• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, May 2, 2013

Ad writing isn't easy, especially when it comes to paid-search ads. Marketers have four lines or less to create the perfect message. For those who need a little practice or want to test their skills, meet Addie, the latest edition to the DataPop family and host of the game AdGenius. DataPop flew her into the MediaPost Search Insider Summit (SIS) to test the skills of marketers and give one lucky expert a trip to Hawaii.

Addie made it possible for Leah Feygin, Kayak marketing manager, to win an all-expense-paid trip to Hawaii. She won by improving her copywriting consistently during the two-day contest, ultimately winning with a "slick homage" to Gucci Handbags.

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DataPop created a Web-based game called AdGenius that challenges marketers to create a search ad for a specific product or service. Overall, there were about 257 games played, with 116 rounds on Monday. Each player on average came back for more than one round, with an average of one to 11 turns per player.

On Monday, advertisers, ad technology companies, publishers and agencies played, but initially agencies led the score board. The average score placed 4.7 out of 10, with several ads in day two topping seven out of 10.

The results reveal a huge opportunity for advertisers to improve their ads by reading between the lines and understanding what the consumer might want to hear outside of the routine "free shipping" and "buy now" messages, according to Jason Lehmbeck, DataPop cofounder.

Keep in mind that the most successful ads connect with consumers by providing information on location, and analyzing the data to determine whether the conversion will occur online or offline. Does the shopper want bargains vs. specific items. What are the benefits from the products, and what features will convert them overall?

DataPop brought in a couple of laptops to run the contest during programming breaks and at social events after the morning sessions. At the end of each day, entries were loaded into DataPop's platform, with the scores for each ad based on key performance factors.

It took players on average 3.08 minutes to write an ad, with a few coming in below a minute and a handful about 5 minutes. The most active companies were Platform Advertising, an agency; Kayak, brand; Athena Health, brand; PPC Associates, agency; and Chacka Marketing, agency, each contributing at least eight ads to the contest.

If you missed the MediaPost Search Insider Summit (SIS) in Florida this week, you can put Dec. 8-11 2013 on the calendar for Park City, Utah.