INTERACTIVE BYTES : Wellington's answer to Google's Adsense

AdMedia, Apr 1, 2008 by Alastair Thompson

This month's column is a scoop about Scoop. And as it is so bald- facedly self-interested I really ought to begin with a disclaimer: In the image, that's me with the goofy expression and raincoat shaking hands with Scoop's new business partner Brett Bailey, founder of Firstlight E|R|A.

In the picture we are celebrating execution of the agreements each of us is holding (and yes that's how internet entrepreneurs dress).

Fingers crossed, on the day of publication of this magazine we will be celebrating again - this time the go-live day for our new venture. Which - at least for the superstitious - ought to make the writing of this column (two weeks ago) a potentially somewhat foolhardy exercise.

However in this case I have more confidence than usual that things will go smoothly.

This is no fresh new untested technology that Scoop is partnering with. Rather Scoop has signed up to join the rapidly growing ranks of online publications served by an advertising technology company based in Wellington which has till now flown almost entirely under the radar.

Firstlight E|R|A, which last year moved into the offices vacated by TradeMe, has a business model which now looks headed for the stratosphere. The outfit is the brainchild of Wellington web developer Brett Bailey and his partners in the US and UK.

E|R|A is short for Editorial Related Advertising and Scoop's is the first iteration of the technology in the Australasian market. In the US and UK the product is available on nearly 80 web publications including the Financial Times and Variety.

The heart of the technology is all about getting the right message to the right person at the right time. It thereby provides a solution to one of the key problems of the internet - getting people with questions to the answers you have so cleverly provided on your website.

E|R|A enables advertisers - B2B, B2C and Corporate and Brand Positioning - to communicate with an engaged audience; one that is already thinking about the subject you want to direct their attention to.

Advertiser messages are delivered when and where readers are most likely to respond to them - alongside related editorial content.

While it is essentially a competitor to the world's leading online advertising technology - Google's AdSense - it is significantly more accurate in how it delivers advertiser messages. This is primarily because in E|R|A material is actually read, understood and tagged by people, not computers. Most of today's contextual advertising technologies are keyword-driven and are by no means accurate.

In one recent example, suitcase sale keyword ads were positioned next to an article about Auckland's body-in-the-suitcase murder. In another example, an article about a P-lab bust was adjacent to advertising that read, "Get your lab supplies here ..."

E|R|A's technology not only prevents this sort of juxtapositional abomination but it potentially allows advertisers to respond in real time inside the news environment to negative publicity about themselves.

Anyway, having worked on this project for the past three months - and thinking it fairly neat - we would be very keen for your feedback on our new product which started (hopefully) yesterday.

Our wind-up beta-testing phase is scheduled to continue through 9 May at which time we expect to have it fully functional and ready to transact with your clients. Inquiries should be sent via era@scoop.co.nz.

InterActive Bytes is compiled by Scoop.co.nz, NZ's leading online independent news provider. Send feedback to co-editor Alastair Thompson (alastair@scoop.co.nz).