Mediabrands' Cadreon unit, which focuses on buying targeted audiences rather than inventory, has launched a new program, "Audience Movement," which aims to verify that targeted ads are reaching
Web users who are interested in purchasing the products advertised.
In February, the company quietly shifted the focus of its platform technology group to verifying audiences. Previously,
that four-person unit focused on implementing the rollout of its offering. Now, two of the unit's members -- out of 34 Cadreon employees total -- are focused on verifying the audience.
The
program aims to answer a simple question, says Michael Brunick, vice president, media technology for Cadreon: "Are we messaging to the right people?"
A recent case study conducted by the agency
shows that current methods of evaluating whether users want to purchase particular goods or services sometimes fall short.
For the study, Cadreon questioned approximately 1,000 Web users who had
been identified as potential buyers of a particular computer brand. Cadreon served those users with banner ads that contained a survey asking users if they had been shopping for that type of computer.
Almost 8 in 10 -- 78% of the users who were targeted because they had visited the brand's own site -- answered yes. By comparison, only 28% of people who were targeted because they had looked at
the brand on a "long tail" shopping site responded yes.