Martini Media Network, an advertising network that caters to the affluent, said Monday it has raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding.
The company also announced that it hired Skip Brand, chief revenue officer at Pudding Media and a former advertising and business development employee at Yahoo, Cox Communications, and Excite@Home, to take the reins as CEO.
"Martini Media targets high net-worth individuals through lifestyle pursuits such as polo and yachting, letting luxury and premier brands connect with these elusive consumers online," Brand said in a statement. "I look forward to working alongside the entire team at Martini Media to help continue the company's success and drive new growth."
Martini Media wouldn't disclose the amount of the funding it raised but said it will be used to expand its operation. The ad network hosts a network of sites that range from golf to equestrian sports.
But becoming the de facto leader in the affluent-ad network market may not be such an easy task. The company is competing with the likes of Halogen Publishers, which boasts a network with 3 million unique visitors. And Martini Media must also be hoping that during turbulent economic times, advertisers will still want to target people with significant amounts of disposable income.
This is either creepy or annoying.
Pudding Media, a San Jose, California, start-up launching at DemoFall 2007 on Monday, is offering free Web-based phone calls, if you let them monitor phone calls and show you onscreen advertisements based on the topic of your conversation.
To use the service, users go to ThePudding.com and enter the phone number to call. The call quality is fine, and my call was connected right away, but what about the idea of the company monitoring your private conversations? Plus, most people are looking for ways to avoid ads these days (pop-up blockers, TiVo) but Pudding founders are sure that in exchange for free calls, users will made the trade-off. For now, Pudding uses a third-party to place the ads, but the company is working on developing its own custom ad network.
Perhaps the ads will be more targeted in the future. A quick testing of the software included a phone call about flying to San Diego, buying postage stamps, and eating Mexican food. Every ad served up gave me information about hockey and ice skating. Huh?
- prev
- 1
- next
