Vibrant Media offers in-text advertising on long term basis

IntelliTXT, Vibrant’s contextual-advertising service, places ads fronted by innocuously highlighted words in the body of web documents. The ads, which can take the form of text or video, are triggered by the user hovering over the highlighted keyword embedded in text such as articles or reviews. Users can click through to the advertiser’s site via the ads.

The in-text ads are touted as visually and functionally unobtrusive, the user being able to choose whether or not to investigate the highlighted text. However, the service has previously caused concern amongst some in the publishing and media industry who felt it blurred the boundaries between editorial and advertising.

Previously it was only possible to buy keywords for a specific campaign. But now Vibrant Media allows marketers to buy keywords upfront for the whole 2007. DaimlerChrysler were among to first to recognise this marketing opportunity and has reportedly secured already more than 1,000 keywords and phrases, including its nameplates and lifestyle words. With new one-year contracts this means that automotive competitors are precluded from purchasing any of the keywords DaimlerChrysler has already bagged.

It remains to be seen whether there will be a rush for companies to claim and protect their brand and keywords, but Vibrant won't be selling off trademarked brands to anyone but the brand owner. Nameplates which, in the case of auto's, relate to the model such as Camry or Mustang will be made available to competitors.

"In the auto market especially, there's very much a desire to buy competitive terms," said Gabe Greenberg, VP-strategic relationship at Vibrant Media, via Advertising Age. "Clients are saying, 'We've got key product words that are critical to our business,' for example, Dodge and Hemi."

Tags: Chrysler, click through, contextual advertising