Technology is driving innovation in advertising with big media groups investing in websites designed to help media planners and strategists to navigate new paths through integrating tools and research. Ads24 has just launched its updated widget, one that is designed to “simplify the way its information is distributed and updated”.
Vimla Frank, head of marketing and business strategy at Ads24, says developers took into account the “volume of information that media planners and strategists need to consume, especially with the Media24 offering, and decided to simplify the way this information is distributed and updated”.
Frank said while the company had a widget, the new offering has new features that include mapping, the Path-to-Persuasion research tool, rates information, research and insights.
The Times Media Group has also launched a new online offering, the TMAdroom, that is billed as the one stop shop for all things advertising, including a planning and presentation toolkit and various other innovations.
“Since we were not aware that TMG planned to launch a website, our decision was definitely not motivated by competitor activity,” says Frank. “The Ads24 Widget is a complete solution that is deployed as an application that sits on the user’s desktop. It has been in existence for two years and is now being launched as an enhanced more up-to-date version. The additional features and the re-work of some of the existing functionality is purely motivated by industry demand and technological capability.”
The company’s Path to Persuasion research is incorporated into the widget. “As the Path to Persuasion research is fairly complex, it made sense for Ads24 to design a tool to simplify the interpretation of the data,” Frank explains. “The Ads24 Widget was developed as a complete solution package so we are unable to provide specific details on the development of the P2P tool. Now that we have created the tool, it allows us to update additional product/service categories researched more easily.”
The widget is updated as soon as fresh data is received, says Frank, and is available within 24 hours. Frank says stakeholders have responded favourably to the updated widget. She says the media agency industry is “fairly au fait” with the widget, so no specific training is needed. She says the Path to Persuasion research was launched to the industry, allowing people to see how easy it is to navigate. She says they have “responded positively to the new features”.
The widget allows users to access to rates, print orders, statistics and demographic information. The groundbreaking feature of the Ads24 Widget is that it allows users to plan campaigns visually, through the use of various graphs and maps; it transforms the analysis of complex statistical data into an enjoyable experience.
Vital Links and set-up instructions:
To Get the Ads24 Widget Installer:
Go to https://ads24.co.za/widget/, click on Download Now button
To Get the Adobe Air installer:
Go to https://get.adobe.com/air/, click on Download Now button