Earlier this week I had lunch with Mixpo CEO Anupam Gupta (and IlluminatePR’s Steve Stratz) for a fresh chat about an old idea – leveraging TV assets in the online video environment.
Today the company officially announced the launch of “Mixpo for Agencies,” which is designed to extend local TV ads to the web. Sounds a lot like one of those bad words – repurposed – doesn’t it? But Mixpo contends that repurposing your video assets isn’t all that bad. In between mouthfuls of pad thai, Anupam made some very convincing arguments. Mixpo for Agencies builds on the success the company has already had with large media companies that penetrate local markets including Comscast, NBC Local Media and Tribune.
Its all too easy to forget that $10k may be a drop in the bucket for a Madison Avenue shop to invest in developing creative, but it could be a local marketer’s entire advertising budget for the year. While I’d love to gush about powerful technology solutions, segmenting massive audiences, the social graph and so on, Mixpo is bringing a simple and effective solution to an audience in need of just that.
Instead of using generic B-roll video for local advertisers or dynamic ad assembly systems that can be daunting for your average local advertiser, Mixpo is approaching the local market with easy to produce “Xspots” that are very similar to a typical video overlay. Like the early promise of online video – consistent messaging across both online and off for national advertisers – Mixpo is delivering the same consistency for local advertisers like auto dealers, local insurance companies and local franchises. The power of video with the direct response elements that local marketers live and breathe by.
If online video and display advertising wants to bring those big TV dollars online, it would be wise to take a look at what Anupam is up to. Local TV advertising is a nearly $25 billion market, compared to the $500 mil currently spent in online video. If you want to catch fish, go where the fish are, right?
Expect to see more video based display and in-stream video advertising from within your community on your personalized portal page very soon. (But please, just not those Zap Lube ones.)