• by Ross Fadner , March 4, 2004

Advertising on instant messaging applications has yet to catch on in a big way, but MECA Communications (May Everyone Connect Always), a Redding, Calif.-based company, wants to change that.

MECA provides a software application whereby multiple instant messaging platforms (like those offered by MSN, Yahoo!, America Online's AIM, and ICQ) are consolidated into a single application that offers advertisers marketing and promotional opportunities. AOL's instant messenger incorporates space for paid advertising. As of yesterday, house ads for AOL 9.0 Optimized appeared on the AIM product.

The skin of the MECA window offers advertising opportunities. Consumers have the option of choosing the background or skin of his or her MECA window. The types of skins vary from geographic locations to Rolling Stone magazine covers. When users chat with one another, they have the opportunity to share skins, and to interact with favorite brand images. MECA says that 10 million skins are shared on its platform every day, at a growth rate of 20 percent per quarter. However, MECA executives declined to specify how many consumers have downloaded the application. The MECA user base is primarily females ages 18-29 and males ages 13-24.

Instant messaging is hot--93 percent of 13-to-17-year-olds and 84 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds use IM, according to Opinion Research Group. Whether IM aficionados will put up with advertising on the popular platform remains to be seen.

MECA said it provides rich media-enabled inventory beneath the message text, branding opportunities on buddy list pages, and a new cross-promotional feature that incorporates content integration into the messaging marketing mix. The MECA service also allows its users to interact with the actual content produced by advertisers through media channels that appear beneath in the MECA window. For example, one channel may offer users the ability to stream a MP3 file or view clips of one of Elektra Entertainment's artists. Another channel might contain information about a user's favorite sports team, and offer discounts on related merchandise. A marketer could also implement sweepstakes, discounts, and coupons via the skins.

Bruce Klickstein, President, MECA, says that promotional opportunities abound within this kind of infrastructure. "The channels concept provides the ability of total content integration," he says. "Anything on an advertiser's Web site can interact with the messaging system. We're taking content and engaging consumers by merging with the instant messaging protocol--taking advantage of the instant nature of it."

The channels system is also completely viral in nature, as the users choose which channels they want to receive based on interactions with friends' channels. "We're using instant messaging as the infrastructure," adds Klickstein. "This is not some big brother branding company doing this, it's your friend Joe."

The MECA marketing mix allows for fully interactive campaigns like the channel partnerships or short, quick campaigns. "We wanted to give advertisers a simple turnkey way to experiment in the instant messaging space," notes Vijay Chattha, a company spokesman. Another plus for marketers is that it offers them the full sweep of AOL, Yahoo!, and MSN users. MECA pre- launched with five channel partners, including Marvel, Reunion.com, HipWave, and Astrology.com.

Interestingly, MECA has yet to strike a deal with any of the major instant messaging service providers. Klickstein concedes that MECA has been trying "for years" to strike partnerships with AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!, noting that the marketing potential of an alliance could be huge. "It's going to happen whenever they're ready," says Klickstein. However, the online kingpins may have other ideas.