180solutions unveils new ad tool

Online marketing company 180solutions has unveiled a new advertising tool, Zango, intended to circumvent complaints about online ads. Zango is designed to connect Web surfers with Web sites through sponsored searches, while providing content and applications from affiliated publishers, the company said Wednesday.

It is a downloadable application that sits on the PC desktop and offers customers selected free content. In the background, it monitors Web surfing behavior and uses that data to deliver ads when customers are shopping or using a search engine. The company said that the tool will show consumers only relevant pages within targeted Web sites to supplement other search engine results and that it will deliver only two to three advertiser-sponsored results a day. Another new service from 180solutions called MetricsDirect, which works with Zango, also debuted Wednesday to focus on online advertisers.