Back to All 'In the News' Items
Published: November 26, 2007 
Depending on your brand, ad networks can be a boon for your business or kind of a wash. Brands that need to reach a mass audience relatively cheaply say they are happy with the traffic they net on a network's hundreds or thousands of sites. But brands that are especially vulnerable to bad or confusing placement on sites, or want to cultivate a particular user, have to wade into the ad network depths with caution.
Quality placements, of course, are defined differently by different brands. But controlling your image and collecting clickthroughs can be done, say our online marketers. Nevertheless, they warn, overlap and the mass profusion of networks without clearly defined niches can make it hard to differentiate which one is the best buy.
Below, a panel of intrepid marketing professionals discusses how ad networks have worked for them, and what they are still waiting to see in online marketing's evolution.
1. Do you use ad networks? If so, why?
Kyle Sherwin, media director at Sony BMG:
Ad networks are a ripe opportunity for our business in its current state, not only for economic reasons -- low entry costs and aggressive rates -- but also because they can address the special interests of our artists' fan base. Some networks have a host of specialized media properties that are very important for gaining credibility with a core fan base. For certain artists and products that appeal to a narrower fan base, we need to penetrate properties that are relatively undiscovered and can serve as initial points of influence for us.
Keith Pieper, director of performance media at Universal McCann, on online campaigns for client Microsoft:
Yes, Microsoft uses ad networks. We use ad networks primarily for volume and efficiency. We typically test how ad networks perform and then optimize based on performance against campaign objectives.
Valerie Constable, director of media at Kaiser Permanente:
We use ad networks for our individual plans, primarily. Health care has different types of insurance: corporate, small business and individual/family accounts. Our individual plan group at Kaiser Permanente is all direct response-oriented, so we use ad networks.
Katelyn Himes, manager of online marketing for La Quinta Inns & Suites:
We do use a number of ad networks for direct response campaigns. We find that they provide very efficient, targeted campaigns with low-cost, high-volume impression levels, and a lower cost per conversion. They also allow us to be present on a number of sites that we would not normally buy. Smaller sites can be aggregated together to drive scale, and larger sites are sold at a lower cost. Most networks also offer a CPA campaign, which can also be very efficient.
Correy Honza, director of internet marketing for Quiznos:
We've used them in our test markets for new products and we're planning to use them a lot more. We've done a lot of portal advertising but now, looking at the benefits of it, portals require a minimum spend. Ad networks are inexpensive and you get on thousands of sites. So we are checking out ad networks and see what they have to offer. It's also interesting how ad networks are getting into behavioral marketing. It's a slick way of communicating a message.
Dave Chase, CMO for AltusAlliance:
We're more focused on niche ad networks like Glam and Active Athlete Media than "buying ads by the ton" with traditional ad networks.
Katie McCormick, web manager at Revlon:
Yes, we do. In 2007, for our Mitchum Man deodorant, we chose the larger ad networks that had a lot of site traffic. We're planning now for 2008. Who knows where we will land?
Bill Daley, senior manager, interactive marketing for Universal Orlando Resort:
We use them because they are guaranteed targeted traffic to our website and we do the ad buy on a CPC basis. Also, we view the additional impressions to help branding and still track view conversions.
Sean X Cummings, director of marketing for Ask.com:
When you can't advertise on Yahoo!, AOL or MSN, as we can't, you have to find ways to get mass reach. We use a lot of different ad networks. Those brands that are smart are taking advantage of them. Most advertisers do not comprehend the power of online ad networks but are still buying media with old-school traditional thinking. For example, in offline, there is often an associative halo affect with brand name shows and properties. You buy on "Heroes" because your brand's association with the brand "Heroes" makes your brand, for a lack of a better word, cooler. You are one of very few advertisers during an immersive, commercial interruptive experience. This does not exist online.
So why are you paying the price premium for being on a portal or branded site? You used to buy on portals, and sites with scale, because you wanted more bang for your buck. Buying on smaller branded sites and assembling your consumer piece-by-piece required too much effort, too much trafficking and complex media plans. Those days are over. Online networks allow you to scoop up thousands of micro-consumers. It's not death by cannon fire but by a thousand cuts. The ad network has already assembled the inefficiency, into efficiency. Most brands do not understand this. They get convinced that they want to produce very rich creative. Most of that is wasted. Sure you need it, but as a supplement. The argument you often get is "Well, I want to be on that site with the $20 CPM. It's a much better property." Yes, it is, but it also has much better content. Why could that be an issue? First, their brand, the branded site, often overshadows yours instead of providing that halo. Second, what are people there for? Content not advertising. If you are on JoeBlow's blog, his content is not as rich. Where does your eye wander online when the content is not king? Advertising. Sure there are brands with very specific demographics that they need to reach, but often, even with colossal wastage, the online ad network is much more efficient. You get much better price-per-performance on networks. Why? Well, even if your creative performs better on the branded site, it will do so by about 20-30 percent for the same creative; but you get between 3 to 30 times better pricing on the network... you do the math. Unfortunately, or fortunately for us, most brands don't.