• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 9, 2009

FatTail unveiled a sales optimization tool today that automates request for proposals (RFPs) to keep sales teams in touch with available inventory and place ads in hard-to-sell space.

PageGage, geared for online publishers, produces a list of ad inventory and provides sales staff with recommendations on performance and pricing for specific spots.

The platform, supported by mathematical algorithms, borrows processes from industries such as financial and consumer product goods (CPG) that have relied on similar methods for years. The patent-pending technology, dubbed AutoBuild, generates answers to RFPs in minutes, compared with days or weeks. It also incorporates other ad placement opportunities, aside from display and banner ads, such as newsletters.

One hurdle to the growth in automation tools in the ad industry has been the dependence on manual procedures like spreadsheets and sticky notes, as well as proprietary systems and silos that separate media platforms.

Traditional online media such as banner, display, email, video, mobile, pay-per-click and search have traditionally been bought through DoubleClick's DART and Microsoft's Atlas, among other ad networks, but FatTail CEO and Founder Steve Pelletier wants to free publishers from proprietary systems and automate ad sales through open-source platforms, too.

"We're not Albert Einstein," Pelletier said. "We're smart people trying to take tools and techniques proven in other industries and apply them in a simple way so that a salesperson can understand."

Algorithms in PageGage determine the best place to insert ads based on six months or more of historical ad data. The system depends on information broken down by day, advertisers, placement, impressions, and clicks. Once loaded into the system, it matches the publisher's available inventory against the client's budget.

One click on the "auto build" button and the publisher's sales rep can provide the client with the RFP that forecasts potential ad performance in specific spots. "Without the tool you either fly blind or take hours or days to figure out what you would propose to the client," Pelletier said.

"The platform could come in handy preparing ad proposals," said Barry Parr, Forrester Research senior analyst. "I can see where the application could solve the problem of getting hard-to-sell inventory in front of advertisers." FatTail held back publicly releasing the system for one week because the Web site was not ready, Pelletier said, adding that the decision had nothing to do with the platform. Company developers, however, have been heads-down working to add new features. For instance, publishers will soon have access to a customer portal where their clients can access data on available ad space.

Woodland Hills, Calif., FatTail also plans to integrate PageGage into AdBook, the company's platform that helps online publishers solve challenges in proposal/IO management, workflow, inventory, billing, and reporting.

Pelletier said PageGage also could eventually tie into customer relationship management (CRM) platforms from companies like Salesforce.com. "Helping publishers solve direct selling problems benefit advertisers," he said. "Publishers can rely on the networks a lot less, or not at all."