Commentary
Look What Finally BURST! Onto the Scene: An Interview With CEO Jarvis Coffin
- by Christopher M. Schroeder , January 3, 2005
As I've explored a few times in 2004 (MediaPost, Nov. 23 https://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=279932; MediaPost, Nov. 30 https://www.mediapost.com/dtls_dsp_news.cfm?newsId=280576 ), there is an ability now to reach countless individuals on countless Web sites with useful and targeted marketing messages. The interactive ad network effectively says that sites matter less than the user (as long as you can reach them effectively.) But whether on a major publisher, a niche site, or even a blog - Delta Air Lines cares most about getting that person onto its planes.
Jarvis Coffin, co-founder and CEO of BURST!, has helped build one of the most interesting and effective ad networks out there. And three things surprised me: first, Jarvis built his career as a leading print advertising executive from the L.A. Times to Business Week to USA Today. Second, BURST! is no new kid to the block. Through patient dedication, this business has been learning and growing since the infancy of Internet advertising. BURST! opened its doors in 1995. Finally, BURST! is more publisher-focused than many of their competitors. Jarvis even sees a good future for the CPM. I enjoyed a fast-paced, blunt talk with Jarvis before the holidays:
CMS: You are one of the pioneers of interactive ad networks. What have you found that works best? JC: For BURST!, an open and transparent relationship with our publishers and advertisers works best. Our goal has always been to sell the value of reaching the right person, in the right place, at the right time - which is not a new concept. But online gives it considerably more meaning in today's media world. Selling the right person in both place and time carries with it a commitment to disclose those people and places. So, since the beginning, BURST! has been an agent for an identifiable community of Web sites with an audited means of reaching them. Our advertisers know where their advertising appears and may participate in the selection of those places, and our publishers know which accounts will run on their sites and at what price.
CMS: What doesn't work? JC: Treating Web publishers - even small ones - like we're doing them a favor.
CMS: It seems like a new competitor appears each week. How does Burst! distinguish itself? JC: First, see my answer to question No. 1. Second, best-in-class customer service. Third, we sell value, specifically, the value of passionate, Internet media. The combination has helped us survive and overcome regular encroachment into the space for, frankly, 9 years.
CMS: What happens as Google turns to this space? Five years out, do you see two or three players only dominating the space? JC: I love Google in this space. For one thing, they have validated the idea of advertising on thousands of relevant Web sites (which has since been supported by research from comScore Media Metrix and DoubleClick that documented the value of targeted, high audience composition Web sites. September '04). May I make a note to advertisers here: there are more Web sites. Many, many more. Accordingly, there is room for considerably more than two or three players in this space. Perhaps several in the U.S. alone. The sheer volume of the Internet's media output - millions of Web sites - will require it, unless we all think somehow that MSN and Yahoo! and AOL will get it done.
CMS: Many networks focus on some kind of cost per action (CPA). What do you think is the future of the traditional, publisher-loved cost per thousand (CPM)? JC: I still believe that the CPM is one of the most efficient ways to buy media, particularly if you are a big advertiser that needs to move car loads of product every month and year. Paying to reach consumers in units per thousand will still, ultimately, make more sense for those marketers, and for those marketers, the Internet makes sense now.
CMS: What keeps you up late at night? JC: The cost of heating oil in Boston.
