• by January 23, 2001

There's a new media company on the block. Actually, it's a new division of a veteran media company - VentureDirect Worldwide - and it's a testament to the fact that web advertising is very much alive and will soon be well again.

VentureDirect today announced that they've launched Foglight Media, a strategic online planning and buying agency, along with a curiously named subdivision, Valuable Inventory, which specializes in high volume discounted media buying.

Rich Baumer, President of VentureDirect Worldwide, said a lot of advertisers are watching their results much more carefully these days. There are two types of media buyers the company works with, he said. The first type is strategic - these buyers are most interested in branding and specific targeting. The second type is the volume buyer, who's more interested in driving traffic to a client's website and is less particular about targeting. The new divisions are designed specifically for them.

As Ron Sachs, Foglight Media Director, explains, "When a client needs broad reach - a branding campaign for instance - Valuable Inventory will provide more quality impressions for less than anyone else." He adds, "Foglight Media uses the same buying power and negotiating skills to get great rates, but does it with the focus on precise audience targeting."

So why is this company, which boasts buying and selling over $150 million in media annually for its clients, taking the chance of launching and marketing something new or even repackaging an existing offering in this climate? Baumer said, "We don't see online advertising disappearing." He admitted that after the last two "nutty" years, advertisers are indeed scaling back and VentureDirect has had to adjust the business back to a more reasonable size. But, advertisers know that in order to have a good business, they all need to be online in some fashion - "They can't ignore it."