Marchex Unifies Local, National Ad Networks

Marchex has launched a new ad platform called Adhere. Essentially this brings together the company’s OpenList local content network with the premium publishers in its IndustryBrains network under one PPC platform.

The biggest driver for the new platform was to simplify Marchex’s ad buys under one roof. This basically means that advertisers can buy both local and national advertising in the same place. The local buys include the 150,000 sites in Marchex’s local network (newyorkdoctors.com, 90210.com, etc.), and national consists of about 200 premium publishers in IndustryBrains’ network (Businessweek.com, Bankrate.com, Kiplinger.com). Both are sold as pay-per-click, and a single price is averaged out based on placement. Ads can be targeted geographically, by vertical, or site specific.

This is a move toward simplicity for Marchex, a company that arguably has a complex advertising model that has kept many advertisers from understanding what it’s all about. Marchex meanwhile has built its SEM services for small businesses around the concept of easy to digest “guaranteed clicks” packages. This is a similar move toward simplicity for large national advertisers that wish to buy locally targeted ads and premium inventory in one package.

More and more national advertisers and agencies are beginning to understand what local really means, though the majority still don’t. It’s difficult to navigate the fragmented space and find quality traffic to fulfill campaigns in a way they can understand and manage. For Marchex this is partly a play toward making it more digestible in order to bring more national advertisers into the mix. Its current national advertisers include Roto-Rooter, AutoTrader and Office Depot, among others.