MediaForge Has "Widgets Comin' Out of Our Ads"

If there were an award for the best slogan by a media startup this year, my vote would go to MediaForge, with its "We've got widgets comin' out of our ads!"

As you may have guessed, this is a Web 2.0 play that provides a branded widget that dynamically serves ad messages to the desktop or social media sites from within banners. This product enters the market at a time when the traditional display advertising business is in decline, and companies are searching for new ways to engage consumers.

CEO Tony Zito says one way the company's widget works is when a customer, like Overstock.com, wants to target golfers that it has a sale on golf clubs, it can launch a "notification widget" to select users interested in golf. Zito claims the company's clients typically see their conversion rate improve by 100 percent when they use this product.

Among its customers, MediaForge lists Virgin Records, Capital Records, PetSmart Charities, SinglesNet.com, WebJamAds, Skullcandy, Backcountry.com as well as Overstocked.com.

David Weir

David Weir is a veteran journalist who has worked at Rolling Stone, California, Mother Jones, Business 2.0, SunDance, the Stanford Social Innovation Review, MyWire, 7x7, and the Center for Investigative Reporting, which he cofounded in 1977. He’s also been a content executive at KQED, Wired Digital, Salon.com, and Excite@Home. David has published hundreds of articles and three books,including "Raising Hell: How the Center for Investigative Reporting Gets Its Story," and has been teaching journalism for more than 20 years at U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and Stanford.

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