WidgetWebExpo 2008 will start in less than two weeks and, though I won’t be there, I am really looking forward for it.
Checking out the list of speakers, I noticed a few of interest for how online advertising and content monetization can benefit from ‘widgetization’.
– Jonathan Mendez (RAMP Digital) will speak on how widgets can save display advertising: through the use of APIs widgets have the ability to deliver highly relevant and dynamic advertising and marketing solutions in a 300×250 creative unit that can be distributed through an ad server and network. These ‘Adplications’, as Jonathan calls them, have the power to redefine and widgetize display advertising and dramatically improve performance results for advertisers and publishers by delivering higher ad relevance, tools for people to search and interact with content and powerful analytic data.
– Scott Rafer (Lookery) will host a session on ‘Widgets as Adverts: how do we go from here to there?‘
The intense popularity of widgets, gadgets, Facebook applications and their kin has advertisers and publishers eager to get on board. But before you invest in a widgetized advertising campaign, there are a number of strategic and technical factors to consider. There are also important guidelines to follow to ensure you get the most from your investment.
– Jason Weaver (Sway, Inc) will speak of ‘Integrating Widgets into the Marketing Mix‘. Marketing tools now allow users to create, distribute, and track RSS, email, video, SMS, and podcasting campaigns from web-based interfaces. They can also give the ability to create, customize, and distribute video widgets, RSS widgets, and audio/video podcasting widgets. Who is using these tools? How are companies leveraging widgets into integrating them into their marketing mix?
These are but a few examples of widgets intersecting advertising and marketing topics at WidgetWebExpo 2008. There are many pro’s and con’s to large-scale employment of widgets in online advertising and the battle among experts is far from finished. If anything, it has just started. I will keep an eye on the WidgetWebExpo 2008 releases and hope to be able to get back here with some session podcasts or transcripts, or even interviews.
Until then… have you fed your widget today?
