websites that seek another turnkey way to monetize video advertising and engage & reward their audiences, as well as lead-generating websites that wish to enter the advertising market with an appropriate partner who can provide both content and a mechanism to generate high click-through and ROI metrics.

Technology and Patents:
BrandPort's applications have been built to be easily integrated into third-party publisher and portal websites in a turnkey way. At the core of BrandPort's platform is a proprietary technology infrastructure built upon several IP and patent assets that integrate the content, consumer incentives, gaming environment, and ad reporting functions. Five interdependent systems that complete the closed loop include 1) video & content distribution, 2) ad targeting and game development, 3) prizes, points, legal, accounting, and fulfillment system, 4) direct response tracking, and 5) data management, reporting and campaign tracking modules.

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