Many in the online ad industry, particularly premium content publishers, have long complained that search ads get way too much credit while display ads—which often don’t incite an immediate click—get too little.
A few years ago, Microsoft was bullish on the idea that advertisers should look to better distribute credit to every ad they run online and not treat search like such a shining star just because users are far more more apt to click on a search ad. Thus, Microsoft created Engagement Mapping, an initiative the company’s been quiet about of late.
More recently, Google—which is a growing player in the search space--got in on the act with the release of its Campaign Insights tool.
Now, a former ad agency executive is taking another shot at the which-ads-get-credit issue. Steve Latham, founder of Houston-based digital agency Spur Interactive, has founded Encore, a company that has built a proprietary technology platform designed to help advertisers better measure and analyze cross channel—and even cross platform—campaigns. Latham claims Encore's proprietary algorithm can better gauge the impact of each ad exposure in a digital ad campaign, not just the final ad viewed which often receives all the credit for a conversion.
The company is out pitching Encore’s technology to multiple top clients and ad agencies. So far, several smaller agencies, including Catalyst San Francisco and AdConian Media, have signed on. And just recently, Encore landed business from Del Monte Foods.
“Our consumer brands engage our customers across all types of digital media,” said Doug Chavez, Del Monte’s director of digital marketing for foods. “To date, the effective and efficient measurement of display, search, e-mail and social has been a significant challenge for all CPG brands. Encore’s service-based solution provides valuable insights while lowering the cost and complexity of measuring engagement across channels and beyond the last click.”
