ValueClick Unveils Media Planning Tools

ValueClick’s Mediaplex division today added online media planning and buying capabilities to its MOJO ad serving platform.

MOJO MediaDirector is a Web-based planning tool that aims to streamline the media buying workflow for advertisers, agencies and publishers using its MOJO Adserver platform. MediaDirector automates actions in various parts of the media buying process, including request-for-proposals (RFPs), proposals, negotiations and media buys.

Sites can be searched and saved by various site profile data, including category, type of buys, ad units, or rich media types offered. The site selection list can be saved by a media planner to use again for the same client or across clients. The RFP, ordering, contracting, and campaign processes can be managed from within the platform. MediaDirector is integrated with Adserver, so media planning and buying data are transferred directly into the ad serving and trafficking functions.

“Once a plan is approved, trafficking work is already 30 to 40 percent done, since the data is already in the system,” said Sean Quick, senior director of product management at Mediaplex.

Advanced features include support for multiple media plans per campaign, electronic signature capabilities for digital transmission of insertion orders, and flexible workflow rules for advanced users to skip unnecessary steps.

“Our technology has always been a power-user type of technology,” Quick said. “Other tools force an agency to follow a workflow path from A to Z, and they really can’t move around that path. When a user gets to a certain point, A through Z are not all necessary. We’ve put in a lot of flexibility, so it’s much easier for someone to get from the beginning to the end of the process.”

On the publisher side, the platform offers the ability to attach documents to proposals, submit multiple proposal options, revise proposals after submission, or create packages of ad units.

“One of the biggest things we’ve found in the market was the lack of development toward a publisher-friendly process. It was amazing to hear how hard it is as a publisher to work with one of these tools,” Quick said.

MediaDirector is available to existing Adserver clients for a small set-up fee.