• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, April 7, 2009

Google's ad network DoubleClick today will announce support for ShopAds technology from Adgregate Markets. The deal enables clients to integrate ecommerce transactions into any banner advertisement, so consumers can make secure purchases directly within the ad.

Advertisers can insert ShopAds into blogs, MySpace pages or publisher sites. The ecommerce transactions are encrypted through the HTTPS secure protocol and Adgregate's proprietary technology. VeriSign also verifies the secure transactions.

DoubleClick's ad sales team will take the technology to existing customers, adding to Adgregate's more than 500 clients such as Warner Bros. and Random House, according to Adgregate CEO Henry Wong. "This month we should serve up more than 1 million ShopAds," he said. "Last month we had 1.5 million, and next month we should clear 3 million."

While ecommerce retail sites have invested "gazillions of dollars" building up infrastructure and driving online advertising back to landing pages, Wong doesn't believe the ecommerce banner ad will replace Web sites, but rather extend the reach to consumers via social networks and blogs.

By completing the sale through the banner ad, Adgregate can link the price of product to the cost of the ads which operate on a revenue-split transactional model where the company takes a percentage of the sale.

Plans also are in the work to launch a forthcoming ad product Wong calls the "brand advocate ShopAd." The new ad runs a variety of social network tools. Features include a Twitter feed and the ability to send a product recommendation to friends. Companies opting to run the social network features will pay per click. Both features provide performance-based metrics to quantify each ad placement.

All the bells and whistles shouldn't increase the costs to run banner ads, but Wong believes it will revive interest in the ad units. "I liken it to walking into Walmart and setting up a lemonade stand right in the middle of the store," he said. "What we have done with ShopAd is set up an ecommerce store right on a publisher's Web site."

Wong calls the DoubleClick deal "a validation of the technology and business model." While Google's ad network is the first to sign on with Adgregate, Wong said to expect other announcements within the next 60 to 90 days.

Adgregate isn't the only company to serve up ecommerce ads. Tailgate Technologies, a London-based company founded by Christopher Autry, also offers an ecommerce platform, too.