• by Tameka Kee , December 11, 2007

Who says you can't use an ad network for branding?

According to info from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, a recent campaign that ran on Exponential's Tribal Fusion network garnered positive lifts in both brand familiarity and awareness--in addition to "freakishly high" click-through rates (CTRs).

From May through September, San Francisco-based Goodby's search and display campaign for the HD DVD North American Promotional Organization included banner ads that ran across some 10 networks (as well as single-site buys on properties like ESPN). The banners directed users to the HD DVD microsite at www.thelookandsoundofperfect.com, where they could find more information about high-definition DVD players, view simulated screen shots, and sign up to receive special offers for HD DVD content.

Average CTRs on Tribal Fusion were four times better than any of the other ad networks on the plan, according to Max Heilbron, senior communications strategist at Goodby. "The click-through rates were freakishly high," Heilbron said. And Tribal Fusion's average CTRs were more than double the entire campaign average overall.

Emeryville, Calif.-based Exponential partnered with Dynamic Logic (the research arm of WPP's Millward Brown) to study the branding effects of those ads, and the stats showed a positive lift among people in terms of awareness and familiarity with the brand. "Not everyone is familiar with HD DVD," Heilbron said. "It's a new technology and it sounds like HDTV, so raising awareness and getting people to understand how it compares to DVD or Blu-ray and not HDTV was the primary focus."

These brand-specific results are not typically associated with ad networks, but according to Alistair Goodman, vice president of strategic marketing for Exponential, it's par for the course with the company's newly minted "Brand Certified" service.

"Brand Certified uses the same geo-, psycho, demo and behavioral targeting technology that delivers performance-based results on Tribal Fusion, so it's no surprise that Goodby saw such excellent CTRs," Goodman said. "But with the combination of back-end research through partners like Dynamic Logic, and our own audience analytics, we can deliver insights that have nothing to do with clicks."

Goodman added that ad partners using Brand Certified also utilized this data for everything from message testing, to better identifying their targets--and even discovering new market segments. "You started out targeting 18- to-25-year-olds in urban areas, then you discover that the message is really resonating with 35- to-55-year-olds from the 'burbs," Goodman said. "Now you have a new audience to target, and the need to craft a better message to reach your initial demo."

According to Goodman, the service is part of a growing trend within the ad network space, as the focus shifts from targeting content to truly targeting audiences.