• by Adam Herman , June 7, 2002

FastBridge is a division of Initiative Media, the world’s leading media services company with offices in 35 countries on six continents. Headquartered is New York, with offices in Los Angeles, London, Stockholm, and Hamburg, FastBridge specializes in building integrated, multiplatform online strategies for traditional and interactive clients.

FastBridge currently has 15 clients and reports global media billings of $50 million. The agency provides strategic consulting, one-to-one marketing, media planning, buying and optimization, interactive project management, search engine optimization, media performance evaluation, and web-based customer relationship management solutions.

Some of the clients that are using the services of FastBridge include The Home Depot, Maybelline, The Walt Disney Company, Carl’s Jr., University of Phoenix, E*Trade, Alaska Tourism, and Las Vegas Tourism.

“We work in concert with the traditional planning and buying teams of Initiative Media at the strategic planning level to see how online can become part of the mix. We are constantly trying to get Internet marketing ‘above the line’ in client’s minds,” said Lynn Bolger, managing director and CEO of FastBridge. “Over the past several months our relationship with Initiative has enabled several clients, most recently Bayer, to benefit greatly from joint cross-platform buys. Their broadcast team puts together a buy and we add a meaningful online presence by fine tuning the buy through subsequent negotiation. The same holds true for print.”

If anyone can make an online buy meaningful it is Lynn Bolger. With over 15 years experience, Bolger is a pioneer of new media. Prior to joining Initiative, she was SVP and director of web media at APL Digital, overseeing a cross-discipline team to craft innovative online advertising strategies and negotiate break-through deals for clients such as Compaq and UPS. In addition, she managed the development and implementation of research and database systems critical to delivery of optimized web-based marketing efforts.

Bolger also worked as the Director of Marketing Services during the early days of Softbank Interactive Marketing, the media sales organization that first handled online ad sales for Yahoo, Netscape, ZDNet, and others. Bolger got her start in new media in 1992 while working at True North’s TN Media, where she helped establish the agency’s first interactive capability.

When she isn’t acting as the guiding hand at FastBridge, Bolger helps direct the course of the entire Internet industry by focusing on business model and measurement issues while working with the AAAA, IAB, The Advertising Research Foundation, and ABC Interactive.

“So many interactive agencies are technology companies that do media buying. We are a media buying company first and foremost,” explained Bolger. “The way it is going, clients are demanding more media planning and buying expertise and less technology. The whiz-bang appeal of the black box is gone as far as the clients are concerned. Hybrid companies that do both will ultimately split their technology and media services.”

“The media process still requires people to evaluate buys, and implementation is incredibly labor intensive. No traditional planning tools exist to accurately do an online R&F. One can estimate, but it is difficult to put plans together. With online, you almost need to do the buy first in order to develop a plan,” said Bolger.

“With that said, there are definitely tools and automated systems that make planning and centralized trafficking more efficient. We’ve tested them all and although there will never be a standard tool, some make sense. DoubleClick’s new tool acquired from Adgile could be very effective,” added Bolger. The system automates planning, buying and tracking for its clients through its sophisticated tools and technology.

From all the online buys FastBridge is doing, Bolger has the pulse on how the Internet is going. “In the last six to nine months there has been an obvious laser-like focus on CPA deals as this is what the market is allowing. However with CPA deals selling for pennies a click, the business will just not work. I believe the larger potential of our medium is to support broader communications goals. Like TV, online can be both for branding and DR.”

To illustrate the claim that FastBridge is adept at using the Internet for either branding or direct response, Bolger cited campaigns they have done for Bayer Consumer Care’s Aleve and Maybelline’s Island Hop Promotion. With Bayer, their goal was to increase brand awareness among Adults 35+ and engage consumers to interact with the brand online. Their strategy was to reach this audience on relevant sites with a high impact presence and consistent brand messaging. To accomplish this, they used large, synchronized units targeted to the 4 million unique members of ABCNews.com. Bolger says the results have been very good. Without divulging proprietary figures, she said a large number of visitors opted-in for future Aleve offers and many visitors submitted personal testimonials of how Aleve has helped to enhance their life.

For Maybelline, they had a more direct response objective—to increase an in-house email database through online contest registrations. For this effort, they used large, promotional, call-out web ads and optimized creative and placement to maximize response. Again, campaign results exceeded client goal.

Although both campaigns achieved their objectives, Bolger continues to press forward. “No matter if the Internet is used for branding or direct response, there is much work to do yet. As an industry, we must find a different kind of success metric. The puzzle has not been completed yet,” concluded Bolger.

MediaPost VP of Operations Adam Herman can be reached at adam@mediapost.com.