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By Dawn Anfuso
Tas Interactive, Ltd., an interactive media and services company led by Robert Tas, in September launched the first vertically positioned Active Athlete Advertising Network -- a network with the largest aggregation of Active Athletes available online.
Partnering with online properties such as TriathleteMag.com, SlowTwitch.com and TriNewbies.com that cater to Active Athletes -- individuals who participate in competitive athletics such as triathlon, running and cycling in increasing numbers -- and building a network that ultimately consists of millions of sports-enthused, affluent, ambitious users, the company hopes to bring both mass and reach to advertising companies.
Prior to founding Tas Interactive, Robert Tas was most recently SVP of media and technology at 24/7 Real Media. Earlier, Tas helped launch TACODA Systems, Inc. His sales, marketing, and management career started in 1989, in the enterprise software market with companies such as Sybase, Commerce One and Finjan. Under his management he has managed business in excess of $80 Million and 100+ employees.
iMedia: Tell me about the Active Athletes Ad Network. How did it come about and what does it offer?
Robert Tas: I have been involved in the Active Athlete community as a participant for a number of years. Through competing in athletic events (individual challenges of golf, marathon and triathlon for example) I have become passionate about not only these participatory sports but the accompanying active lifestyle. A year and one-half ago, I co-founded the Triathlon Association of New York City and it was such a rewarding experience.
During my involvement with TANYC, it reinforced my belief that there are a significant number of other people who are as impassioned as I am. As I became more involved on the business side, I witnessed what great demand there was for products, services and resources by this segment of the population. I also realized that there was this amazing captive audience, hungry for those resources and with plenty of disposable income, but largely ignored by major companies. So I began to think of ideas of how I might bring my business experience to my personal passion. Through my research, it became apparent that the Active Athlete demographic was one marketers eagerly sought. There were a number of content sites, however, no major advertisers. I decided to capitalize on the opportunity of bringing advertisers and Active Athletes together and am confident that with my unique experience, both professionally and personally, I can do that better than anyone else.
iMedia: What is the need you saw that you're trying to fulfill?
Tas: The need is simple -- to bring Active Athletes to advertisers in scale. Scale represents marketing opportunities in the online and offline worlds. It also means tying together the disparate active communities across the globe into one population in a way that provides access for the first time, collectively en masse, to brand advertisers. Tas Interactive's expertise in both interactive marketing and the Active Athlete community allows us to deliver a unique solution to advertisers.
iMedia: Why should advertisers be interested in this demographic?
Tas: This demographic represents an affluent, college-educated, high income earner. More importantly, the psychographic of Active Athletes is what sets this group apart from the rest. This point is two fold. By that, I mean that Active Athletes, more so than other sub-populations, embrace a lifestyle that is part of them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They identify themselves with their sport and are very active in the community within their sport. This provides multiple points of access to the vertical, if one understands that vertical. Also, the personality that is drawn to the active lifestyle is one that is a very high achiever, is always looking for the next challenge and is often a role model to their peers. They are early adopters and leaders in their communities and professions. If marketers may penetrate this segment, their ROI is likely to be huge.
You know these people... You might be one?
iMedia: Definitely not, but, yes, I do know some of these people. You're focused on a pretty niche market, and some of the sites in your network seem to be small-time operations (compared to major news sites, for example). What are the benefits of such a narrow focus to advertisers over the larger reach a more traditional, across-the-board network can offer?
Well, rather than being focused on a niche market as you put it, we are really focused on one vertical -- one that is important and until now, largely ignored. And surprisingly, the size isn't that small -- we are already over one million uniques. More importantly, the formula we offer differs from that of large sites. We deliver a very high quality audience and we do not have the low value inventory one typically finds with the large networks. Our users spend almost 10 minutes per session and visit frequently. They are the top 20 percent that use the internet everyday. More than 90 percent have made purchases on the internet in the last 90 days. The engagement with our community is amazing. We offer the ability for advertisers to really connect with our people.
iMedia: What benefits do you offer publishers in this vertical?
Tas: We offer our partners the benefits of interactive media expertise bundled with our passion for the community. The vast majority of publishers in this vertical are zealous athletes like us; however aside from operating their websites, they are typically not engaged in the wider media business. They do not have the capability or sophistication to deal with large-scale ad serving, targeting, tracking and reporting. And they do not have the agency contacts to sell their inventory. We provide them with a dedicated sales force that has relationships with the ad agencies and advertisers. We also have industry leading ad serving technology that they would be unable to benefit from otherwise.
Furthermore, alone, an individual site will not have the numbers to attract the agencies and brand advertisers. However, as part of the Active Athlete Advertising Network, the publishers are able to leverage the collective size they individually contribute via Tas Interactive. We help publishers provide advertising solutions the agencies and advertisers are receiving from the larger publishers such as ESPN, Wall Street Journal and others -- and which they come to expect as part of their online ad campaigns.
iMedia: Will your services extend offline as well? Please explain.
Tas: Yes, this is one of most natural fits in helping marketers extend their audience connection. In addition to presenting the ability to reach Active Athletes online, Tas Interactive provides access offline as well, for instance at events. We offer logical tie-ins at races, training camps and other related venues. We also envision working with advertisers to use sponsorships of Elite and Age Grouper Athletes to further disseminate their brand message within our community.
iMedia: Any big name advertisers on board yet that you can share?
Tas: Yes, but we are not prepared to release any specifics at this time. We are planning to publish some case studies in early 2006.
iMedia: Future plans?
Tas: Lots! First, you will continue to see us expand our partnership base. Second, you will see us announce some partnerships on the tech side to provide advertisers with the best tools to deliver their messages. Third, as I mentioned before, we will publish advertiser case studies in the various categories.
We have a lot to do and we are very focused on doing what we do well, while not trying to bite off more than we can chew. Our goal is to add value to our clients and publishing partners.