• by Tameka Kee , March 3, 2008

Timex is going after gym rats and joggers with a new podcast campaign for its Ironman iControl watch, a timepiece that can wirelessly control the owner's iPod. Omnicom's PHD is the media agency behind the campaign, with VoloMedia as the company providing the ad-serving, tracking and reporting technology.

The 15- and 30-second spots will run on Podrunner, a weekly podcast of workout music mixes by Los Angeles DJ Steve Boyett, one of well over a million podcasts on VoloMedia's network.

Podrunner's mix of tribal, percussion-based, fixed-tempo tracks earned it honors as one of iTunes' "Best Podcasts of 2007" and made it a perfect match for Timex's target--18- to-35-year-old men and women who listen to high-energy music during their workouts.

The campaign will run for six months and VoloMedia will provide Timex with stats such as the number of times the podcasts and ads were downloaded and played, and the demographics of the audience. "We follow the content and the advertising in it, so brands get a clear picture of the connection between online media and offline consumption," said Brian Steel, president and CEO of VoloMedia.

Steel added that the watchmaker also gains the advantage of running ads in an uncluttered environment. "The listener isn't distracted by a bunch of other ads--they're consuming this media while jogging on a trial. It's real engagement with the content and the ad," he said.

VoloMedia sells the ads on a CPM basis, with a network of publishers that range from giants like MSNBC and Fox News, to more mid-tail partners like Personal Life Media. The Mountain View, Calif.-based downloadable media monetization firm changed its name from Podbridge late last year, as its list of available content platforms has grown from just podcasts and mp3s to subscription-based RSS feeds and Flash-based rich media content.