• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, December 27, 2005

Sure, search engine marketing is largely metrics-driven, but OMMA's pick for the best search agency must do more than post great numbers: It must help blaze a trail in a fledgling field that needs guidance, not just profit-taking. The largest independent search engine marketing firm, iCrossing outclasses big agency rivals on performance and thought leadership, and at the same time demonstrates just how important search has become to interactive campaigns.

Jason Ferrara, natural search director, and Krista Brady, media director, really delivered the numbers in 2005. Optimization plans for Advantage Rent-A-Car spiked search referrals 313 percent in a month, earning the firm the Interactive Advertising Bureau's mixx award. Bottom-line sales from natural search rose 91 percent for Crabtree & Evelyn and 128 percent for Select Comfort, thanks to the company's deft keyword and search behavior research, executed throughout client properties. As a result, iCrossing outpaced already robust industry growth in 2005, nearly doubling in staff (the count is at 200), and has grown its New York presence, led by managing director Attila Keleman.

Both for clients and the industry, iCrossing drills beneath search marketing's many metrics with research that offers a better understanding of marketing in an intention-based, consumer-centric ad economy. One keyword analysis by the agency's market research group, for instance, uncovered subtle linguistic variations in the priorities of consumers planning trips to Mexico. The analysis spurred client Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to retool its content to capitalize on this rare glimpse into consumer thought processes.

But we are most impressed by iCrossing's willingness to share its insight. Two revealing studies in 2005 illustrated how e-shoppers use search. Despite consumer comfort and experience with the major search engines, iCrossing/Harris Research revealed that a majority still don't distinguish natural from paid listings. ICrossing is helping to open up for scrutiny an otherwise mysterious new marketing discipline.

The firm's "Reverse Direct Marketer" newsletter and recently launched blog are exceptional examples of where search engine marketing is headed -- into the light of day, where the marketing industry at large can benefit from best practices. Still considered by some a Wild West of opportunism and dark arts, the SEM segment needs standard-bearers and thought leaders. When iCrossing CEO Jeffrey Herzog was named by The Executive Council, a New York-based organization of business leaders, as the recipient of a New York Ten Award, he brought search to sit at the same table as CEOs from Young & Rubicam, Lenovo, and Factiva.

ICrossing is becoming the embodiment of SEM expanding its playbook. Billings for non-search media planning now match its search business. "They recently hired a creative director [Y&R's Stephen Tortorici]," says Forrester analyst Charlene Li. "You wouldn't ordinarily associate that with search." In fact, iCrossing is leading SEM into its next stage, developing expertise in integrated planning. "They are rapidly expanding beyond search to help clients deal with the explosion that search is a part of," Li says.

Search planning is evolving into a centerpiece for broader campaigns that touch display advertising and ultimately mobile marketing and set-top boxes. It's an expertise covered by iCrossing's new hire, Erik Mednis, director of emerging application design. Founded in 1998, iCrossing seems to realize how young it and the industry really are, because it's already positioning itself to lead, not follow.