DogTime's Sparky Leaves Advertisers Howling For More

DogTime Media-widgetOne Super Bowl advertiser has found a way to extend the reach of its TV spot to millions more viewers.

Pedigree has partnered with DogTime Media to include the ad on the Sparky Media Center, which has already been embedded on over 70 publisher and blog sites with 6 million visitors, said DogTime Media CEO Trevor Wright. Sparky also has been placed on tens of thousands of individual desktops or social media pages, he added.

"The Sparky Media Center is much more than a widget," Wright told Online Media Daily. "It is a content syndication and brand engagement venue. While it can be deployed on network sites in the form of a widget, it is also deployed via in-page players, full-page centers, text links, buttons, badges, and tabs. This multitude of integration options is necessary to satisfy the diverse needs of the mid and long tail."

Advertising via Sparky was a "natural fit" for Pedigree, said Megan Black, associate director, media at Chicago-based Digitas, which facilitated the partnership.

Pet content is very fragmented online with literally thousands of sites that cater to dog owners and enthusiasts, she said. "With DogTime, we are able to work with a vertical pet network that can bring us the right audience at scale, and help us with larger initiatives and goals while being one voice to the client," Black said.

Pedigree is expanding its relationship with DogTime in 2009, she added.

"We are obviously very interested in focusing our messaging and initiatives to the pet owner and enthusiast community, and we believe that DogTime's mission to keep dogs out of shelters by equipping owners with the information and tools they need to be a successful owner aligns so well with Pedigree's own credo to find good dogs loving homes, through both the Pedigree Foundation and the yearly Adoption drive," Black said.

Sparky Media Center serves as a brand engagement venue for advertisers who want to syndicate their videos-photos-blogs-articles across the mid and long tail, Wright said. "The key for Sparky's brand engagement is that Sparky is 'always on' as Sparky pushes content through a live feed as opposed to publishers having to pull content from an advertiser's site one campaign at a time."

On average, Sparky's engagement index has users spending 3 minutes per visit in the media center consuming video-photos-blogs-articles, he added. Notably, Sparky pushes out refreshed content every 15 minutes.

Beside Pedigree, other Sparky advertisers include other pet-related brands such as P&G's Eukanuba, Hills Science Diet, Fresh Step and MilkBone. But it has also pulled in Toyota, which is playing up the dog-friendliness of its new Toyota Venza.

"More than 29 million Americans have traveled with their pets within the past three years, and more than half of all dog owners consider their pet's comfort when buying a car," said Bob Zeinstra, national product marketing manager for Torrance, Calif.-based Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. "Our goal is to inform these on-the-go pet owners that Venza is a great choice when it comes to creature comfort and pet travel safety options."

Besides satisfied advertisers, publishers also have benefited from Sparky's popularity since DogTime splits revenue with them for all paid media assets and accompanying companion advertisements, Wright said.

"The win for DogTime Media's Network partners is that Sparky Media Center generates more RPP (Revenue Per Page) for partner sites through revenue share," Wright said. Sparky has led to exclusive relationships with publishers where they rely on DogTime Media for content, traffic, and revenue, he added. "Most importantly, 'exclusive relationships' translate into higher share of voice for advertisers and thus greater indexes of engagement."

The latest forecast from eMarketer predicts widget- and app-based social media spending will reach $70 million this year.

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