Gubb Puts A List Twist On Contextual Advertising
- by Tameka Kee , March 28, 2007
gubb is a new, Web-based, list-making and sharing application with one primary goal--helping everyone and anyone simplify their daily lives. With no software to download, a user-friendly design, and instant Web-to-mobile capability, the free service has already gained praise from tech bloggers and casual users alike.
Although gubb officially launched yesterday, the application has been available since early January. And with more than 10,000 registered users who have already created, managed and shared their veritable wish-lists, advertisers may want to watch gubb's progress closely.
"Lists are comprised of what people want to do and want to have," says Bergeron. "Unlike other examples of contextual advertising, this [would be] a way to bring users exactly what they want."
Why lists? In a recent survey commissioned by gubb, Zogby International revealed that 84% of Americans use lists to organize their lives, and of those, 63% think that their list-making and management could be more effective.
While there are other Web-based applications available, as well as the To Do and Calendar functions inherent in programs like Outlook or Gmail, none yet offer the levels of list customization or web-to-mobile capabilities of gubb.
Users can retrieve or update lists via text-message, and with the launch of gubb Mobile on Thursday, they will be able to create and manage lists entirely through their phone's Web browser.
"We optimized the interface for as many phones as we could find," Bergeron says. "We aimed to make the mobile gubb process as easy as possible."
Advertisers seeking an original, effective, yet unobtrusive vehicle to reach their targets may find that gubb evolves into the platform capable of doing just that.
Trip planners, teachers, mobile workers, and brides-to-be are only a handful of the possible market segments--and those are just the list-makers that gubb spotlights on its home page. Bergeron adds: "Once we have the right critical mass of users, we plan on searching for the most logical sponsor relationships."
