• by Masha Geller , October 15, 2001

Don't ask me why, but something from an interview I did a couple of years ago with CondeNet really stuck with me. We were talking about an upcoming custom-tailored, integrated ad campaign for one of CondeNet's ad clients, which included online, print and broadcast components. The phrase was, "The idea is to surround your target audience." A marketer's dream, right?

I heard that phrase again today, this time from New York Times Digital, which is ready to launch an ad concept they call "surround sessions." The idea is for a single advertiser to accompany a single viewer throughout an entire visit.

According to nytimes.com's VP of marketing Craig Calder, after extensive focus group research with local media buyers, the company came up with the idea of selling online ads based on reach - a concept that traditional advertisers can easily understand. Calder has pitched the concept to just one agency so far, but that agency promptly called MediaPost and excitedly told us to check them out, which is a good sign in my book.

Here's how it works: Joe Target comes to nytimes.com for his daily dose of news and clicks on the link to the business section. At that moment, Joe is selected (based on surfing patters and other criteria) to be followed by - for example - an IBM ad campaign for his entire nytimes.com session. On all subsequent pages he visits, Joe will see 3 IBM (and only IBM) ads of different shapes and sizes, possibly with different messages (that's up to IBM). The ads can be direct response oriented, carry a branding message, or anything else IBM's creative team comes up with.

The cost? Calder says nytimes.com is offering a trial package, which consists of 75,000 sessions (375,000 ad impressions) for $25,000 to run over a one-month period. Nytimes.com also guarantees that each surround session will consists of a minimum of 5 page views, which means that if Joe Target looks at 3 pages, the session doesn't count, and if Joe visits 20 pages in one session, IBM gets 15 page views (45 ad impressions) for free. The trial package also includes a Dynamic Logic survey of the campaign.

Not counting the bonus impressions, the package works out to a $67 CPM, which seems somewhat high, but completely surrounding your target may just be worth it.