A new form of interactive advertising gives consumers the power to select the ads they want to see. This advertising model, called Sponsor Select, was introduced today by WeatherBug, an online
software application that streams live local weather data and forecasts to registered users. According to company officials, at launch, nearly 50 advertisers have signed on to participate in the
program.
Naturally, the company is very excited about h new offering. “With Sponsor Select we are reinventing the relationship between the advertiser and the consumer. This is quite literally a
silver bullet for advertisers,” said Andy Jedynak, Vice President, Business Development for AWS Convergence Technologies, which operates WeatherBug.
“When people have the power to choose the
advertising they see, sponsors benefit because they pay only when users select to view their ad and they get more qualified leads. In addition, our research shows that users prefer to have control
over what ads they see,” he added.
Under the new program, consumers who download WeatherBug are asked to select their sponsor from a list of choices during the required registration process.
WeatherBug users can then preview and accept their chosen sponsor company and its advertisement, or go back and select another.
Once the WeatherBug application is up and running, the selected
sponsor’s ads will be displayed during the first 24 hours of usage via a patent-pending format called the BrandWrap. A BrandWrap seamlessly integrates the sponsor’s advertising message and the weather
content together. This format dramatically aids brand recall to as high as seventy percent, according to AWS user surveys.
New users also receive a welcome e-mail message from WeatherBug in
which the sponsor’s ad is embedded. In total, advertisers in the Sponsor Select program reach consumers a minimum of four times – at the time they confirm their choice of sponsor, as the WeatherBug
application downloads, once the WeatherBug software runs and in the confirmation email.