Over the past year, American Express has embarked on a series of initiatives centered on digital advertising intelligence for SMBs. These include SearchManager (via Clickable) for SEM and multiple social media experiments with Facebook and Foursquare. Now, its small business-focused OPEN division is rounding out the suite with AdManager, which utilizes AdReady’s dynamic display capability to enable merchants to more effectively leverage the format.

Amex OPEN VP Rob Ciccone told BIA/Kelsey that the platform aims to solve the two chief problems that prevent SMBs from actively and effectively incorporating display: It’s “too complex and too expensive.”

AdReady has simplicity in mind with the dashboard it is furnishing to address these problems. Businesses can choose from hundreds of ready-made templates that can be quickly customized. Once the creative is in place, they can then pick from multiple forms of targeting and select media sources for placement across established networks (Yahoo Network, Google Network, DoubleClick Exchange and more). Facebook campaigns will also be included. Banners ads with video and animation are available as well.

The goal is a self-serve vehicle that any SMB can feel comfortable using. And, as Ciccone emphasized, the basic AdManager tool is available to all SMBs, not just OPEN cardholders. Premium tiers, with dedicated advisers for more complex campaigns, are also available.

The jury on the future of display is still in deliberation, with some retailers decrying its static and hard-to-track characteristics, while others, such as Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, extol it as a booming opportunity (Schmidt’s market forecast: $200 billion).

We see display in the throes of an evolution that ultimately could prove revolutionary to its long-term relevance. This can occur as creative, formatting and targeting all push forward by incorporating more dynamic rich media forms and leveraging the social graph for deeper consumer insights.

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With more than half of its 65 million users listening from portable devices, Internet streaming leader Pandora sees massive opportunity in mobile. In its latest move to tap that potential, the company is partnering with AdReady to introduce geo- and demo-targeted audio and display ad opportunities for local businesses.

VP of Sales Brian Mikalis told BIA/Kelsey that Pandora receives frequent outreach from local and regional merchants that are active users of its customized streaming services on their own mobile devices and wonder “how do I get my ad there?” AdReady’s tools will be used to “more efficiently get campaigns running,” primarily through building out display banners.

Local buyers can purchase audio, display, or bundle them. Mikalis underscored the value of having these dual formats complement and cross promote each other. As an example, an audio spot can encourage users to “tap on the banner ad” to engage in certain activities or enjoy exclusive rewards. Also, the ads couple registration-based geotargeting with basic demographic targeting (age, gender).

Mikalis said that Pandora is working on new solutions for geotargeting based on the real-time location of the phone rather than the registration ZIP code.

Advertiser demand for Pandora’s online and mobile platforms has mushroomed to the point that the company has doubled its SMB inside sales team, which is based in its Oakland, California, headquarters. Early adopters among local advertising categories include universities and cultural/entertainment centers (Mikalis cited a local aquarium and a performing arts center as relevant examples).

Pandora has made recent efforts to extend its service beyond the PC. Beyond mobile, it is pursuing several auto installation deals and is offering its advertising network across connected TVs and Blu-ray players through set-top box and middleware providers such as Roku and Google TV.

Mikalis and Cheryl Lucanegro (Senior VP of Advertising Sales), will cover this and other developments during a keynote address at BIA/Kelsey’s ILM ’10 conference Dec. 7-9 in Santa Clara, CA.

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AdReady is an established presence in display advertising, serving up both creative automation and media campaign buying tools for agencies, publishers and advertisers alike. The Seattle-based firm has undergone a leadership change over the past year, however, and new CEO Karl Siebrecht wants businesses to be able to utilize AdReady at a more granular level for optimal audience segmentation and message targeting.

The company has released the latest iteration of its digital display ad platform — AdReady Version 3 — which has been upgraded to allow agencies and advertisers to create multiple campaigns more simply and then automate targeting controls of these campaigns across all media sites. It also makes media placement and bidding recommendations.

Siebrecht told BIA/Kelsey that AdReady specializes in serving mid-market companies because “huge digital agencies have difficulty profitably serving smaller clients.” It is yet to significantly tap the SMB segment, which has proven difficult to achieve scale in. 

For “vastly underserved” mid-sized businesses, ad versioning is crucial to position specific messages and offers to their demographic, behavioral and geographic needs. Siebrecht cited regional travel companies (Alaska Airlines) and colleges with multiple graduate program as ideal candidates to take advantage of AdReady’s re-messaging and re-targeting capabilities.

AdReady white labels its platform to several high-visibility publishers to incorporate in their display offerings, including The New York Times, ESPN and Pandora. Agencies and advertisers can run campaigns themselves or have AdReady “provide a layer of service on top to assist.” Again, SMB prospecting is limited, though Yahoo uses the service to drive its self-serve display program, My Display Ads, geared toward smaller businesses.

For those SMBs that have the understanding and fiscal capability to self-serve, there are immediate benefits. Campaign costs are significantly lower (starting as low as $300 per month) than typical pricing barriers, and businesses can choose from among 800 display templates for more sophisticated creative. 

AdReady is banking on a display renaissance, competing with PaperG and Mixpo to provide localized solutions to agencies. While display ad revenues sagged by more than 5 percent last year, many projections for 2010 and beyond suggest a rebound.

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PaperG, the “Flyerboard” provider of cheap self-serve ads on virtual bulletin boards, is moving up the value chain with the launch of “PlaceLocal.” The new insta-ad program builds ads around photos it finds on the Web or from its collection of stock photos. The ads are combined with reviews, customer comments and other content. SMBs only need to enter their name and address to produce their ad.

PlaceLocal enables SMBs to revise ads based on new entries seen on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It allows media companies to build ads on spec when they go on sales calls. And it enables still photos to have video-like “pan” capabilities, aka the “Ken Burns effect.” Ads can also rotate testimonials that it finds on review sites.

PaperG CEO Victor Wong notes that PlaceLocal’s ad fees vary widely, based on publisher. But he notes that PaperG is aiming for about $1,000 a month, or more than double the $400 or so that Flyerboard typically yields. The new effort places PaperG more directly in competition with Seattle-based AdReady, which provides advertisers with hundreds of tested stock templates, and then places media for them. Wong also said he expects some partners to use both products to appeal to different levels of SMB advertisers.

Hearst TV stations are among the first to try out the tech, deploying it on 29 Web sites. PlaceLocal has also been deployed on 32 additional local media Web sites (i.e., TimeOut New York). And McClatchy newspapers are set to launch it in some markets.

Wong also notes that the company, a Yale University entrepreneurial program, is moving from New Haven to San Francisco. It has 10 to 20 employees, and has raised more than $1 million.

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