DoubleClick Dart Announces Buy-Back Program

New York City-based DoubleClick Inc. launched a program to buy computer equipment and offer credits to new DART users that are currently using other ad serving solutions.

The company said the initiative is intended to alleviate the financial implications that customers face when abandoning computer equipment and software during an upgrade.

Unlike shrink-wrapped ad serving solutions, which customers must manage in- house, DoubleClick said its DART (Dynamic Ad Reporting and Targeting) service does not require customers to make any investment in computer hardware, software license fees, software implementation costs or personnel.

“We are seeing a trend towards outsourced ad serving,” said Chris Saridakis, general manager of DART. “By removing the sunk costs issue, we feel we can accelerate this trend and continue to move toward making DART the standard.”

The incentives are available to qualified clients who are currently using a software-based or in-house ad serving solution. DART is used by all the sites in the DoubleClick Network as well as sites that handle their own ad sales, totaling more than 6,400 sites worldwide.

DoubleClick said its technical staff will work with prospective clients to inventory and value their existing computer equipment used in ad serving operations. DoubleClick will then pay cash for the equipment, which is no longer necessary for the client once they have switched to DART.

In addition, DoubleClick will review with clients the amount paid for software licenses, prepaid customer support and maintenance, implementation and consulting charges and then issue a credit for a percentage of these costs. The credit will reduce the service fees paid for DART over a period of one to three years.