• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, October 11, 2011

Jim Spanfeller is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to online advertising. TheDailyMeal, the foodie site launched earlier this year by Spanfeller Media Group, has rolled out an ad program that guarantees results -- or your money back.

For marketers committing to spend at least $200,000 on advertising over 90 days, the site will guarantee gains in any three of five brand measurements: awareness, attitudes, favorability, intent and preference. If the campaign fails to deliver statistically significant lift in at least three of the metrics tested, TheDailyMeal promises to reimburse the advertiser’s full marketing spend.

The site is partnering on the project with Web analytics firm Vizu, which will assess the impact of an online campaign after 90 days. The idea is to help marketers get past the click as the key metric for evaluating the effectiveness of online campaigns and highlight the Internet as a legitimate brand advertising medium.

“Numerous studies show that click-through rates are not an accurate measure of success for digital brand advertising,” said Spanfeller, president/CEO of SMG, in announcing the initiative. “Our Guaranteed Results Program, the first of its kind in the food space, will instead look at the ad campaign’s total brand lift, the appropriate metric to assess the extent advertising has shifted consumer perception.”

Since debuting in January, TheDailyMeal has attracted 1.6 million monthly visitors with restaurant and chef reviews, information on wine and cocktails, seasonal ingredients, food travel recommendations, and home entertainment and cooking tips. The site’s media kit lists advertisers, including MasterCard, Target, Acura and Hyatt. Actual advertising on the site still looks fairly sparse.

Ad opportunities on TheDailyMeal include channel and content sponsorships, push down units, video, custom promotions and standard IAB units. The food-focused site is the first of what are expected to be a series of sites from SMG focused on different content verticals. The next is expected to launch by year’s end and the third vertical in the second half of 2012.