Unicast Press Releases

50% of Back To School Shopping Done in August; Unicast Finds Discount Ads Reign Supreme

Tue, 31 Aug 2010 09:14:54 GMT

More than 35 million “Power Moms” access the Internet regularly and have children under 18, according to a 2008 eMarketer report. They make most household purchase decisions, including how and where to spend the estimated $21.35 billion on 2010 Back to School supplies. From new backpacks and binders to sneakers and shirts, Back to School is the second largest shopping season for families, behind the holidays. Ignoring the needs and desires of online moms – 20% of all active web users – is a costly mistake for advertisers.

To provide better insights on what online advertising resonates with Power Moms, and their shopping intentions, Unicast conducted a Back to School survey. A leader in online advertising specializing in rich media and video solutions and services, Unicast polled more than 1,700 Power Moms about their Back to School activities, the popularity of mommy blogs and the ads they experience when reading them.

From Unicast’s 2010 Back to School Survey:

August is prime shopping time. Fully 50% of respondents are first hitting stores for Back to School supplies this month. The first week of August is busiest, with almost ¼ of all Power Moms (22%) starting to get their kids’ gear.

Saving money is still top of mind. Ads with coupons, discounts or sales caught the eye of 80% of Power Moms. Also, 45% first started reading mommy blogs to find money saving advice.

Interactive ads get noticed. Respondents liked or remembered ads with contests (69%), downloadable content (36%), customized local information (36%), surveys or quizzes (33%).

Online ads aren’t evil. While 31% of moms think online ads are “annoying but inevitable,” 27% don’t care and 35% think they’re sometimes helpful or really like them. Less than 6% of respondents “hate them.”

Mom puts food and kids first. In terms of product ads respondents want to see, 69% like ones for groceries. Children’s items dominate the other top 4 ad slots, with children’s clothing (49%), toys/games (42%), children’s entertainment (41%) and baby items (39%). Less than 1/3 of respondents cared to see ads for women’s clothing, accessories, makeup/hair products, travel or entertainment.

Big box retailers win. Stores like Walmart and Target get the bulk of Back to School buys, with 84% of respondents buying school supplies and 59% buying clothes at these outlet types.

Mothers listen to each other. One of the most popular online activities for Power Moms is to read blogs written by fellow parents. More than 1/3 of respondents regularly read six or more mommy blogs, and 62% spend at least 3 hours a week doing so.

“Unicast’s Back to School Survey identifies many of the online conversations taking place this season and what ad formats and products resonate with this demographic of mothers online,” said Bryan Hjelm, VP of Product and Marketing for Unicast. “With these insights, marketers can better leverage ad campaigns across the web and specifically with mommy blogs – a highly trusted resource for millions of parents. Not engaging with these blog publishers means ignoring an active and devoted audience of prime consumers: Power Mom readers preparing to shop.”

Advertisers have many opportunities to conduct campaigns targeted at moms – especially by placing ads on influential mommy blogs; 91% of blogger respondents indicated they sell ad space. There’s a wide array of ad servers used by this publisher group, and 40% reported self-powering their ad sales. While 47% of mommy bloggers spend more than 10 hours a week working on their sites, most don’t make a living from blogging; 40% report earning $100-$500 a month from advertising.

Using Zoomerang.com, Unicast conducted an online survey of 53 mommy bloggers from Aug. 16-22, 2010. Some of those bloggers then invited their readers to take a separate survey, which garnered 1,953 participants. Of those reader respondents, 1,773 were Power Moms – women age 25-54 with at least one child.

Unicast Promotes Bryan Hjelm Into New Vice President of Product and Marketing Role

Fri, 06 Aug 2010 16:19:40 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced the promotion of Bryan Hjelm to the position of Vice President of Product and Marketing. Hjelm previously served as Vice President of Marketing for Unicast, a position in which he led the company’s overall brand and marketing strategies, public relations and communications programs.

Due to continued business growth and the resulting need for increased leadership and focus on product and technology solutions, Hjelm has now been appointed to oversee the Product organization in addition to his Marketing responsibilities. Working closely with Engineering resources, Hjelm will manage Unicast’s product and technology strategy, including roadmap prioritization for both internal and client facing initiatives. Furthermore, Hjelm will lead efforts to analyze and assess market trends to recommend forward looking strategies to meet both business and client needs as well as driving company innovation.

“It’s an exciting time at Unicast as we continue to grow and increase our focus on product development and technological advancements that will help to define the future of online advertising,” said Hjelm. “The rich media and video advertising industry is an incredibly fast-paced and dynamic space to be in right now, and Unicast is uniquely positioned to use our technology to drive innovative solutions for all of our publisher, agency and marketer clients.”

Hjelm’s diverse product, marketing and management background includes Fortune 500 corporate experience in product management, interactive marketing and advertising strategy, demand generation and e-commerce. Prior to Unicast, he served as a Group Account Director at Springbox, an Austin based interactive agency. At Springbox, Hjelm helped shape online strategies for brands such as Dell, Callaway Golf, NASCAR and LG. Formerly a marketing and product manager for Dell’s Home and Small Business group, Hjelm managed significant e-commerce and global online marketing initiatives for Dell.com. He started his career in technology as a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers where he focused on CRM solutions.

Unicast Issues Q1 2010 Analytics Benchmark Report

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:52:56 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced the results of its Q1 2010 Analytics Benchmark Report.

Key findings from the report include:

-Consumer Packaged Goods used synchronized banners to produce the longest average interaction time at 56 seconds.
-Beverage/Spirits verticals produced the highest average interaction rate with 8.62%, followed by Retail with 8.24% and TV Entertainment with 5.06%.
-Sporting Goods used pushdowns to have the second-highest engagement time of 50 seconds.
-Technology used expanding multi-panel units to generate an average engagement time of 36 seconds.

Unicast delivers solutions to online publishers, agencies and advertisers through Rich Media, Online Video, Social Media and 3D ad products and services. By focusing on custom services aligned with client needs and strategies, Unicast has created solutions for some of the top brands on the web, such as: MSN, AOL, MySpace, ABC, NBC and CBS.

“At Unicast, we launched our benchmark analysis program to provide publishers, agencies and advertisers with valuable online campaign insights on ad formats and creative executions,” said Bryan Hjelm, VP of Product and Marketing for Unicast. “We are seeing trends in specific industry verticals and interactive formats and features leading the way with strong interaction rates and engagement times.”

The full Unicast Q1 2010 Analytics Benchmark Report is available here: http://www.unicast.com/Pdfs/2010-Q1-Benchmark-Report.aspx

Media Contact
Jennie Kong
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7588
E: jennie@atomicpr.com

Unicast Contact
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Releases "What Women Want From the Web Report" Summer 2010

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:18:26 GMT

As the first day of summer, plans are heating up for vacations, movie watching and activities to keep kids occupied. Women – the “Chief Household Officers” – make 85% of all brand purchase decisions, so it’s important for marketers to learn what they want online, where they find it and what ads they notice. To provide new insight on women’s online summer plans, Unicast today announced the results of a national survey identifying the key activities, most popular web content, favorite ad formats and product advertising noticed by American women. Unicast is a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising technology for the world’s top publishers, brands and agencies.

Unicast’s “What Women Want From the Web Report” Summer 2010, which polled 516 adult women, found 95% of women plan to go online, and 62% notice and/or interact with online advertising. Women aged 18-24 use the web more than other age groups for all activities except keeping up with news – 53% vs. 67% overall.

What Women Plan To Do Online:
76% plan to connect with friends and family
67% will keep up with news
64% plant to shop for sales/compare prices
59% intend to entertain themselves (play games, listen to music or watch TV/Movies)
48% will research travel/vacations

According to Unicast’s “What Women Want From the Web Report” Summer 2010, the ads that resonate with women: 46% - include sales, discount codes
31% - feature creating/submitting an entry to win a prize
24% - provide customized local information
22% - offer interactive survey/quizzes

The product women notice ads for:
35% - entertainment
33% - food and beverages, or health/beauty products
30% - fashion/clothing
27% - travel
20% - gaming

The report found women who visit blogs notice online advertising far more than overall respondents. While this is a small group with just 13% of women who read blogs regularly, it shows females are potentially more open to ads from relevant sources of information that they trust. Women age 18-24 are also more receptive to online advertising in various formats than the overall population, particularly more interested in localized information, surveys, social media formats and downloadable content

“As more women integrate digital channels into their daily routine and subsequent spending power shifts online this summer, Unicast has also seen an increase of interest from advertisers to develop richer, engaging and more in-depth content online to drive sales with this demographic,” Bryan Hjelm, VP of Product & Marketing for Unicast.

“This summer will generate high online traffic from women looking to plan their activities” Hjelm continued. “While entertainment, food & beverage, and health/beauty advertisements continue to build awareness within this group, marketers that focus on targeting and optimizing creative elements within their advertisements to include sales incentives, quizzes, social media and local content will realize higher engagement metrics across female audiences.”

Unicast’s “What Women Want From the Web Report” Summer 2010 was conducted May 27-28 by the polling company™, inc. The online survey queried 1,062 Americans age 18+. The report analyzes the responses of the 516 women queried.

A full report of the findings is available here:
http://www.unicast.com/Pdfs/what_women_want_from_the_web_2010.aspx

Media Contact
Jennie Kong
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7588
E: jennie@atomicpr.com

Unicast Contact
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Partners with Microsoft Advertising to Enhance Rich Media Creation and Analysis Through Atlas Advertising Suite

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:50:21 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced a partnership with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Advertising to offer a cutting-edge rich media solution for online advertising through Atlas.

As part of the Atlas Technology Partner Alliance, Unicast shares its rich media product inventory with the Atlas Advertiser Suite to offer advertisers and agencies advanced creative features integrated with advanced campaign reporting and analytics.

“Publishers, agencies and advertisers alike will reap the benefits of the integration of our technologies, products and services to empower their rich media campaigns,” said James Dillon, SVP of Global Sales & Solutions at Unicast. “Although we’ve been working closely with Atlas for nearly two years, this newly formed partnership is an opportunity for us to combine the best of both of our worlds to provide an enhanced service offering that will give customers a new, comprehensive rich media solution for their online advertising needs.”

This partnership was developed to put the needs of customers first by offering a solution providing the operational efficiency of a single platform for planning and reporting while providing creative agencies the features and support they need for robust rich media campaigns.

Features include:
Flawless Campaign Execution & Customer Service
• Single Point-of-Contact — a dedicated client services team with Atlas partnership experience offers hands on service
• Unlimited, 24/7 Support Teams — strong support systems located in all major cities across the U.S. as well as London, Hamburg, India and Brazil
• Rapid Creation — an average of 48-hour creative turnaround times
• Top Tier Quality — a 99% QA error free rate

Robust Media Solutions
• Atlas Media Console Integration — includes Engagement Mapping and metrics
• Enhanced Reporting & Analytics — detailed reporting and metrics through the Atlas dashboard with interaction events, video and time metrics
• Data Aggregation — a combination of both standard and rich media together

Best-in-class Ad Creation
• Access to the Unicast Ad Kit—Adobe Flash® - integrated authoring tools to build, preview, test, and upload ad assets (including video files). Simplifies the creation of rich media and video ads such as home page takeovers, instant messenger and OPA pushdowns.
• Industry Leading Technology — ActionScript 3 compatibility, interactive 3D, HD video and social media plug-ins
• Expertise — experienced consultants in online ad production

Media Contact:
Jennie Kong
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast's 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament Fever Report Finds 54% of Online March Madness Fans Plan to Watch Games Live

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:51:49 GMT

With basketball season heating up towards the March 16th start of March Madness, Unicast today announced the results of a national survey identifying the preferences and activities of online NCAA BasketballTournament followers.

1,062 adults were polled for Unicast’s 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament Fever Survey, which found that 83% of March Madness fans will watch coverage on TV, 44% will go online and just 10% will use a mobile device.

Of the online and mobile fans following the NCAA Tournament coverage:

· 69% plan to visit ESPN.com and 42% Yahoo! Sports
· CBSSports.com, the official broadcaster, came in at 29%, just slightly ahead of the NCAA at 26%
· Online newspapers and magazines barely beat social networks, 20% vs.18%

According to Unicast’s 2010 Basketball Fever Survey, the most popular activities for online March Madness followers[EB1] consist of the following:

· 58% Monitor scores
· 54% Watch games live
· 53% Check the status of brackets
· 49% Watch game highlight
· 42% Fill out brackets/participate in a pool

“On the heels of the extensive online coverage of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament offers online publishers another premium sporting event that will generate high traffic from consumers looking to follow the tournament outside their living rooms,” said Bryan Hjelm, VP of Marketing for Unicast. Unicast is a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions for the world’s top publishers, brands and agencies.

“Digital innovations like iPhone apps, online bracket tools and streaming video are bringing basketball fever to a growing online audience of fans,” Hjelm continued. “Sites like ESPN.com and Yahoo! Sports will dominate traffic due to their inherent sports fan user base, which make them prime real estate this month for marketers targeting the typical visitor – men aged 18 to 35.”

The survey found that men represented 65% of March Madness fans, and 50% of all fans with incomes of $75,000 or higher plan to go online for coverage.

The Unicast 2010 National Basketball Fever Survey was conducted online March 4-7 by the polling company™, inc.1,062 Americans age 18+ were queried.

A full report of the findings is available here: http://www.unicast.com/Unicast_NCAA_Basketball_Survey.pdf.

Media Contact:
Jennie Kong
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Continues Innovative Technology Enhancements with Latest Release of Unicast Ad Kit 4.0

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:00:05 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions for the world’s top publishers, brands and agencies, today announced the release of Unicast Ad Kit 4.0 with full support for Adobe® Flash® CS3 and CS4 Professional software, enabling publishers, advertisers, and agencies to build, preview, test, and upload Unicast rich media and video ads using the latest Adobe Flash features.

“We designed the new version of the Unicast Ad Kit with both Flash designers and developers in mind – coders can leverage our well-documented API, while designers can use components to get the same job done,” said Michael Tuminello, Director of Product from Unicast. “By providing an end-to-end workflow within the Adobe Flash environment, our customers can focus on being creative without having to concern themselves with any ad server or campaign-trafficking details. Top publishers, news sites, leading social networking sites, the four major broadcast networks, and key agencies require this type of product evolution to streamline business processes.”

The new Unicast Ad Kit allows users to easily and efficiently create compelling online advertising that delivers results for advertisers, agencies and web publishers. Features include:

- Drag-and-Drop Video Controls– add rewind, seek, full-screen toggle, HD, and other video controls to video ads without writing any code.

- QA / Preview Environment – the Ad Kit provides standard interactive event and video tracking that can be verified in an intuitive QA and preview environment.

- AS2 and AS3 API – the Ad Kit's well-documented AS2 and AS3 API supports rich interactive functionality with a readily-extensible API to support event tracking and a wide range of interactive features.

- Complete Ad Format Suite – the Ad Kit supports traditional IAB ad formats, synchronized and roadblock ad experiences and as well as OPA pushdown formats, transitional formats, and more.

- Twitter, Social Networking, Widgets, and other interactive feature components – build ads that tap into the latest trends in interactive advertising via additional drag-and-drop components.

Unicast releases its new Ad Kit 4.0 to the general interactive market after successfully completing a beta program that included a broad mix of creative designers and developers from large and small creative shops and web publishers from the US, European, and Brazilian markets. During the beta period, Unicast collected extensive user feedback directly and via independent moderators to ensure the Ad Kit meets real-world production needs.

“We decided to join the Unicast Ad Kit Beta program to take advantage of turn-key templates that enable much of the custom ad formats running on our family of sites,” noted Michael Hannon, Vice President, Advertising Operations for NBC Local Integrated Media. “Having used the beta software successfully to reduce turnaround times and to improve quality KPI, we are excited to leverage the newest features and workflows available in the latest Unicast Ad Kit release.”

“Our advertising and web publishing users will appreciate the streamlined workflow and the many interactive features available in our new Ad Kit,” said Robert Molchon, Vice President of Engineering for Unicast. “With the added support of third-party products such as Twitter, we enable cutting-edge interactivity without the typically steep learning curve, addressing specific pain points for our customers — allowing them to work more efficiently and effectively to deliver the richest interactive content available.”

For more information on the Unicast Ad Kit, including training requests, please submit your request to adkit@unicast.com or contact a Unicast sales representative.

Media Contact:
Jennie Kong
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Reveals Top 10 Tips for Publishers to Attract More Eyeballs

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:03:54 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions for the world’s top publishers, brands and agencies, today revealed its 10 tips for publishers to increase ad visibility.

“Publishers hear from advertisers all the time that they want more eyeballs on their product,” explains James Dillon, SVP of Global Sales & Solutions for Unicast. “We understand that publishers are increasingly looking to win more advertising revenue and we help them with creating technologically advanced and individualized rich media advertising solutions.”

With the abundance of video players, formats and technologies, it is often difficult for publishers to navigate and easily implement online campaigns. Unicast has experience solving these backend issues that are prevalent in the online advertising space right now and shares its top 10 tips for publishers to generate and execute innovative rich media campaigns and lock in more eyeballs:

1. Develop at least three different creatives as part of one campaign for ad content running on messenger units, homepages or full episode player spots. Repetition in the messaging can work, but repeating the same ad over and over will wear on the user.

2. Make sure to put advertisers near relevant content. The ad should complement the content on the web page and entertain the audience.

3. Powerful animation or messages should be executed instantly – not five seconds into the ad, especially when advertising on a homepage. People never stay on the homepage for a long period of time. They find what they are looking for and then click through to read the desired content. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to capture the web audience’s attention immediately. Over-the-Page/Floating units are great to accomplish this. Example: Kohl’s.

4. Take chances and be innovative in the use of formats. For instance, with a 3D cube such as in this ad for X-MEN Origins: Wolverine DVD Release.

5. Keep the copy to a minimum. The message needs to be clear and captured in a very short period of time. Example: Blackberry Bold 9700.

6. Don’t try too many things at once. Pick one strong objective and stick to it like in this ad for Godiva Chocolatier Liqueur.

7. Determine whether the goal is to guide the user to the client website or cause the user to interact a great deal within the ad itself. An ad with a great deal of interaction doesn’t always garner a high click-through rate and likewise an ad that garners a great click-through rate does not necessarily need a ton of interactive elements.

a. If a high number of video views is the primary goal:

i. Use the most impactful video to grab the user’s attention, but not longer than 15 seconds.

ii. All auto-initiated videos need to be short. Have multiple options for lengthier videos.

iii. If user initiated, the video length is a debatable point. If users click, they watch. Keep it consistent to video and limit the flash animation.

iv. Have HD full screen options.

Example: Fast & the Furious 4

b. If a high interaction rate is the primary goal:

i. Use strong a strong call to action because users need to be told what to do.

ii. Have multiple options within the ad (video, gallery, synopsis, etc.).

iii. Include rollover events that pop up creative within the ad or other features to grab the user’s attention.

Example: Public Enemies

c. If a high click-through rate is the goal:

i. Keep it simple but impactful because generally speaking fewer interactions lead to a higher number of click-throughs.

ii. Utilize clear messaging to entice the user.

Example: JEEP

d. If the amount of time spent is the primary goal:

i. Keep it interactive by incorporating games and quizzes. Yet these should be kept fairly simple and always relevant to the brand. Complicated quizzes and games without any of the brands messaging will more than likely not achieve much in terms of brand recognition for the user. Build the games so if the user finishes it, they think they can beat the score or feel encouraged to keep coming back for more.

Example: Dove: Go Fresh

8. Make sure that the call to action is stated in the ads is clear and consistent across all of the units. Whether it be a subtle rollover state or some sort of rollover animation, a call to action needs to draw the attention of the user.

9. Lean on your rich media vendor to make your RFP better than competitive publishers. Rich media vendors like Unicast can give insightful recommendations regarding what works versus what does not work, relevant benchmarks, mocks, creative services, and much more.

10. Know your audience and utilize granular targeting capabilities. Targeted ads yield stronger metrics.

Media Contact:
Jennie Kong
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Powers Launch of First 3D Rich Media Ad Campaign on MSNBC.com Homepage

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:28:11 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced a strategic partnership with MSNBC.com to launch online ad campaigns. The ground-breaking campaigns feature highly customized rich media ads and the first 3D-enabled format to run on the MSNBC.com homepage.

“We’re seeing increased interest in rich media video advertising from large brands across a variety of categories because the format engages consumers, compliments the advertisers’ message, aligns with their brand and ultimately delivers positive results,” explains Caleb Hill, VP of Product for Unicast. “The ads deliver all four of these elements, giving advertisers a platform to explore a variety of creative concepts and elevate their brand.”

Seeking innovative ad formats to give consumers a customized, immersive and engaging experience, top brands turn to MSNBC.com as a key publisher in their online advertising campaigns. MSNBC.com’s industry-leading rich media ad offerings, powered by Unicast, include a pushdown, an interactive wallpaper, a custom 3D cube and a wide variety of interactive features such as videos, photo galleries, 360 tours and real-time color selection viewers – all from directly within the ads themselves.

“At MSNBC.com, we are constantly looking for the balance between offering innovative and compelling campaign options for our advertising partners, while maintaining a positive browsing experience for our users,” said Chris Maly, Director of Digital Advertising at MSNBC.com. “Our homepage is a critical piece of real estate for us, and Unicast is a trusted partner that helps us flawlessly execute these highly customized rich media experiences that not only add value for our advertisers, but are engaging to our users as well.”

Examples of the Cadillac 3D campaign can be experienced on Unicast’s Web site:

Pushdown:
http://www.unicast.com/Showcase.aspx#/c/richmedia/pushdown/p/282

Video Cube:
http://www.unicast.com/Showcase.aspx#/c/3d/3d-cube/p/283

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

About msnbc.com
Msnbc.com delivers a fuller spectrum of news. Drawing on its award-winning original journalism, NBC News heritage, trusted sources and Microsoft’s advanced technologies, the site presents compelling, diverse and visually engaging stories on the consumer’s platform of choice. Based in Redmond, WA, msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and NBC Universal (NYSE: GE).

Unicast Partners with The Aura Group to Offer New Rich Media Feature for Movie Ad Experiences

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:40:07 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced its partnership with The Aura Group, a market leader in developing web and wireless enterprise solutions. Together they will provide a new Unicast feature, Movie Finder, which gives motion picture studios the ability to provide a personalized and premium online ad experience to moviegoers.

Powered by The Aura Group’s MovieConnect technology, the Unicast Movie Finder feature allows ads to automatically decipher consumers’ location and display the closest theatres and show times for the movie being featured in the ads they’re viewing. Consumers can also search by zip code for additional theatre locations, send showtime information to their Twitter account and leverage mobile convenience by sending theater and show time information directly to their mobile phones. In addition, Movie Finder enables the ad to provide links for moviegoers to purchase tickets online through popular ticket brokers including Fandango and MovieTickets.com.

"Unicast consistently strives to provide cutting edge features to enhance the consumer experience and offer more functionality options to our clients,” explains Caleb Hill, SVP of Products for Unicast. "By partnering with The Aura Group to implement the Movie Finder feature into our ads, moviegoers can combine the excitement of watching an HD trailer for a new movie with the convenience of viewing theatre locations and show times as well as accessing online tickets – without ever leaving the ad experience. At the same time, movie studios get increased engagement rates and ultimately, ticket sales attributed to their online campaigns. It’s a win-win situation.”

"By integrating The Aura Group’s MovieConnect technology into Unicast’s rich media and video advertising product offerings, we’ve continued to advance online advertising solutions available to the entertainment industry,” says David Bailey, CEO of The Aura Group.

The Movie Finder feature is part of an extensive portfolio of video, social, 3D and rich media products offered by Unicast. Heavily utilized by the entertainment industry, Unicast’s cutting-edge features such as HD video, Twitter integration, full screen video, social network posting, 3D video cubes and instant messaging integration allow entertainment companies to create engaging and viral experiences to support their rich media ad campaigns.

Experience the Movie Finder feature on Unicast's website;
http://www.unicast.com/Showcase.aspx#/c/features/movie-finder/p/94

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Helps Microsoft Take Windows® 7 Global

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:37:45 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced its support of the global campaign launching Microsoft's Windows® 7 operating system. Utilizing creative assets from Universal McCann for Microsoft's "Windows 7 – I'm a PC and Windows 7 was my idea" campaign, Unicast facilitated ad operations on MSN's homepage across 24 countries and in 18 different languages.

To execute the October 22 global launch, Unicast translated the original campaign text into 18 languages and created 24 country-specific rich media banner ads in less than 48 hours. By working with Unicast, MSN had the stability of one partner managing all the elements of the global campaign – content translation and customization, global execution, technical fine tuning and results data aggregation. As part of Unicast's hands on approach to all accounts, the Unicast team met with MSN daily to discuss progress and ensure a successful execution during the campaign.

"Unicast makes it easy for global publishers like MSN to execute cutting edge, customized rich media campaigns for their brand advertisers," says James Dillon, SVP of Publisher Solutions for Unicast. "MSN worked with Unicast to maximize its advertising potential and provide Microsoft with a locally customized campaign expanded to an international scale. MSN's global capabilities set a new standard for publishers looking to provide multi-national online advertising opportunities."

View the MSN campaign on Unicast's website:
http://www.unicast.com/Showcase.aspx#/c/richmedia/synchronized-banners/p/97

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Sponsors ad:tech New York and Hosts Workshop on Video Advertising

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:55:02 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced its upcoming workshop, ‘It’s All Digital, So Now What?,’ at ad:tech New York on November 5th. Moderated by Bryan Hjelm, VP of Marketing at Unicast, this panel features Dan Berra, Unicast’s VP of Business Intelligence, leaders from OMD and Operative as well as an industry expert from Baruch College. Together, these professionals will discuss the future of ad operations and digital video content.

“As consumer habits and viewing expectations become more sophisticated we’re being pushed into a merged space of digital advertising,” explains Bryan Hjelm, VP of Marketing, Unicast. “Unicast recognizes this rapidly changing market in video advertising and we’re proactively broaching the topic with industry leaders to prepare, and embrace this shift. Our future in advertising relies on being a leader in the space and guiding marketing and advertising segments to the best of breed technologies and implementations available to them.”

As we move fully into the era of digital television marketers and agencies are approaching a needed shift towards a truly unified solution to manage their video-based advertising campaigns. This convergence of the planning, operations and reporting functions for video across traditional and online disciplines is needed, but will it be embraced? This session brings together experts in marketing, technology and advertising to discuss the future of advertising operations and how digital video content will drive the advertising industry to challenge legacy perceptions, workflows and staffing models.

In this presentation, the panelists will review:
• Current trends in online video advertising
• The future of video advertising for marketers, technologists and agency executives
• The impending shift to one integrated and cohesive platform for advertising content
• Consumer expectations and trend data to support this impending shift

Who: Panelists:
Dan Berra, VP, Business Intelligence, Unicast
Amy Stettler, Global Media Director, OMD
Amy Auerbach, Media and Marketing Consultant, Professor Online Media, Baruch College
Mike Leo, CEO and President, Operative

Moderator:
Bryan Hjelm, VP of Marketing, Unicast

When:
Thursday, November 05, 2009
11:00 am ET

Where:
ad:tech New York
Jacob K. Javits Center New York
655 West 34th Street
New York, New York 10001

www.ad-tech.com/ny/session_detail.asp

Attendees are invited to drop off their business card on the way in to be in with a chance to win a Flip video MinioHD camera.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Sponsors the OMMA Global Conference and Hosts Advertising and Entertainment Panel

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:18:36 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced its upcoming workshop, ‘Entertainment and Rich Media: Partners in ROI,’ at OMMA Global New York on September 22nd at 11am ET, in the Expo Hall, Imperial/Julliard rooms. This panel, moderated by Caleb Hill, Unicast SVP, Product, brings together industry experts Nick Johnson, VP, Digital Media Sales, NBC Universal, Glen Sheehan, VP, Group Creative Director, T3 and David Card, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Forrester. This esteemed panel is coming together to create awareness around how marketers, publishers and agencies are pushing the envelope when it comes to advertising online by using rich media and highly interactive features to engage audiences.

“It was very important to us to bring attention to the current and up and coming trends in the online space relative to the entertainment industry,” said Caleb Hill, Senior Vice President, Product at Unicast. “As social media portals continue to grow and users continue to be an integral part in creating and sharing media, marketers need to be made aware of the technologies available to not only run engaging ads but to allow online audiences to truly connect with their brand and message.”

Entertainment brands rely on the power of rich media advertising to drive consumer engagement and remain relevant within their target demographic. The rich media ad industry has been propelled by the changes in the entertainment landscape to ensure product offerings continue to evolve, excite and build communities. This session will offer real insights into how marketers, agencies and publishers have seen entertainment related brands foster innovation in the online advertising marketplace. In a vertical with deep roots in broadcast, hear how entertainment brands are using rich media campaigns to win the public’s hearts, minds and clicks where traditional ad streams no longer reach.

In this presentation, the panelists will review:

• Best practices in analytics that allow agencies, publishers and marketers to gain strong visibility into what works and what doesn’t work when executing an online campaign

• Some of the most popular and effective tactics marketers are turning to today to capture the attention of online audiences

• Current trends in rich media and video

• How these entertainment strategies translate to other verticals/categories

• Engagement rates and metrics

• How to optimize advertising inventory and increase ad revenue

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Hires Daniel J. Berra as Vice President of Business Intelligence

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:29:06 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, today announced the addition of Daniel J. Berra as Vice President of Business Intelligence, to the company. Berra will lead the company’s research and analytics division focused on providing robust reporting and in-depth analysis of all Unicast-generated advertising campaigns. Under his leadership, clients will gain greater insight into campaign results and the effectiveness of rich media and web video against other forms of online advertising.

“The addition of Dan to our team is one of the many steps we’re taking to increase our service offerings in the reporting and analytics space,” said Adam Moore, Unicast President. “We’re listening to our customer’s needs for more reporting and detailed business analysis of their online advertising campaigns; Dan brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to Unicast in that space to help exceed their expectations.”

As a respected industry veteran, Berra brings more than 12 years of experience spanning financial and marketing analysis at Dell Corporation and T3 (The Think Tank). Most recently, Berra served as the Vice President of the Customer Insight Group at T3, where he built media and search analytics teams from the ground up and created data integration process and databases tying together ad server data, web analytics and client-side data into one interface. Previous to T3 Berra served as transactional marketing manager, at Dell Corp, where he headed the development of segment-level online metrics, created forecasting models and managed transactional marketing.

“I was familiar with the Unicast leadership team and drawn to their capabilities and growth potential in the rich media marketplace,” said Berra of Unicast. “My experience driving analytical initiatives, both on the agency side and client side, is a perfect fit for Unicast and will help advance the reporting and analysis offerings to the next level.”

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Hires Bryan Hjelm as Vice President of Marketing

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 11:04:48 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, announced today the addition of Bryan E. Hjelm as Vice President of Marketing. Hjelm is the latest addition to the executive team, appointed by Unicast’s President, Adam Moore. In addition to leading the company’s overall marketing and communications strategies, Hjelm will also support global sales, business development and product development initiatives.

“Bryan is a seasoned marketer and business development resource, with years of experience and leadership in the interactive space,” says Moore. “His strategic vision and focus will bring an instant boost to Unicast’s position in the rich media landscape.”

Hjelm brings to Unicast a diverse marketing and management background, including online marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), product management and new business development. Prior to joining Unicast, he helped to lead the growth of interactive agency Springbox as Group Account Director. Before Springbox, Hjelm was a marketing and product manager for Dell’s Home and Small Business group, managing significant global e-commerce and online marketing initiatives for Dell.com. Previously, Hjelm was a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers, focusing on the implementation of CRM and client-side e-commerce solutions.

“The Unicast ad platform provides unique solutions that are unmatched in the industry,” says Hjelm. “The team’s enthusiasm, constant innovation and attention to customer service are what attracted me to Unicast. I look forward to reinforcing Unicast’s position as an innovator and leader in the rich media marketplace.”

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Announces Support for High-Definition Video

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:20:33 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video ad serving management and solutions, announced today the support of HD video across their leading suite of online advertising products.

This feature allows advertisers to leverage the latest video technology from Adobe and gives them the power to serve HD quality video within online advertising campaigns.

Agencies and advertisers can maximize video performance at broadband bandwidths by incorporating Adobe’s new h.264 video encoding format. The Unicast Ad Platform now has the power to deliver ads that can offer consumers an experience similar to full screen HDTV.

Unicast has enabled support for their video based content in both AS2 and AS3 programming languages. A Unicast drag-and-drop Flash component significantly simplifies the creative authoring process and keeps ad creation simple and intuitive.

“Video based content continues to be a driving force for innovation within the rich media and video ad serving industry,” says Caleb Hill, SVP of Product for Unicast, “Enabling an HD video component to meet the needs of our clients’ and the expectations of the user is a key focus for Unicast.”

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Appoints Adam Moore as President

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:47:36 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video ad serving management, announced that Adam M. Moore has joined the company as President. Moore will lead day-to-day operations of Unicast and will be responsible for all aspects of finance, sales, operations and business development.

“We are pleased to welcome Adam to the Unicast team and look forward to leveraging his expertise and experience in the digital space,” says Scott Ginsburg, CEO of DG FastChannel. “In addition to driving growth for Unicast, Adam will work closely with the DG FastChannel management team to create integrated solutions for online and traditional media.”

Before joining Unicast, Moore co-founded interactive agency Springbox, where he was Co-President and head of agency operations. While under his leadership, Springbox established itself as an award-winning digital powerhouse, working with leading brands such as Dell, Disney, AMD, PayPal and Honda. Prior to founding Springbox, he served as a partner at the Austin-based agency T3, where he ran business development and led the growth of the agency’s interactive business. Before T3, Moore managed the online business for the Small and Medium Business segment for Dell, Inc.

“Since day one, Unicast’s Rich Media innovations and leadership have powered countless groundbreaking online advertising campaigns,” says Moore. “I feel fortunate to be leading a team of people who are committed to innovation and who are extremely passionate about digital media.”

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Hires Industry Veteran Aaron Bundschuh as Vice President of Advertising Operations

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:22:25 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, announced today the addition of Aaron Bundschuh as Vice President of Advertising Operations.

Prior to Unicast, Bundschuh was the Director of Operations at Springbox, an Austin-based interactive marketing firm, where he was responsible for process improvement, establishing integrated performance consistency and implementing agency-wide quality standards. He has held global operations positions at several technology companies including AMD and Karta technologies.

Bundschuh will be responsible for overseeing the delivery of high-quality, failure-free rich media campaigns in addition to managing a global, world-class customer service team. He will support the rapid scale of operational capacity through the automation of the Unicast Ad Platform. Additionally, he will manage process improvements and maintain Unicast’s quality assurance standards, reliability and costs.

“I was instantly attracted to Unicast’s position in the rich media marketplace and their history of servicing an amazing roster of clients,” says Bundschuh. “Unicast has a unique technology and product offering, and I see a tremendous opportunity to expand and improve upon the services that we provide across the board. I am very excited about joining the team and look forward helping drive our business forward.”

“Aaron’s enthusiasm for operational process is contagious. His experience integrating workflow and process with software and technology as well as his leadership and management style make him an ideal candidate for this position,” says Unicast President Adam Moore. “I’m confident that that Aaron will drive innovation and excellence within our client support and campaign management practice to help exceed our clients’ expectations."

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Now Supports Adobe Flash, Creative Suite 4 and Action Script 3

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:59:00 GMT

Unicast, a leader in online interactive rich media and video advertising management and services solutions, announced the release of AS3 compatible components and support for the newly released Adobe® Flash® CS4 Professional software, enabling advertisers and agencies to immediately deliver the latest Adobe Flash features in Unicast ads.

Employing the same features they are accustomed to, agencies can take advantage of the familiar components of AS2, with the upgraded technology of AS3. Unicast has made the transition simple by allowing Flash to detect the document’s settings (AS2 or AS3) and automatically display the proper components.

By providing support for the latest version of Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, Unicast not only gives agencies access to the new Flash authoring environment, but also the best interoperability with files from the other products in Adobe Creative Suite 4, including Photoshop CS4, Illustrator CS4 and After Effects CS4. This installation is also fully compatible with Flash CS4.

“Cutting-edge creative shops want to get a jump on any new software that helps them do something different and exciting, and the Adobe Creative Suite has consistently helped agencies deliver new creative solutions for their clients,” said Michael Tuminello, Director of Products for Unicast. “The fact that Unicast is supporting Adobe Flash CS4 and ActionScript 3.0 so soon after their release means our publisher and agency partners don’t have to slow down and wait for the technology to catch up with them.”

In addition to CS4 and AS3 support, the Unicast Ad Kit offers agencies the ability to include standard and custom video controls without writing code, as well as drag-and-drop social media components such as SMS messaging and social network widgets.

“Our clients in advertising and web publishing will appreciate the many new features in Adobe Creative Suite 4. With the added support of third party products, such as the Unicast Ad Kit, Adobe is addressing specific pain points for customers—allowing them to work more efficiently and effectively to deliver the richest interactive content available,” said Richard Galvan, Senior Product Manager for Adobe Flash.

Agencies that build online ads using the Unicast Ad Kit have access to user-friendly technical documentation that follows the format established by Adobe.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast to Bring Display Advertising to Google Content Network

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:26:45 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Enliven Marketing Technologies Corporation, today announced that they have become a rich media provider for the Google Content Network. Google’s Content Network, one of the largest ad networks in the world, enables publishers and marketers to generate revenue by placing ads on their Web properties.

After going through a certification process, many of Unicast’s proprietary Premium Rich Media (PRM) ad formats have been thoroughly tested and are now certified to run on the Google Content Network. These Rich Media formats include the 3D Cube, the Transitional, and the Peelback, among others. Unicast has been a pioneer in the creation of unique custom display ad formats for many years, establishing itself as a leader in PRM offerings on the Web.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

FoxSports.com on MSN Selects Unicast to Create Premium Rich Media Ads

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 20:08:37 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today announced the launch of two Premium Rich Media (PRM) products created for FoxSports.com on MSN. The Unicast Active Header and Push Down Expandable products are currently running on the home page of FoxSports.com on MSN. The PRM formats will help FoxSports.com to better monetize the property, while offering engaging interactive ads with increased performance for their clients. FoxSports.com on MSN selected Unicast for its innovative rich media technologies, which enable the creation of high-end ad units providing marketers with cutting edge formats that cut through the online advertising clutter. The new custom ad formats illustrate Unicast’s commitment to driving innovation in the rich media marketplace through the ongoing creation of new, exciting, and more engaging ad formats. Capitalizing on emerging trends, these custom formats present increased interactive functionality and user-controlled viewing options, which offer a better experience for both marketers and their target audience.

Active Header - The Unicast Active Header on FoxSports.com on MSN is a rich media ad unit that expands over the FoxSports.com navigation header, allowing the publisher to monetize additional advertising real estate. The ad content appears in the header and then slowly dissolves behind the FoxSports.com messaging. The Active Header can be replayed by the end-user and is clickable throughout the duration of the ad.

Push Down Expandable - The Unicast Push Down Expandable products for FoxSports.com on MSN are highly-engaging formats that improve the performance of traditional banner advertising by increasing advertising real estate without interfering with the user’s browsing experience. As users interact with the ad, the ad expands and pushes down the content of the page. When the user rolls away from the ad, the ad transitions back into its original state. The content of the ad unit can be updated dynamically for better campaign flexibility and optimization.

The Unicast Active Header and Push Down Expandable ad units are highly customizable and offer data capture functionality, as well as reporting and engagement tracking. This provides advertisers and publishers access to detailed campaign metrics that can be used to optimize the campaigns in real time.

“We selected Unicast because of their innovative, high end rich media formats and the company's overall emphasis on using technology to drive the online ad industry's most creative campaign executions,” said Rob Bennett, General Manager of Entertainment, Video and Sports for MSN. “Working with Unicast gives our network of marketers a platform for delivering the most engaging and effective ad formats on the market. Unicast's ad formats will also help us to both better monetize our ad inventory and enhance the quality of our site's user experience."

"Unicast's products enable top brands to deliver the type of flexible and engaging marketing campaigns that are perfectly suited to the millions of passionate sports fans that visit FoxSports.com on MSN every month," said Gary Larkin, Vice President of Sales for FOX Sports Interactive. "These new ad units complement our newly-redesigned site and match our premium content with a suite of premium advertising options for our clients."

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Wins International Stevie Award for Best Online Ad Campaign

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 20:06:56 GMT

Unicast’s HD3D campaign showcases the creative potential of rich media advertising when combined with 3D elements integrated into video and Flash technology. HD3D ads highlight the incredible visual fidelity and photo realism that can only be achieved through 3D technology. As validated by a June 2007 InsightExpress Study, Unicast’s premium video and HD3D ads enable advertisers to better entertain and interact with their audience, thereby resulting in increased ad favorability, brand awareness and higher purchase intent. Recipients of International Stevie Award trophies were selected from more than 1,000 nominations received from companies and individuals in more than 30 countries. Twenty-five nations have at least one International Stevie winner each, including Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Luxembourg, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, The Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

"Entries to the IBAs grew 40% this year and that illustrates the increasing importance of The International Business Awards worldwide," said Michael Gallagher, president of The Stevie Awards, presenters of the IBAs. "We congratulate all of the Finalists and International Stevie Awards winners, and we look forward to honoring them for their achievements at our gala awards dinner in Munich on September 10."

Complete lists of International Stevie winners and other details are available at www.stevieawards.com/iba.

About The Stevie Awards: Hailed as "the business world’s own Oscars" by the New York Post (April 27, 2005), Stevie Awards are conferred in four programs: The American Business Awards, The International Business Awards, The Stevie Awards for Women in Business, and the Selling Power Sales Excellence Awards. Honoring companies of all types and sizes and the people behind them, the Stevies recognize outstanding performances in the workplace worldwide. Learn more about The Stevie Awards at www.stevieawards.com.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Releases Turnkey Solution for Pre-Roll Ads

Mon, 04 Dec 2006 19:41:24 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today announced the release of its InStream pre-roll product, which enables simplified and seamless placement of video ads that appear prior to playback of video programming online. The InStream product will expand Unicast's already robust network of certified pre-roll websites.

Unicast's new InStream product maintains full support across OS and browsers while providing the flexibility to deliver video ads in all video player environments, including Flash, Windows Media Player, Real Player and Quick Time. With this new product, advertisers will continue to receive the combined benefits of delivering a television quality video advertisement with Unicast's robust measurement capabilities. The InStream product is an excellent complement to Unicast's custom pre-roll product, which is a pre-roll solution that is not limited to the size of the publisher's video player, providing advertisers the ability to serve pre-roll video ads outside of the player.

The Unicast InStream product also enables the placement of measurable pre-roll ads, but simplifies the certification process by delivering the advertiser's video directly into the publisher's video player. As with the custom pre-roll solution, the InStream product leverages Unicast's Business Intelligence tool to track impressions, click-through and interaction rates, and also supports third party and publisher-side tracking.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Wins MIXX Award for One.org

Wed, 27 Sep 2006 15:34:40 GMT

The ONE public awareness campaign consisted of an integrated online advertising campaign as well as the creation of the ONE custom branded toolbar. The online advertising campaign features a series of rich media video ads, produced and served by Unicast and delivered across a coalition of major online publishing partners including Yahoo!, MSN, AOL Entertainment, CBS.com and many others. The goal of the online ad campaign was to deliver more than two billion impressions in 2006.

The ONE Bar, the custom branded toolbar created specifically for the ONE organization, is a browser-based application that was launched in May of this year. The downloadable toolbar is powered by Unicast technology and enables ONE to instantly communicate with its millions of active supporters across the web, by sending instant alerts to its users about critical events, conducting instant surveys, and streaming ONE news video clips.

The Unicast-powered ONE ad campaign has successfully delivered nearly three billion impressions for the ONE organization in the past year and a half. This campaign has also achieved 75,000 new sign ups for the ONE declaration, representing 25% of all ONE sign ups this year.

The MIXX Awards, co-produced by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Adweek magazines, honors the teams and talent that push Interactive marketing and advertising to unprecedented levels. The MIXX Awards is the only competition that evaluates all key facets of the marketing campaign, including strategy, creative development and execution, media placement and integration, effectiveness and ROI.

The MIXX Awards program is judged by an independent panel of highly acclaimed brand marketers who have direct control and influence over some of the largest advertising budgets. The MIXX Awards also receives strategic guidance from the influential IAB MIXX Awards Advisory Board. MIXX Award winners and finalists were honored at the MIXX Awards Gala in New York on September 26 during Advertising Week 2006.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Releases An Advergaming Product Designed To Drive User Engagement

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 15:31:45 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today introduced an Advergaming Product as the latest offering from its Internet Marketing Technology (IMT) Product Series.

Advergaming is the practice of using online games to advertise or promote a product or brand. When done right, Advergaming can effectively promote a brand through positive interactions between marketers and targeted end users.

The Unicast Advergaming product allows marketers to connect with and entertain customers through the creation of custom branded online games. Viewpoint has employed its leading edge visualization technology to create engaging game content applicable for any industry. This technology also allows branded games to be deployed as either site-side applications, or served as online rich media ad units. This makes the Unicast Advergaming product a cost-effective and efficient means to reach and engage with prospects and customers.

Advergaming revenue is estimated to grow from $200 million in 2004 to $1 billion by 2008, estimates Gateway Reports and Wall Street Transcript. Advergaming has proven to be popular with a broad and highly sought after audience demographic on the web, namely men and women ranging from their late teens to early 30’s, according to a recent study by the Consumer Electronics Association. In addition, a Pew Internet & American Life Project survey last year reported that 81 percent of Web-connected teens played online games.

Unicast will offer three levels of Advergames at three different price points based on game complexity and interactivity. Viewpoint will offer Casual Online games, Custom Branded games, and the more complex Site-Side Advergames.

Unicast's IMT Product Series integrates three core technologies including the Viewpoint Media Player, browser-based marketing applications, and the Unicast Ad Platform. The integration of these technologies truly provides a unique value proposition for Viewpoint and its customers delivering engaging online advertising faster with more measurable results.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580
E: jennifer@atomicpr.com

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900
E: Bryan.Hjelm@unicast.com

Unicast Launches New Internet Marketing Technology Product Series - Just in Time for Peak Selling Season

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 15:22:44 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today introduced a new suite of technology products to help marketers increase the effectiveness of advertising and selling on the web. The Internet Marketing Technology (IMT) Product Series will effectively connect marketers with customers through a powerful combination of search engine marketing, ad solutions and custom digital creative applications.

Unicast’s new IMT Product Series integrates three core marketing technologies including the Media Player, the Unicast Ad Platform, and Unicast’s browser based marketing applications.

The Media Player is the most flexible media player in the market, with the capacity to display real time interactivity with 3D models, Macromedia Flash animations, 2D images and streaming video. The Unicast Ad Platform is one of the leading industry ad serving technologies. Key features of the platform include auto-versioning of ad specs to fit publisher requirements, high quality video and rich media delivery, viral marketing capabilities, and quantifiable measurement of true user engagement for rich media campaigns. Unicast’s browser based marketing applications enable an instant two-way communication channel between marketers and customers. In addition, they provide persistent permission-based branding for marketers and immersive applications for consumers. The power of Unicast’s Internet Marketing Technology platform is the ability to offer better and faster content creation, delivery, viewing, engagement, metrics and reporting for online marketing. The combination of these technologies is the foundation for an extraordinary set of products that will make online advertising more engaging, visually appealing, and interactive.

The first IMT product release is the Unicast InSeason Ad Suite. The InSeason Ad Suite offers marketers the ability to reach targeted end users during key advertising and buying seasons such as back-to-school, Super Bowl, the peak holiday selling season and more.

The initial InSeason product offering is the Back-to-School package, which allows marketers to target students and parents who are deeply engaged in the online purchase process and predisposed to buy products such as dorm accessories, apparel, computing and electronics. The InSeason Ad Suite leverages Unicast technology to reach customers with targeted messaging as they surf sites and search on terms related to the Back-to-School experience. The Back-to-School package is now available for marketers.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Launches User Engagement Index for Measuring Rich Media Ad Performance

Wed, 17 May 2006 15:15:19 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising of Viewpoint Corporation, today announced the launch of the User Engagement Index. The Index will provide more robust and measurable insight into the performance of Rich Media advertising, and will enable marketers to effectively measure brand engagement on the Web.

In advertising terms, user engagement refers to the level of attention an advertisement draws from a customer, including Interaction Rate, Ad Display Time, and most commonly, the Click-Through Rate. As Rich Media becomes more sophisticated, marketers require better measurement tools to help accurately decode a user’s interest and engagement with an ad.

Unicast offers the ability to track every consumer’s engagement across multiple touch points to better decipher a user’s brand experience. The Index will measure Ad Display Time, Click-Through Rate, and Interaction Rate, and coming soon will also measure Video Play Time. The Interactivity metric may include time spent with roll-overs, panel expansions, hovering, click to full screen, data capture and viral effects, such as tracking the Email-a-Friend feature. The overall Engagement Index score is calculated by weighting the Interaction Rate, Click-Through Rate, and Ad Display Time values recorded across the billions of ad impressions that Unicast serves each quarter.

The Index will be compiled from these engagement-related metrics which are tracked and recorded as an ad plays in a browser. Cumulative metrics for all ads are normalized and combined into a single engagement score.

This robust reporting will be provided to all Unicast customers. Unicast will also offer business intelligence reports of the User Engagement Index featuring key metrics and statistics across many industries such as Automotive, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Entertainment, Financial Services, Internet, Pharmaceutical, Restaurant, Retail, Sporting Goods, Technology, Telecom and Travel. The first User Engagement Index will be available to the public later this year.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Delivers Cutting Edge Custom Ad Format on GameSpot

Mon, 24 Apr 2006 12:47:56 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today announced the delivery of a powerful rich media ad which was served on GameSpot.com a leading online gaming information source and a property of CNET Networks, Inc. The Unicast Video Wall is a custom ad format and the first rich media ad to launch as part of an agreement between Unicast and CNET Networks. The ad features the new Ubisoft video game, Ghost Recon.

The ad was developed by Unicast and appeared March 31 on the GameSpot web site. The rich media ad splashes streaming video featuring images from the Ghost Recon video game across the user’s web page, providing a powerful "live action" experience.

Unicast delivered a 15-second streaming video of the new Ghost Recon game trailer by superimposing the video within three contoured window frames while maintaining the integrity of the GameSpot homepage. Once the streaming video ends, the ad continues with a 2D Flash animation which resolves and brings focus back to the ad placement. Users are given the option of replaying the streaming video advertisement or clicking through to the Ghost Recon website for additional details on how to purchase the game.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Releases Powerful New Version of their Ad Serving Platform

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:59:24 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today announced the release of the latest version of its content delivery technology powering the Unicast ad platform. In conjunction with the Unicast Ad Platform release, the company also announced new ad formats and tracking capabilities.

With today’s announcement, the company has introduced several significant new features to simplify, shorten and streamline the creative process for marketers and agencies:

Intelligent Design – The Unicast Ad Platform allows marketers to create only one version of an online ad and the Intelligent Design feature automatically alters all the ad specs to accommodate each of the publisher web site requirements across Unicast’s extensive network of publishers, including AOL, CNET Networks and Yahoo! The Unicast Ad Platform also has the ability to detect a growing range of specifications, such as audio initiation, transitional delivery preference and ad timeout.

Creative templates - The Unicast Ad Platform will also feature new, easy to use creative templates that simplify the process of building Unicast ads for agencies. This feature is currently in limited beta release and being tested by select agencies. The full release of this feature is slated to launch in the next coming weeks.

Email-A-Friend – The Unicast Ad Platform introduces Email-A-Friend, a powerful, trackable feature for effective viral advertising that provides extra lift to key campaign performance metrics. The Email-A-Friend feature can be applied to any Unicast ad unit, and allows users to instantly email any ads including video ads to their social network with one click. The advantage of this for users is that it empowers them to easily share any messaging they find useful, fun or creative with their friends and colleagues, including special offers or coupons.

Enhanced tracking and reporting capabilities – In addition to its existing streaming video tracking capabilities, The Unicast Ad Platform features the ability to track and report on metrics for the Email-A-Friend feature, and can also robustly track and report on site-side marketing, such as where and how frequently customers are clicking through interactive product tours, online games and on site configurators.

Since 2000, Unicast has provided blue chip brands with reporting metrics for video advertising campaigns through its current tracking product which provides key data for ad performance across all publishers. The ability to track and measure e-mail viral marketing and site-side rich media content enhances Unicast’s existing capabilities, and provides advertisers with more comprehensive measurable insight across all aspects of an internet marketing campaign.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900

Unicast Releases Enhanced Video Player for Rich Media-Based Site Content and Online Ads

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 12:36:44 GMT

Unicast, formerly the online advertising division of Viewpoint Corporation, today announced the release of Enhanced Unicast Video, a key component of the Media Player, the company’s flagship platform for delivering rich media-based interactive marketing and advertising programs. Featuring advanced compression technology, Enhanced Unicast Video reduces the costs for delivering video-based advertisements and improves video quality to provide a superior user experience.

The new Video Player is designed to provide rich media developers with increased flexibility in the creation of video-based website content and rich media advertisements. The enhanced player employs On2 VP7, the newest video compression technology from On2 Technologies. On2 VP7 enables Unicast to deliver video files that are on average 30% smaller than in the previous version of its player. In addition, VP7 can improve video quality up to 50% over VP6.

The upgraded video player also features an 8-bit alpha video transparency channel, video compositing with anti-aliased edges and full-screen video. As a result, developers are no longer restricted to working with rectangular-shaped video content. This allows for the creation of new video-based online advertising formats, including non-rectangular videos within the ad space or floating over an HTML web page.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Olson
Atomic PR, Los Angeles
P: 310-689-7580

Unicast Contact:
Bryan Hjelm
VP of Marketing, Unicast
P: 512-469-5900