Engage, Unicast Plan Profile-based Superstitial Ads

Profile-based marketing company Engage Technologies Inc. and interstitial ad company Unicast are teaming up to create profile driven “Superstitial” rich media advertising.

The next generation of Superstitials is being designed to garner higher click-throughs, ad recall, response rates and ROI, the companies said.

Based on Engage’s AudienceNet Web-wide profile driven advertising network, and Unicast’s breakthrough non-banner, rich media ad solution, the next generation Superstitial will be available to sites and advertisers early next year.

“By combining our profiling capabilities with Unicast’s rich media advertising abilities, together we will be able to deliver a stronger advertising solution that will better enable clients to reach the right user at the right time,” said Paul Schaut, president and chief executive officer of Engage.

Superstitials can be any size on the screen and can be authored in virtually any creative format.

Unicast said it pre-loads all such ads using its patent-pending “polite” delivery system that eliminates the latency and user disruption problems frequently experienced with streaming online advertising solutions.

“Targeting Superstitials using Engage’s profiling system allows Web sites and advertisers to tailor online campaigns that are truly relevant to the Web’s very loyal user base,” said Unicast chairman & chief executive officer Richard V. Hopple.

“Our mutual commitment to protecting the user’s experience with polite delivery and ensured privacy makes the next generation Superstitial offering a natural fit between our companies.”

Engage maintains a database of 35 million anonymous user profiles. Superstitials will be fully integrated into Engage’s AudienceNet, including direct sales, delivery, reporting and billing.

Financial arrangements between the companies were not disclosed.