A Media Planning Solution for a Fragmented World
Many thanks to Hollis Thomases and all the folks over at ClickZ for the great article on Balihoo that launched today entitled, “A Media Planning Solution for a Fragmented World.” One of my favorite quotes:
“All of these features are free to use in Balihoo’s “Basic” version, which alone will make Balihoo a media professional’s best friend. Personally, though, I feel the real power of Balihoo lies in what you can do beyond just finding media properties. With the paid “Pro” version, the user can really harness Balihoo’s power and improve media planning process efficiencies.”
Another favorite, “Balihoo also has an in-house 20-person media research team. For no additional charge and so you don’t waste time making inappropriate inquiries, this team will assist you in obtaining information on media for which Balihoo has incomplete information. These same people monitor responses from media owners and for those who don’t respond within an acceptable time frame, a Balihoo representative will do the follow-up. Think of them as your own personal naggers.”
And, finally, the last line of the article, “…I think with Balihoo, a new day’s dawning in media planning and buying.”
Congratulations on your launch and the online buzz.
Comment by Pat Coyle — December 5, 2007 @ 9:39 am
[…] A new media planning Website, Balihoo, is coming out of beta and touting itself as “advertising’s best friend.” […]
Pingback by Balihoo: online sponsorship’s worst nightmare? - Sports Marketing 2.0 | Pat Coyle — December 5, 2007 @ 9:42 am
One of the comments above points to a blog, Sports Marketing 2.0, where Pat brings up some concerns regarding Balihoo in a sense “commoditizing” the ad inventory of niche sites. I reponded on that blog, but I thought it was important enough to repost the comments here:
Pat…Shane Vaughan here, VP of Marketing for Balihoo. Thanks for covering the ClickZ article and providing your thoughts. I wanted to take a moment to give you some perspective from the Balihoo side on your concerns.
First, it’s important to note that Balihoo does not sell the media. Media buyers use Balihoo to find, analyze and share data on advertising opportunities. However, they still use their existing systems or simple personal contact to make the actual buy.
This is important given your second point…concern over the commoditizing of your advertising inventory at the expense of deeper relationships such as sponsorships. I actually believe that Balihoo fosters the more strategic relationship between advertiser and publisher. We help the buyer FIND niche sites, then they interact directly with the site to buy, which gives both parties the opportunity to discuss a much deeper engagement. Our philosophy is that there is so much waste in the media buying world today because of the lack of this deeper engagement…too many people are simply buying bulk impressions or clicks with little regards to the actual interaction with the consumer. We hope to help buyers find the sites that really speak to their audience and give them a platform to interact with the publisher well beyond a simple banner ad.
I hope this helps. Happy to answer any additional questions you might have!
Comment by Shane Vaughan — December 5, 2007 @ 1:43 pm