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PointRoll CEO Chris Saridakis guides the rich media technology leader's vision and strategy while shaping and developing its product offerings and service. A rich media and online advertising veteran, Chris joined PointRoll in 2003 as chief operating officer. In this role, he was responsible for shaping and developing PointRoll's products, sales and marketing initiatives, and long-term growth strategies. In June 2005, he assumed the position of chief executive officer. Prior to PointRoll, Chris was senior vice president and general manager of the Global TechSolutions division for DoubleClick Inc., the division responsible for the industry's leading ad serving platform, DART.

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Consolidating Rich Media: Why the Industry’s M&A Plays Out like “Deal or No Deal!”

Written on
Nov 16, 2006 
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Chris Saridakis  |
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Consolidating Rich Media: Why the Industry’s M&A Plays Out like “Deal or No Deal!”


A Common Thread of Failure: Process over Creativity
In their hasty march to the altar, many companies have forgotten that rich media’s heart rests at the intersection of technology and creativity. Failure to recognize these two key factors has been the basis for many failed marriages:

• In relevant deals, ad serving companies like DoubleClick and aQuantive and their underlying philosophies have come to the forefront, meaning that the business of frequently displaying the ad becomes more important than the content of the ad. This “per transaction” priority is a death blow to creativity, which in turn can kill the deal’s success.

• Similarly (but worse), some companies have taken a “templated” approach to creative that can’t deliver what advertisers want — and what users expect — unique, customized campaigns that engage and convert the user into a buyer or believer in a brand or an idea.

• Even in cases where the deal seemed fantastic on paper, they have fallen prey to bad execution; the acquiring company was patently bad at integrating the intellectual property and operating philosophy or — in the case of the merger — neither company was truly willing to make it work.

Lessons Learned: What It Takes To Deal
Successful rich media companies have distinguishing traits that would serve the industry well as it continues to mature. These factors must come into focus when hitting the negotiating table and include the following:

• It’s innovation that pushes the medium; don’t expect growth to come as a function simply of combining two customer lists.

• Rich media must innovate technologically to support ad creation in order to successfully and authentically grow. Once creative departments are using the technology, ad serving can fall in line.

• Creativity must infuse not only ad creation and delivery, but also ad placement. A billboard located in the wrong place at the wrong moment is not of any use to the advertiser. Placement takes thought and must be holistically considered alongside audience and messaging but includes relevancy to the content it’s running on.

• In order to execute innovative technologies from ads that are creatively stellar requires that rich media deliver quality solutions grounded in personal and quality service — live people working toward a shared goal from the same timelines and deadlines as the advertising industry itself — and providing assistance as needed.

So what of these recent Google, Yahoo! and DoubleClick Forays?
Although not a rich media marriage, the recent Google and YouTube venture is worth highlighting. Both of the companies grew organically by steadfast beliefs in making the user experience a priority at the expense of revenue dollars.

Google was founded as a search capability that placed the user experience first, followed later by advertising revenue support. YouTube follows the same philosophy in that it rejects pre-roll advertising and gives users what they want — the ability to embed YouTube video into MySpace video. Google is wildly innovative with technology and attacks business accordingly. Of course, YouTube’s popularity arose out of its “underground” or “grassroots” status and time will tell if the current backlash by its most faithful followers will ebb — I think it will. My take? This is a “Deal!” that will garner measurable success.

Yahoo’s acquisition of AdInterax is a first step of Yahoo! to move to an advertiser supported rich media pricing model. I see it as a testament to the value of rich media and a leading publisher recognizing the power and value of online creativity. What remains to be seen is how willing advertisers will be to create Yahoo! rich media and then create additional ads to run elsewhere.

Speaking from experience, DoubleClick has its own challenges moving forward with KlipMart, as they have historically struggled with acquisitions at the point of integration. As discussed, at the core they are an adserving company focusing on operational efficiencies for media agencies, not creativity. Moreover, KlipMart’s roots are grounded in creative work as an agency.

This raises an interesting question: does DoubleClick want to be an agency? Will they start competing with media? It’s my belief that this deal is four years away from being applause-worthy, and if they are thriving in four years, I will applaud. Until then I say, “No deal!” — I don’t think DoubleClick has the corporate DNA to make this marriage work.





Reader Comments.

“Yahoo’s acquisition of AdInterax is the first attempt by a media company (portal) to own and integrate a rich media solution into its core media offering.”

Isn’t Gannet the first publisher to acquire a rich media company (Pointroll

Posted by Resti | 5:51 pm on November 16, 2006.

“Similarly (but worse), some companies have taken a “templated” approach to creative that can’t deliver what advertisers want…”

I guess that the sentence speaks about Pointroll which not only templated thier ad units but also made them simple and limited from creative stand point.

Posted by Joove | 5:09 am on November 20, 2006.

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