AdKeeper was an online advertising platform that allowed consumers to keep online ads for future use.[2][3] A button was inserted into advertising creative elements, and was visible to users as a small button in the ad with the letter “k” inside the button. Consumers could click on the k button to keep the ads, and then return to the cloud-based Adkeeper at a future time, to review the ads they had kept.[4] The users could also share ads with others, via email or social networks.
 | |
| Type of business | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 2010 |
| Headquarters | , USA |
| Founder(s) | Scott Kurnit Steve Nieker Todd Sloan MaryAnn Bekkedahl Bruce Winterton Scott Germaise |
| Industry | Advertising, Online advertising |
| URL | adkeeper |
| Registration | Optional |
| Current status | Offline |
Features
editAdKeeper provided users with a personal "Keeper", where they could come to view ads they've collected from various places on the Internet, or the Ad Gallery display area in AdKeeper.[5][6] Ads that are kept display the date they were kept, when they expire, a short description, and also allow for users to rate them, when they are logged in. Common social sharing tools, such as Email, Twitter, and Facebook are available, and in the aforementioned gallery, users can keep more ads from participating advertisers.
History
editAdKeeper was founded in March, 2010,[7] by Scott Kurnit, who serves as Chairman and CEO. Kurnit is best known as the founder of About.com, which grew to a public market value of $1.7 billion, and was sold to Primedia for $724 million, in 2001. About is now owned by IAC.
AdKeeper operated in stealth until October, 2010,[8] when it launched in private beta. The AdKeeper service became generally available to consumers on February 14, 2011.[citation needed]
Clients
editAdKeeper began its service with a list of advertisers who used AdKeeper in their online ads, including Air Alaska, Allstate, Ally Bank, AT&T, Best Buy, CBS, Ford, Gap, General Mills, InterContinental Hotels Group, JetBlue, Kia Motors, Kmart, Kraft Foods, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Nextag, Pepsi, Sara Lee, Sears, Showtime, The Advertising Council, The Home Depot, Unilever and Warner Bros.[9]
Finances and governance
editIn March, 2010, the company raised $8 million in funding from DCM, True Ventures, Spark Capital, First Round Capital,[10] Betaworks, The New York Times, Lerer Ventures and several individual investors. In December, 2010, the company raised $35 million from Oak Investment Partners,[11] DCM, and other previous investors.[12][13]
AdKeeper’s Board of Directors consists of Scott Kurnit, Fred Harman (Managing Partner of Oak Investment Partners), Dixon Doll (Co-Founder and General Partner, DCM), Jon Callaghan (Founder, True Ventures) and Ron Unterman (scientist and former Managing Director, Slater Technology Fund).
References
edit- ^ "AdKeeper". Archived from the original on 14 February 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
- ^ Jessica E. Vascellaro (October 10, 2010). "AdKeeper Lets You Rip Out Ads the Modern Way". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 21 October 2010. Retrieved October 25, 2010.
- ^ Todd Wasserman (January 24, 2010). "Behind the Race to Build a Better Banner Ad". Mashable. Retrieved February 20, 2010.
- ^ Elaine Wong (December 16, 2010). "Is "Ad Keeping" The Next Frontier?". Forbes. Retrieved January 14, 2010.
- ^ Cynthia Boris (October 11, 2010). "AdKeeper Lets You Rip Out Ads the Modern Way". Marketing Pilgrim. Archived from the original on 20 November 2010. Retrieved November 25, 2010.
- ^ Chris Edwards (October 11, 2010). "New Startup Adkeeper Launches Allowing You To Save Ads For Later". 708 Media. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ Staff. "AdKeeper, Inc. Snapshot". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on October 10, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
- ^ Lisa Lacy (January 3, 2011). "AdKeeper Takes $35 Million in Latest Round". ClickZ. Retrieved January 12, 2011.
- ^ David Lieberman (November 3, 2010). "AdKeeper Charter Advertisers List". USA Today. Retrieved December 18, 2010.
- ^ Kira Bindrim (January 23, 2011). "Venture capital firms invest still more dollars in NYC". Crain's New York Business. Retrieved January 28, 2011.
- ^ Staff (January 3, 2011). "AdKeeper Inc. Secures $35 Million in Series B Funding Led by Oak Investment Partners". iStockAnalyst. Archived from the original on July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
- ^ Peter Kafka (January 2, 2011). "Do You Want To Save Your Web Ads? AdKeeper Bets $35 Million That You Will'". MediaMemo. Retrieved July 18, 2010.
- ^ John Capone (January 3, 2011). "AdKeeper Secures $35M, Readies Public Launch". MediaPost News Online Media Daily. Archived from the original on January 6, 2011. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
Further reading
edit- HuffPost Tech, June 6, 2011, AdKeeper Readies “Button” for 25 Percent of the World’s Display Ads — Video Ads Next