Private Ad Exchange Business Continues to Grow

We launched the Gourmet Ads Marketplace (our Private Ad Exchange) back in early November and at the time RTB, DSP, SSP were all buzzwords for us as we embarked on this project. There was of course the fear of cannibalizing our premium revenue. With this specifically in mind, the plan from outset, was for me, as the Managing Director to be the project manager of the Private Ad Exchange business. I also from a personal level wanted to learn as much as I could about the RTB space.

It’s been really interesting journey so far for me and the team are learning more and more each day about working with Agency Trading Desks, DSP and Retargeters.

We’re now at the 4 month mark, so I thought I’d share a few points about my learnings so far about running a private ad exchange business.

So here are my thoughts;

Buyers are not competing with Premium Display Campaigns

Our initial concern which we shared with others was that by starting a private exchange we would be cannibalizing our premium display business. Well, I’m happy to say it just hasn’t happened. Both our premium and private exchange businesses are booming. RFPs and Insert Orders are up on the premium side and we’ve got some great partners in the exchange buying every day. We find on a while that the private exchange buyers are indeed very different from typical agency media buyers. Most campaigns in the exchange have wide brand reach requirement (we were never going to be RFP’d for the campaigns anyway as they are mostly non endemic) or they have a strong DR focus or finally they are simply retargeting using data. For all of these buyers, private ad exchange buying favours their own business models better than your typical fixed IO buying for the most part. Effectively they can dip in and test inventory pools very quickly, then stop if the campaign is not working or increase if conversations or engagement rates are positive.

11 partners Private Ad Exchange Buyers

We’ve got some absolutely great partners already.  The general makeup of the exchange is as such ;

• Agency Trading Desks
• Major DSPs
• Company Direct / Brand Advertisers
• Retargeters

We are actively seeking a few more partners right now as we are expanding the inventory available and growing the users.

Limited Food Buyers in RTB
We’ve noticed that across the board the largest exchange buyers on the exchange are non endemic food brands. There are of course a handful of food brands buying, most of which are major international food brands. Where we have noticed food brands buying we’ve reached out to suggest ways we can offer them more inventory or provide them a custom solution. To date we’ve not yet seen any supermarkets buying on RTB. However the majority of buyers are running campaigns aimed at women for lifestyle, travel, automotive, telecommunications, government (federal and state) or retail brands.

Buyers and their buying volumes vary daily
Trying to predict who will buy and how much they will buy each day has been really difficult. A senior manager at another Vertical Ad Network ( ie like Gourmet Ads ) told me last year that he felt the hardest part of running a private ad exchange was managing demand from buyers. This has been the greatest learning curve for our team. For now we seem to have this managed the daily buying flow well. Right now seasonality does plan a large role.

Interest outside of the USA
It was always our intention of growing the private ad exchange outside of the USA. However we didn’t really imagine that demand would be all that strong out of the USA. We were wrong. As such we’ve slowly started to open up the Gourmet Ads Marketplace to Australian, UK and Canadian buyers, with a few other countries not too far behind… Australia seems to be the most active right now for us, but watch this space as I think Europe will become very strong next quarter from conversations I’ve had recently.

Technical hurdles
Initially we had some hiccups getting started, but like with most things in the digital ad space, these are now sorted out. That said most buyers now are able to get going in less than 48 hours. We do sometimes have issues when our buyers are not buying us through our SSP directly but we can usually find an integration partner or 3rd Party DSP that can make the connection work.

70% + of buyers are using data
When talking to our partners, the majority of them are using some sort of data when buying which is around what we had forecasted. They are either using simple demographic (age and gender) targeting or they are doing heavy up targeting using first party data or third party data. I think this is the greatest fundamental difference between the IO side of the business and the RTB side of the business. Buyers can use First Party Data or Third Party Data easily and in a protected environment buying the audience they actually want, opposed to the entire audience.

Start a Conversation about our Private Ad Exchange

Finally, if you’d like to have a conversation about becoming a buyer or becoming involved with the Gourmet Ads Marketplace, then please contact me through our Contact Page and let’s start a conversation.

Private Ad Exchange Update is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Are you running online display ads to create your brand ?

Advertising via online display ads has long been established as an extremely effective way to increase brand awareness, draw in new customers and to educate consumers about certain products. As Gourmet Ads has been in the industry for many years and have been using online display ads for just as long, we know a thing or two about the importance of online display ads and how they can affect advertising campaigns.

Many people have questioned the use of online display ads, but the effectiveness has long been demonstrated by Gourmet Ads. Online Display ads can come in various forms, but most commonly can appear as web banners on various webpages. Gourmet Ads supports various banner formats and this type of advertising has been a proven way of generating click throughs to affiliated sites.

Click throughs and conversions are obviously a major part of advertising campaigns and are a great way for directing consumers to different sites whilst making money. However, beyond this, Gourmet Ads online display ads are crucial for the branding of products. Branding is vital in terms of customers indentifying goods and to be able to tell one company from the next.

Online display ads with Gourmet Ads can therefore help set your apart from the rest. If branding is all about standing out and establishing yourself as a unique company, let Gourmet Ads help you create your identity.

Evidence asserting that online display ads are very effective in creating a brand identity

When it comes to branding, we will often find that ‘the more exposure the better’ is usually the case. Volvo recently ran a study testing the impact of multi-screen advertising and the effect is had on consumers. Out of those who were only exposed to the Volvo advert on television, 50% could remember seeing it. Those that were exposed to the advert on TV, PC, tablet and smartphone however could recall seeing the ad at a rate of 74%.

The results from this case study are clear – the more a product or brand is exposed, the more effective the branding and the more likely consumers are to remember your product. Connecting with the right customer at the right time, emotionally engaging them and then measuring all the analytics is something that is best achieved through the use of online display ads.

Gourmet Ads supports a very wide range of advertising campaigns and provides platforms for display ads and pre roll video ads too. By offering these to you, Gourmet ads can help create a more effective advertising campaign with online display ads for your brand which ultimately will not only increase brand awareness and attract new customers, it will also educate your potential consumers about your range of products as well.

Display Ads Build Brands for Marketers is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising creates branding for the emerging market of artisan cereals

Artisan Cereals are flooding the niche cereal shelf space and are becoming a popular choice for not only breakfast but also snacks and other meals. With so many existing cereals already widely recognized and so well renowned, Gourmet Ads is here to help create branding and help reach out to this relatively newer market of consumers.

Although kids’ cereals might appeal to the younger generation, parents all over the world are well aware of the unhealthy ingredient that some of these cereals contain. With the increase in awareness of living a healthy lifestyle, advertisers can now capitalize on the fact that consumers want to be health wise.

Artisan cereals are an emerging trend in the cereal market and instead of being mass produced and churned out of multiple factories, artisan cereals have a great image for being natural and organic and are produced in small batches. This ‘handcrafted’ image is a great way to target customers. Consumers love to feel important and by emphasising the fact that the artisan cereals have been specifically created for them, advertising the cereal will make them feel more significant, not just another customer, but an individual.

Artisan cereals companies are usually small to medium in size, and although their products might find space on the shelves in supermarkets, their branding often needs to be increased to raise awareness of their range of products on offer and to reach a wider audience.

Gourmet Ads can help companies producing artisan cereals reach the common grocery buyer

Even for small companies, web sales are very important. After all, large cereal companies all started off as small businesses once too! Many food web retailers are now featuring artisan cereals companies on their website. The products that these companies offer creates a very wholesome image for any site so the organic and natural aspect of the product can also reflect on the hosting website itself as well. The variety of flavours of artisan cereals available is also definitely going to appeal to those who like a mixture of tastes at breakfast.

By using Gourmet Ads to create advertising campaigns to promote artisan cereals, you can not only increase the popularity of your company (no matter how small it is), but you can also raise brand awareness too.

Using Gourmet Ads to advertise artisan cereals can educate consumers as to the type of product that artisan cereal is. By increasing brand awareness online, you can boost sales and generate more revenue. By targeting the health-conscious masses and appealing to those who care about where their food is made, you can therefore get more loyal customers who like the fact that your ad campaigns for artisan cereals are targeted at them.

Advertising Artisan Cereals is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Reach Chai Enthusiasts with Chai Advertising

Over the past few years there has been a significant increase in the popularity of tea, especially chai tea. No longer can a consumer walk into a coffee shop without being confronted by a vast menu of a variety of teas, and it is with this growth in popularity in mind that advertisers can now make the most of advertising opportunities.

This traditionally Indian tea is full of antioxidants and nothing sells better than a product that tastes great but also has fantastic health benefits as well. In supermarkets all over the world, chai brands are rapidly taking over a lot of shelf space and this is predominantly to do with the role chai can play in benefitting people’s health. This spicy tea product contains a third of the amount of caffeine found in a cup of coffee, which is great for those who are trying to cut down on their caffeine consumption.

Tea brewing machines and Chai spices are ideal for Chai Advertising Campaigns

Chai has also generated sales that are linked to the product. It is these peripherals that have made the chai industry an even bigger deal than it was before – the sales of tea making machines, chai brewers and its necessary herbs and spices have also seen an increase in sales. People not only want to be able to buy the perfect cup of chai from a coffee shop – they want to be able to make it at home too! There are many different types of chai available which is why there are also different recipes being developed that include chai’s ingredients. It is the combination of chai products that means that advertisers can make the most of advertising for chai campaigns.

Gourmet Ads can help smaller companies stand out and generate brand awareness. Gourmet Ads can help you achieve your advertising campaign for any of custom chai blends or the chai related peripherals, and there are plenty of angles you can take with your advertising and various solutions that you could use.

Creating brand awareness for chai and chai-related products can be done using Gourmet Ads and by generating awareness of your brand and your range of products (whether they are herbs, spices or chai making machines) you can reach out to the people that love chai.

Chai lovers everywhere can be targeted using Gourmet Ads and advertising on our network of sites – this will in turn not only increase brand awareness, but also generate sales too.

Advertising Chai is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising Juices enhances Brands and Educates Consumers

Every day the juice industry is flooded with more and more products and new brands to tantalize the taste buds of their consumers. Due to this rush of new brands and products, it is understandable that some brands and new products get lost amongst the crowd. Advertising juices can get your customers to buy your products which will then make them more aware of your brand.

There is such a wide variety of juices on the market today that it is difficult to know where to begin. Juices nowadays are not just limited to traditional citrus and non-citrus fruits, but there is now an array of new juices such as superfoods, raw, and green vegetables too. Superfoods are the types of foods packed with the most nutritional value. All foods have some nutrients, but superfoods in particular are packed full of vitamins and nutrients that are extremely beneficial for the body (such as apples, bananas, and berries). Advertising juices with such variety and using their health benefits as a unique selling point will soon see a rise in sales for your products.

Advertising juices including all varieties, especially superfoods, usually translates into direct sales for juice companies. Think of the people you are advertising to – so many of them are keen to live a healthy lifestyle, and if superfoods and their high nutritional value seem appealing to them, they will buy them to reap the benefits.

Advertising juices are key in increasing awareness and educating the customer about the good and bad products that are available to them. The Naked Juice advertising campaign has been particularly successful in making consumers aware of the content in their juices.

The Naked Juice’s method of advertising juices was to run digital banner ads across various sites to grab people’s attention. These banners had people being totally honest about the product. It is a clever advertising campaign like this that increases a brand’s credibility and if real people are seen to be positively reviewing a product, other consumers are likely to believe in the brand and buy the product.

Advertising juices on Gourmet Ads can create strong brand identity

The Gourmet Ads network can help in advertising juices and create strong brand identities for everyone. Even those slightly less established companies that need to get their brand out in the open, and most importantly, noticed, can make the most of advertising their products with Gourmet Ads.

Gourmet Ads method of geotargeting means that your juice advertising campaigns in different locations can yield more results for your company and create really strong brand recognition for your products.

By advertising juices using Gourmet Ads, you can quickly establish your brand identity, no matter how new your company might be, and this advertising will then lead to an increase in sales for your products.

Advertising Juices is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising Frozen Vegetables to Household Grocery Buyers

The frozen vegetable market is growing and the debate of whether frozen vegetables are better than fresh still continues to be a hot topic amongst food lovers everywhere. It is the growth of the frozen vegetables market that makes this such a good time to capitalize on advertising these particular products.

So the Fresh vs. Frozen debate continues, and so does the fact that so many people’s opinions are split on the matter. By advertising frozen vegetables, you can explain to the consumers the great nutritious value that frozen products have over fresh. Frozen vegetables have to go through a process to ensure that their nutrients stay locked in, they are frozen as quickly as possible so that they remain rich with all vitamins and nutrients. Fresh vegetables on the other hand are picked before they are at maximum ripeness (which makes sense if tropical fruit has a way to travel before it hits our supermarket shelves). However, due to them being picked before they are ripe, fresh produce in fact contains fewer nutrients than frozen. This is a great angle to use when advertising frozen vegetables to consumers. There are a lot of very health-conscious people out there, and it can be your job to steer them toward your product with promises of great nutritional value.

By advertising frozen vegetables, you can put emphasis on the amount of money your consumers would be saving. Buying fresh produce and preparing it for a meal can be time consuming and very expensive, however with frozen vegetables, they are already prepared for you and only take minutes to steam or boil (although steaming is better for keeping the nutrients in the veggies!). When you boil your frozen vegetables, a lot of the vitamins are drained away when the water is, so explaining to your consumers the best way for keeping your vegetables nutritious and delicious is to steam them.

Frozen vegetables are a great way to add health and nutrition to the daily diet

Bags of mixed frozen vegetables are a great way to show your consumers that you understand that they like variety and are a great way to show how convenient eating healthily can be. Ad campaigns about ‘getting your five a day’ are everywhere and although it may not convert all consumers all at once, at least the seed has been planted in their minds about changing the way they eat.

Emphasising not only the health benefits but also the economic benefits of buying frozen vegetables could well have consumers coming round to your way of thinking. If you think about how much fresh produce gets thrown away after it rotting at the back of a cupboard, consumers would much rather have the easy option of removing a bag of frozen vegetables from the freezer and placing them back after use, it’s quick, easy, and means that the vegetables can be used weeks after purchase!

By advertising recipes using frozen vegetables, you can also create an excitement amongst your consumers about a new way of cooking – they will love how easy it all seems. The major players in the frozen vegetables market include companies like Birds Eye, Ardo and Heinz. You can join these massive names and promote your products too and become a part of the growing trend in selling and advertising frozen vegetables.

Advertising Frozen Vegetables is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising theater tickets online is another effective marketing tool

Advertising theater tickets is a very effective marketing tool for advertisers. People love the theater, and advertising theater tickets online is a fantastically unique form of media.

Theater is no longer the luxury it once was, and now with various plays and many productions being accessible to the masses, advertising theater tickets is a great way to reach out to everyone. Not only are you providing people with a truly cultural experience, you are also increasing their awareness of the types of shows available at their local theaters.

There is a fantastic return on investment in featuring theater tickets in advertising campaigns meaning that more advertising also means more profits for you and your company, and increasing your profits is what it’s all about isn’t it? To entice non-theater goers into wanting to go to see a show, a great way of promoting theater tickets is to offer theater ticket combinations along with other products such as restaurant vouchers or access into local tourist attractions (museums and art galleries etc.).

By offering these special deals to potential customers, they feel like they are getting excellent value for money. A great combination deal that consumers usually would love the opportunity to have, is the “Dinner and a Show” deal. By selling theater tickets alongside a meal deal, you are offering the ultimate evening experience. Punters love discounts; the lower the price they can get for a fabulous evening out with their loved ones, the more they will love your brand!

Advertising theater tickets in pre-roll video advertising

The advertising of theater tickets in pre-rolls produce particularly good results with advertisers and because of this, publishers are given a great opportunity to up sell and enhance profit as much as possible. The popularity of purchasing theater tickets usually hits around the holiday season. A great Christmas treat, going to the theater with your family can be a great entertaining thing to do while you are kept in a nice warm auditorium and staying protected from the snow outside!

The idea of going to the theater is very special to those who don’t usually attend, this is why there is a surge in theater tickets sales during the holidays. The holidays are about over-indulgence, so people want to treat themselves and have a special experience that they might not consider at any other time of year.

The advertising of theater tickets is a big business, and a great one to get into to maximise profits and increase brand awareness. If you remember that people love to treat themselves, you will do well in advertising theater tickets, and emphasize how much consumers can get out the experience and your brand will soon be at the forefront of their minds!

Advertising Theatre Tickets is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Bottled Water is the second largest selling beverage on the market

“Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink…” – and so goes the ancient mariner’s rhyme. However relevant this little poem may have been many years ago, today it couldn’t be further from the truth. There is bottled water everywhere we go that is available for purchase and is amazingly the second largest selling beverage on the market. Amazingly, there has also been a sudden influx of flavored bottled water in particular which has recently become the hottest food trend.

Keeping yourself hydrated is an important part in sustaining a healthy lifestyle, and about half of all Americans drink bottled water regularly because of this. FACT: In the US, there were 11.5% bottled water sales in 2001. By 2005 this had soared to 6.5 billion. Although grabbing a coffee before work can be part of many people’s daily routine, bottled water sales themselves are actually much higher than sales of coffee, milk and beer. Bottled water only comes second to soft drinks.

If you are really trying to reach out to the health-conscious, bottled water is definitely the way to go. And if you are finding your target audience very reluctant to drink plain bottled water, flavored bottled water is definitely the way to entice them.

Flavored bottled water is the hottest trend and a promising niche Advertising Area

Flavored bottled water means that we are no longer limited to the boring taste of plain water; instead we are free to hydrate our bodies and at the same time enjoy what we are drinking! The flavored bottled water that is on the market even offers the consumer more than what they would get with just plain bottled water – a beverage that is infused with vitamins, sweeteners and herbs. Consumers have great brand awareness for all these new bottled water products and bottles of water packed full of various health-ingredients have truly become the hottest food trend.

Not only are more consumers becoming more aware of their own health, but they are also developing an ‘environmentally conscious’ mind for themselves too. Bottled water safety and recycling are areas that the public need to be, and in most cases are willing to be educated. Advertising bottled water is a huge business, and in 2005 bottled water advertising actually exceeded $150 million and has grown even further since then.

Gourmet Ads has a well established network of sites, and if you are looking to promote your product, we can place your advertisements on these sites that feature drink recipes. We can also post newer recipes with these products to generate traffic to your site. Advertising bottled water is ideal for educating your consumers and generating awareness of your product – and what better way to do it than use Gourmet Ads to reach your target audience ?

Advertising Bottled Water is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Advertising Vitamins to the Household Grocery Buyer

The vitamins and mineral supplement industry is growing rapidly, and subsequently, so is its advertising. In a world where we are now more than ever trying to better ourselves, the vitamins market expands every day. What better niche market to advertise than to those that are keen to improve their health and live long lives?

Consumers are always searching for what is good for them, and if there are advertisements in place to tell them the benefits of vitamins, then they are sure to gain an interest and therefore want to purchase your product. The emphasis does not need to be on taking as many vitamins as possible to make up for all the junk food consumers might be eating, instead we need to educate them on what can benefit their lifestyle. A good, balanced diet is obviously a great foundation toward building a healthy way of life.

Vitamins are great for people that don’t get all the vitamins that they need just out of their food; this shouldn’t mean that people should use pills as a replacement, certainly not! Vitamins however are great for people who lack certain vitamins and minerals in their diet. For example, vegans who don’t eat meat or don’t consume dairy products should take vitamin B12, or people who are housebound and don’t get enough exposure to the sun should take vitamin D. So its key for manufacturers to undertake advertising vitamins to all demographics.

Advertising vitamins have to follow some mandatory guidelines

As with most other pills, the advertising of vitamin supplements must come with a disclaimer. The Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act (DSHEA) have put a disclaimer in place to help you advertise your product. Although the DSHEA disclaimer is not directly linked to advertising, it is there as a clear guideline to help you explain to your customers what your product is, so they won’t find it misleading.

Regulations of course must apply to the advertising of vitamins, as with every product out there. To gain credibility, we must not mislead our consumers. Vitamins must come with “competent and reliable scientific evidence” that they genuinely are beneficial for the consumer (as stated by the Federal Trade Commission).  It is therefore important to also disclose any possible side-effects your product might create– consumers are more likely to trust you if you tell them any risks up front rather than finding them out themselves.

Advertising vitamins thus, is a fast emerging niche market with tremendous growth potential. Vitamin supplements advertisements can find a place on the Gourmet Ads network, and with the vitamins market ever growing, what better place to get your product noticed?

Advertising Vitamins is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.

Organic Foods Advertising is experiencing unprecedented growth

The Organic Foods industry is one that over the past few years has begun to grow at an immense rate. With so much health advice available to consumers, people are now more aware of the types of food they are putting in the bodies. It is with the growing worry of obesity and ingesting harmful pesticide residues that so many people are now compelled to do something about their health and start to buy foods that are organically grown and are good for them.

It is therefore this increased awareness of the goodness of organic foods that advertisers can capitalize on. Generally speaking, customers are more inclined to look at organic foods as a much healthier alternative to the products that they currently buy. Since the release of the movie ‘Food, Inc’ back in 2008 there has been a great surge in people wanting to change the way they eat and buy products from places where the food is humanely produced and has the most nutritious value. It is since the release of this documentary film that people have obviously become much more aware of the way the food industry works. The film has been a massive contributing factor in influencing the change in people’s buying habits, now with many people opting for organic food brands in the knowledge that they are better for them.

It is this consumer awareness that advertisers can now use to draw in consumers to buy organic foods. Organic food advertisements are more likely than ever to get a consumer reaction due to the public being more educated on the subject of organic foods – now more than ever.

Gourmet Ads network will create  brand awareness for your organic foods range

It is now that is a great time to educate your consumers with regards to organic foods, advertising and the organic food websites available out there to help them. Due to the customers’ eye being more drawn towards the word ‘organic’ than ever before, means that they not only search for organic foods, but also beverages as well. And with a vast range of organic wines now available for purchase, it is no wonder that their popularity has grown, after all, who doesn’t enjoy a good quality tipple?

When it comes to advertising organic foods, it is important to mention targeted advertising to organic markets and grocery stores. If you want to advertise a specific organic food brand, it is these places that will get your product noticed. Back in 2009, Waitrose had the right idea about joining forces with Duchy Originals, an organic foods company in Britain. By combining the two companies, awareness of the organic foods industry in Britain was raised and made much more accessible for consumers.

This is a great time for advertisers to make the most of the organic foods industry and capitalize on the publicity that organic products receive. With the advertising comes a keen consumer interest in becoming healthier people and therefore much happier. And of course, Gourmet Ads network of sites can put these organic foods right in front of the targeted consumers.

Organic Foods Advertising is a blog post from Gourmet Ads Food Advertising network, providing Display Advertising , Video Advertising and Supermarket Advertising solutions to reach the Grocery Buyer online.