• The New York Times, Thursday, January 18, 2007 11:30 AM

LowerMyBills.com's dancing silhouette ads may be crazy, but they may just be the lunatics successful marketers are looking for, to paraphrase Billy Joel. The company is one of the Internet's biggest advertisers and says the ads work so well, they won't disappear anytime soon.

"Building a brand is often about being different," says Matt Coffin, co-founder and CEO of LowerMyBills.com. "If you keep seeing the same ads, that means they are working." The company's success hinges on buying lots of low-cost ad space on Web sites and then persuading users to click. "Our view is that people are crazy about saving money, and when they do save money they are very happy."

According to TNS Media Intelligence, LowerMyBills.com spent nearly $75 million on those ads in the first 11 months of 2006.

Says one industry observer: "The last time I checked, advertising was designed to draw people's attention. On that level, LowerMyBills succeeds with a gold star."

Read the whole story at The New York Times »