• by David Kaplan , August 31, 2004

Electronic data interchange (EDI) has been gathering steam at major media buyers and sellers over the past few years, and a Chicago software company is trying to bring EDI to spot media buying. EDI is the exchange of information such as media buys from one computer to another over the Internet, or a proprietary system.

Last week, e-business solutions marketer Strata Marketing unveiled its EDI software in Rochester, NY. Spin Marketing, a Rochester-based media agency, was the first of Strata's clients to install the system. Strata has 800 agency clients across the country and estimates that roughly 600 do some level of local spot buying. This week, Strata is planning on extending its EDI offering to other upstate New York localities such as Elmira and then to areas in the Midwest. Eventually, the company hopes to offer its wares in large metropolitan locales over the next few months, as its product becomes more firmly established.

"We started off in Rochester because of the large concentration of ad agency clients," said Mike McHugh, a Strata representative. "We want to create several 'super-regions' through our EDI connections."

While McHugh noted that many agencies use some form of electronic transacting, most systems take over a day to process, whereas the Strata EDI solution is instantaneous and doesn't require any third-party intervention between the buyer and seller. Furthermore, the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB) has been moving toward an "open system" of EDI transfers between broadcasters and media buyers for the past few years.

"We have been working with the TVB, but this is a bit different from what anyone else is doing right now," McHugh said. "We're currently working with five leading venders, so this software is something pretty much compatible with nearly every system. No one else operating on the local level can say that."