Eyeblaster Expands Into Search Marketing

Eyeblaster is launching a new suite of search marketing campaign management tools, dubbed eb.search, which further expands its platform beyond the rich media ad tools it’s always been known for.

“Our heritage is in rich media, and that will stay,” Doug McFarland, GM of North America for Eyeblaster, told ClickZ. “But we’ve always thought of rich media as a niche business, part of a larger campaign management platform.”

The move is not such a far reach as one might think, McFarland said. The company expanded into ad management last fall with the beta launch of its Advertising Campaign Manager (ACM) product, which had been tested earlier in the year as “AdVision.” ACM moved Eyeblaster into direct competition with rich media ad management platforms like DoubleClick Motif or Atlas Rich Media. It now has 22 clients using ACM, 11 in the U.S. and 11 abroad.

Eyeblaster added its Video Studio video ad management platform in May. In June, Eyeblaster expanded its reach again by partnering with RealNetworks to launch eb.in-games, a platform to manage and optimize ads in casual gaming environments.

To create eb.search, Eyeblaster teamed with The Technology Works, a U.K.-based search marketing and technology provider whose BidBuddy bid management tool is distributed in Europe and Asia. This is the first time The Technology Works is entering the U.S. market.

The Technology Works’ search bid management technology has been integrated into Eyeblaster’s platform, so clients will be able to manage search, display, video and in-game ads from the same interface. It will include tools for ads sold under pay-per-click (PPC), return on investment (ROI) and cost per acquisition (CPA) models.

In the U.S. and Australia, eb.search will also be available as a standalone product, though McFarland expects most interest to come initially from clients who currently use Eyeblaster’s platform to manage other kinds of ads.

To reach out to a new set of clients for eb.search, Eyeblaster has added a new sales group, with four dedicated staffers supported by its larger sales organization, McFarland said. The company now has more than 150 employees globally.

To get the word out that it’s not just “the floating ad company” of its youth, Eyeblaster plans a rebranding effort centered around a Swiss Army knife theme, with rich media ads on several ad trade sites and print ads in trade magazines with the tagline “Bringing brands to life.”