Atlas Announces Move Into Digital Television Marketplace with Launch of Atlas On Demand Division
Atlas On Demand to Deliver State of the Art Campaign Management System for On Demand Television Advertising; Cable Industry Veteran Scott Ferris Leads New Division
SEATTLE – May 19, 2005 - Atlas, a provider of digital marketing technologies and expertise, and an operating unit of aQuantive, Inc. (NASDAQ: AQNT), today announced the launch of its new division Atlas On Demand. Building from its extensive experience in providing advertisers and agencies with accountable marketing tools for Internet media, the new Atlas business will focus on delivering advertising campaign management and measurement solutions for the emerging On Demand television advertising arena.
Broadband and cable veteran Scott Ferris will lead the division as senior vice president and general manager. The company also recently appointed Jay Schiller, another industry veteran, as vice president of business development.
“On Demand advertising represents a powerful and measurable channel that is both an immense opportunity for, and challenge to, existing television advertising models,” said Ona Karasa, president of Atlas. “We’ve learned from working closely with the advertising community that providing a comprehensive set of workflow and reporting tools can have a mutually beneficial impact on the growth of a new medium. We believe Atlas is in the best position to break-down the complexities and provide our customers with the technology and analytics that will help accelerate the growth of On Demand advertising.”
Atlas On Demand leverages proven and scalable Atlas technology and translates it into a system for managing and optimizing the On Demand workflow. The end-to-end solution will integrate media planning and buying, creative management, trafficking, ad decisions and data analytics to maximize the value of On Demand advertising.
"Pressure is building for the TV industry to find a winning model for advertising-supported on-demand TV," noted Josh Bernoff, Forrester principal analyst, earlier this month (May 5, 2005) in a research report entitled: The Advertising Model For Video On Demand. "Because as DVR penetration and VOD usage grow, consumers will get used to watching programming on their own schedule and traffic will flow to on-demand viewing. At the same time, marketers are beginning to see on-demand as a vehicle for taking TV ads beyond simple brand awareness. All that's missing is an advertising model."
Atlas On Demand applications will be incorporated into the existing Atlas digital advertising management solution resulting in the first integrated On Demand advertising media platform built by and for marketers. Atlas clients include Doner, Mediaedge:cia, Euro RSCG, Hill Holiday, Avenue A | Razorfish, Camelot, ID Media, Initiative Media and OMD.
Atlas On Demand is led by Senior Vice President and General Manager Scott Ferris, who joined Atlas in 2003. For more than 20 years Ferris has played a significant role in bringing the two-way digital broadband network concept to market in the broadband industry. Ferris was part of the US WEST team that built the first digital broadband network in the U.K. with Comcast, Jones Cable and TCI (now known as Telewest) and later introduced it into the U.S. market. He was also involved in the early deployment of Time Warner Cable’s ground-breaking Full Service Network iTV trial in Orlando, Fla. At MediaOne, Ferris created the MediaOne brand and developed the company’s broadband cable modem and digital video strategy. Prior to joining Atlas, he led the Starbucks Direct Marketing business unit where he developed key online marketing initiatives.
“Scott has been pivotal in building the Atlas On Demand business,” said Karasa. “His extensive experience in broadband and cable will be invaluable in helping to build a bridge between advertisers and operators in this emerging On Demand medium.“
Joining Ferris, and the Atlas On Demand team, is vice president of business development Jay Schiller. Schiller is responsible for business activities and strategy with operators, programmers, and technology partners. Schiller joined Atlas from C-COR where he was most recently in charge of market development for the company’s On Demand television and digital advertising solutions, and their convergence. Schiller brings more than 15 years experience in the cable and telecommunications industry, including roles at nCUBE, now C-COR, where he was responsible for product management for their On Demand and digital ad insertion product lines; and at TCI, now Comcast, where he was responsible for advertising sales’ technical operations for the Western U.S.
About Atlas
Atlas (www.atlassolutions.com) ) is a provider of digital marketing technologies and expertise. Atlas offers agencies and marketers integrated solutions for online campaign management, rich media, search marketing, landing page optimization, reporting, and analysis to maximize their online ROI, and provides a highly scalable ad-serving platform to help online publishers increase revenue.
Atlas delivers the industry's most complete service and support, serving its clients from offices in Seattle, San Francisco, New York, Denver, and London. Atlas is an operating unit of aQuantive, Inc (NASDAQ: AQNT) and is a member of the NAI, adhering to the NAI privacy principles that have been applauded by the FTC. These principles are designed to help ensure Internet user privacy. For more information about online data collection associated with ad serving, including online preference marketing and an opportunity to opt-out of the Atlas cookie, go to: www.networkadvertising.org.