I really like clickz stats for alerting me to stuff like this…
A new media planning Website, Balihoo, is coming out of beta and touting itself as “advertising’s best friend.”
Enid Burns writes a good piece about Balihoo for ClickZ
Here’s an excerpt: Gombert first built Balihoo based on search. The company’s marketing materials still positions it as “a search engine for advertising media,” but I think this simplistic description doesn’t do the platform justice. Sure, a media planner can type in a few keywords (See Image 1: Search Results)and easily locate matching media sources of any kind: Web, magazine, radio, newspaper, event and conference, newsletter, blog, print journal, video games, broadcast TV, mobile, etc. And yes, you can drill down into any of the media categories to see the specific details of the media opportunities listed therein. Use advanced search and filter by medium, geography or demographics, the latter of which also breaks down into B2B or B2C. You can even choose to find sites by using the Web 2.0 tags.
All of these features are free to use in Balihoo’s “Basic” version, which alone will make Balihoo a media professional’s best friend. Personally, though, I feel the real power of Balihoo lies in what you can do beyond just finding media properties. With the paid “Pro” version, the user can really harness Balihoo’s power and improve media planning process efficiencies.
Gombert describes the Pro version as something like “SRDS + MediaVisor-type software + intranet (for data sharing) + [Web 2.0] community.” For those using existing Web-based media planning tools, some of the Balihoo Pro version features might at first sound familiar: a user can produce and send an RFP directly within the Balihoo system. Publishers then respond within the system, which allows the planner to aggregate and review the responses.
While I applaud the ingenuity here, and I agree that it makes a lot of sense to create an online marketplace for digital media buying, I see this as yet another challenge for those of use trying to get attention for and sell the value of “niche” Websites. True, this tool may help us be more readily found, and we may sell some of our banner inventory as a result, but we must be careful not to be too passive.
If we (niche publishers) cater ONLY to media buyers, then we risk being thrown onto a media buy as a commodity and this may prevent from ever realizing the full value of the channels we’ve created. The antedote to this is the (as yet untested concept of) TRUE online sponsorship where a sponsoring brand participates in an online community. It focuses on adding value to the visitors’ experiences and earns attention and consideration and generates buzz and sales as a result. That’s where we’re tyring to go with our sites anyway.
Meanwhile, there’s Federated Media , the niche publisher’s best friend, which got some digital ink inside the same issue of clickz stats (read it here)
Here’s an excerpt: Federated Media Publishing (FM) today announced that it has partnered with one of the most-used applications on Facebook®, Graffiti Wall, to offer marketers compelling new ways to interact with consumers.
HP and Wacom are two of the initial sponsors launching conversational marketing campaigns on Graffiti Wall.
Graffiti Wall, which has more than 300,000 daily active users on Facebook, provides drawing tools that allow users to create simple, and in some cases elaborate, illustrations to post on friends’ profiles and walls. Since the launch in May 2007, users have created and shared more than 37 million drawings, which are known as Graffiti. Creators Mark Kantor, Ted Suzman and Tim Suzman are working closely with FM and major advertisers to create campaigns that allow brands to participate in and add value to these exchanges.
As part of these efforts, HP is adding a branded print button to all existing and new Graffiti illustrations, allowing users an easy way to bring their creations to life on paper. HP also is sponsoring a new Graffiti Wall feature: In-application commenting. Users can now engage in dialogues about individual images in the new HP “What do you have to say?” section.
“HP’s new campaign is focused on empowering its customers to express themselves in new and exciting ways — both online and in print,” said Daina Middleton, director of global interactive marketing and advertising, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “The visual content created by Graffiti users, the conversations inspired by that content and the ability for anyone to print that artistry are perfect examples of that expression brought to life.”
FM is also helping Wacom, a leading provider of digital drawing tablets, to roll out a series of Graffiti Wall drawing contests that will tap into the immense creative talent of the application’s users.
“Our partnership with Graffiti Wall provides Wacom an ideal way to support an entire community that has an interest in online drawing and sketching,” said John Bistolas, director of marketing communications at Wacom. “With Wacom-sponsored contests at the Graffiti Wall public gallery, users of Facebook will be more aware of all that our pen tablet technology provides, and how it can truly help them express their graffiti with intuitive, natural pen strokes.”
If you’re going to do online ads, better to tailor them to the community. That’s my opinion anyway.
Pat…Shane Vaughan here, VP of Marketing for Balihoo. Thanks for covering the ClickZ article and providing your thoughts. I wanted to take a moment to give you some perspective from the Balihoo side on your concerns.
First, it’s important to note that Balihoo does not sell the media. Media buyers use Balihoo to find, analyze and share data on advertising opportunities. However, they still use their existing systems or simple personal contact to make the actual buy.
This is important given your second point…concern over the commoditizing of your advertising inventory at the expense of deeper relationships such as sponsorships. I actually believe that Balihoo fosters the more strategic relationship between advertiser and publisher. We help the buyer FIND niche sites, then they interact directly with the site to buy, which gives both parties the opportunity to discuss a much deeper engagement. Our philosophy is that there is so much waste in the media buying world today because of the lack of this deeper engagement…too many people are simply buying bulk impressions or clicks with little regards to the actual interaction with the consumer. We hope to help buyers find the sites that really speak to their audience and give them a platform to interact with the publisher well beyond a simple banner ad.
I hope this helps. Happy to answer any additional questions you might have!
Seems like your heart is in the right place. May the force be with you!