Together We Can Make a Difference

By Carlton Hickman
CTO & Co-Founder, CPX Interactive

As the role of technology in our lives increases with every day, we must not lose sight of the problems facing the world. Instead, we should use the Internet as a tool to confront these issues as a global community. Recently, I had the pleasure of attending an event that focused on women’s health and education issues in Africa. The event was sponsored by US Doctors for Africa, led by a good friend of mine, Ted Alemayhu, who is the organization’s founder and executive chairman. The Leadership for Health Summit brought together First Ladies from fifteen African nations to share firsthand accounts of the problems they are facing. The summit was also a forum where the First Ladies and the heads of corporations who do business in Africa discussed ways they could work together to make change.

The end of the summit was marked by a gala that brought in some of Hollywood’s biggest names in support of the African nations. Celebrities including Sarah Brown, Chris Tucker, Kevin Liles, Billy Zane, Kristin Davis, Jessica Alba, Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, and Rosario Dawson, made their way down the red carpet into the event. Attendees enjoyed a concert by Natalie Cole, as well as the inspirational words of renowned surgeon, Keith Black. Dr. Black spoke about the inexpensive medication that could lower the child death toll from malaria by 30%, and the HIV medication that is becoming more affordable and accessible in the US, but not in Africa.

At first, it may seem that many of our world’s problems are insurmountable, but if we work together as a global community, we have a much greater chance of making a difference. This event opened my eyes and motivated me to find out what I can do to help increase the quality of life around the globe.

CPX CEO Starts Video Blog

Mike Seiman, CEO & Co-Founder of online ad network, CPX Interactive, is now a video blogger. Mike began recording updates on his YouTube channel last week, and plans to continue to do so on a regular basis. He can also be found on Twitter, so make sure to check out his pages for the latest CPX news!

6 Things Smart Ad Networks Should Do to Ensure Success in 2009

By Rob Rasko
President and COO, CPX Interactive

Despite a seeming barrage of predictions to the contrary, ad networks have emerged as essential players in the online ad space. With unprecedented access to advertisers, publishers and agencies, all three parties seek out our industry relationships and expertise (though sometimes begrudgingly) to help them make their online campaigns successful.

While it would be easy for ad networks to sit back on the successes of the past few years, I believe that this is the perfect time for ad networks to challenge ourselves to rise to the next level of innovation and collaboration with others in the industry. We should also take the opportunity to focus on the level of service we provide for our advertisers and publishers.

As I think about the most important things that my company (and other ad networks) can do to ensure success in 2009, six key factors come to mind:

1. PROVIDE PRODUCT VARIETY
2. COMMUNICATE THE FINANCIAL VALUE OF AD NETWORKS
3. MAKE BEST PRACTICES A PRIORITY
4. PRACTICE DUE DILIGENCE WITH PUBLISHERS
5. INITIATE SYNERGY WITHIN THE ONLINE ADVERTISING SPACE
6. ESTABLISH TRUST AMONG ADVERTISERS

PROVIDE PRODUCT VARIETY - In the simplest form, ad networks have two goals: we help publishers monetize their inventory and we help advertisers find the best placements for their ads. This oversimplification, however, does not do justice to the variety of kinds of advertisers and publishers there are, nor to the specific needs they all bring to the table. The ability to service every type of publisher, for example, from the largest recognizable brands to small niche site, is crucial to offering strong, diverse inventory choices to advertisers. A single network must understand and service publishers of all tiers in order to help them monetize 100% of their inventory from the first impression on the homepage to the last impression on the deepest page of their site. For an ad network to grow and compete in the coming year, it must learn to effectively serve every tier of advertiser and publisher from top to bottom, and build product offerings to facilitate that goal.

COMMUNICATE THE FINANCIAL VALUE OF AD NETWORKS - A valuable service is only as good as the provider’s ability to communicate its value to customers. In an effort to be all things to all people, I sometimes think that ad networks have forgotten how to pitch their bottom line value to their partners:

Publishers who engage ad networks conserve time and resources that would otherwise be expended on hiring, training and managing inside sales staff. They are able to use this time, instead, to develop and improve their content so that they can better engage their audiences.

Likewise, advertisers who use ad networks streamline their marketing dollars; enjoying the benefit of scalability that comes with large packaged media buys, and the benefit of audience targeting that comes with technology.

Networks that are best able to articulate these points to advertisers and publishers will pull ahead of the competition in 2009.

MAKE BEST PRACTICES A PRIORITY – When it comes to online advertising, the word ‘transparency’ can take on many meanings. It is easy to get stuck in a finger-pointing match, where each side derides the other’s meaning. Standing in between advertisers and publishers, an ad network can find itself inadvertently ‘choosing sides.’ The bottom line, however, is that only a truly independent network can be best committed to practices that assist all parties in creating the proper experience in online media. Smart ad networks will be mindful of the responsibility that their position bestows on them. As President of CPX Interactive, I spend quite a bit of time attending conferences to determine how we can best regulate our industry and protect the brands we serve, while continuing to support the industries’ freedoms. Ultimately, it is all about moving forward, and continually finding new ways to monitor publisher content, and provide advertisers with better brand protection.

PRACTICE DUE DILIGENCE WITH PUBLISHERS – As an ad network, your publisher’s content is your content. Getting to know your publishers and staying on top of their website content is a matter of responsibility and ethics, as well as good business practices. At CPX, all sites are evaluated and assigned a rating of G, PG or PG-13, similar to that of the MPAA rating system. Websites that give users the right to create their own content are assigned an N/A rating and monitored more closely. CPX Interactive does not allow X rated content into its network of publishers. We have an internal re-check process to be sure that the quality and category of content a publisher presented in the beginning remains consistent over time. An ounce of prevention is truly worth a pound of cure, as any smart ad network knows that even a one-time slip can cause a mountain of headaches all around.

INITIATE SYNERGY WITHIN THE ONLINE ADVERTISING SPACE- As the landscape of the online advertising industry continues to evolve, participants continue to clamor for education and thought leadership. With their connections to advertisers, publishers and agencies, ad networks are in the perfect position to take the lead in creating a more supportive and cohesive industry that can benefit all of us.

As the industry consolidates, strong partnerships will be formed. In the not so distant future, there will be more support and camaraderie in the online ad space which can only help to strengthen the industry as a whole. Smart ad networks will position themselves at the forefront of that process.

ESTABLISH TRUST AMONG ADVERTISERS – Ever ask yourself why television ad revenue is 10 times higher than Internet ad revenue? We do. And we think we know the answer. Advertisers know television. They are comfortable with it because they understand all of the moving pieces, even if their ROI falls short of what it could be in the more ‘inconsistent’ new medium that is online. Building trust in online advertising comes down to consistent results. As an ad network we grade our publishers so that we can tell advertisers where their ads will be displayed, and advertisers depend on us to give them accurate information. If an ad network labels their publishers too liberally, the advertisers will disappear and the economies of scale will break down. It is essential for networks and publishers to work together to create as much honest visibility as possible in the channel. This should be a major initiative of any ad network looking to occupy a top tier position. One thing we can never afford to do is to lose the confidence of advertisers. If you think winning trust is hard, try winning it back after it has been lost.

Q&A with Mike Seiman, CEO & Co-Founder of CPX Interactive

Samantha Karol, Marketing Assistant, sat down with CPX Interactive CEO & Co-Founder, Mike Seiman, to learn more about the company's roots and how it has grown into one of the top five online ad networks in the world.

1. What motivated you to start your own business? How did you build on your original concept to create a successful company?

When I was still a student at Hofstra University, I was very interested in the Internet and I knew that creating content online would soon become very profitable. I met Carlton Hickman (CTO & Co-Founder of CPX) at school, and we found that we were both computer savvy and interested in the future of the Web. We began monetizing inventory on websites we had already been working with, and targeting ads to our specific audiences. Through this test case, we learned the best ways to increase efficiency and drive more traffic to our pages.

At the same time, we were examining how existing ad servers placed their ads to maximize profit. Soon we began building our own ad server, and recruited other websites to join our makeshift “network.” Publishers liked working with us because we knew how it was to be in their position. Our next major step was to fill a void we saw in the industry by finding ways to monetize remnant inventory. Since then, the company has grown and developed, and we continue to do so.

2. What obstacles did you confront as a new player in the online advertising industry?

Launching a business straight out of college was risky. Carlton and I had to find people who shared our vision, who could give us constructive criticism and help the business grow. In order to recruit people to be a part of this new venture, we had to have a little bit of luck and a very convincing argument. Initially, finding clients was also a challenge because we were competing with other ad networks that were either public or backed by major investors. In the beginning, it was like we were “a little fish in a pond of sharks.” We had to balance industry standards with saving money to sustain the company, while competing with well established competitors.

Those challenges taught me a lot, and I have made sure to surround myself with people who have the skills and tools to overcome obstacles, and who can teach me how to confront those obstacles in the future.

3. How did you make sure that CPX Interactive stood out from the competition?

When we first started, I saw the lack of fill rate in the industry, and realized that there were a lot of publishers with extra inventory that was not being used. Using the concept of infomercials that run at off-peak hours, but still gain visibility and leverage the revenue of the stations that show them, I created a plan to bring advertisers to the Web. After building a base of advertisers, the goal was to find more publishers and then build from there to high level direct marketing and then eventually a brand business. By following through on this plan, CPX Interactive has gone from a small player to one of the top five online ad networks in the world.

4. What makes CPX Interactive different from all of the other ad networks out there?

There are numerous networks that offer a variety of benefits to advertisers and publishers. CPX Interactive offers all of these benefits under one roof: an ROI-focused performance network with remnant inventory, content vertical networks consisting of numerous channels that sell at a higher premium CPM, and premium networks that bring very high level CPMs competitive with the company’s internal sales force. CPX also provides in-house creative services, optimization, and technical support, and strives to maintain quality customer service.

5. What are your plans for the future of CPX Interactive?

My vision for the future of the company is to utilize technology to create a “hedge fund of online advertising.” This would be a semi-closed, semi-open network where CPX could plug into all of the ad exchanges and “clearing houses” and offer advertisers a safe haven to access the breadth of advertising that exists without risking brand exposure. I have seen the Internet change and develop so much in a short amount of time, and I can’t wait to see how things progress in the future.