Mike Sullivan’s first experience with computer-based marketing came back in the late 1980s,long before the Internet went mainstream.
Back then, advertisers asked him to put billboards hawking real-life products into a video game he was helping to design.
The idea didn’t exactly revolutionize marketing, or video games for that matter. But the 40-year-old art director thinks his latest take on the idea could change the face of electronic advertising.
His Irvine company, i-xposure, hopes to move online ads beyond the ubiquitous Web site banners and onto software used for scheduling appointments, keeping track of addresses and balancing checkbooks.
His Personal Interactive Desktop is a package of personal information management software, similar to Microsoft Corp.’s Outlook. What’s different is that his product includes pitches and links to retailers imbedded directly into the software.
I-xposure puts on-screen billboards directly onto users’ computer desktops, filling the background screen with images of television shows, upcoming movies and other products. Advertisers give away i-xposure’s software as a way to get their ads in front of people.
“It’s a whole new category of advertising,” Sullivan says. “You’re putting the ads on something useful, where people are looking at it and touching it every day.”
Sullivan created an earlier version of PID called PC Planner in 1997, drawing the interest of Fountain Valley-based eSat Inc., which had developed a similar product.
After resisting several attempts, Sullivan agreed to be purchased by eSat last year, and eSat since has incorporated the product into its i-xposure subsidiary.
I-xposure counts 25 employees. And while parent eSat doesn’t break out financial specifics for subsidiaries, estimates put i-xposure’s annual sales at $6 million to $7 million.
The company plans to target industries beyond its current base of media and automotive customers, primarily by working with advertising agencies that want to coordinate offline and online marketing. The PID software can link to advertisers’ Web sites and update images as their marketing campaigns change.
Market tracker Forrester Research Inc. predicts U.S. online advertising will reach $22 billion in four years, up from $2.8 billion today. That, Sullivan hopes, will fuel a need for marketers to distinguish themselves in a sea of banner ads and Web-site sponsorships.
Increasing “stickiness”,or the ability to keep visitors glued to a site,has become a Holy Grail for electronic marketers faced with increasing competition for viewers’ attention.
Sullivan says he’s helped solve the problem by putting ads on software used every day rather than a Web site visited every so often. And the company hopes users will associate the brands with software they find useful, reinforcing positive associations.
Early users of the software include Mazda Motor Corp., Time Warner Inc.’s New Line Cinema and Home Box Office, Viacom Inc.’s Paramount Pictures, Winterland Productions Inc. (which markets artists such as Ricky Martin and Back Street Boys) and World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc.
Despite his experience designing video games, Sullivan is not a programmer and admits he’d barely touched a PC before getting into computer graphics. But his designs have appeared on well-known titles, including software featuring The Simpsons and Barbie.
Sullivan’s formed his original company, Blackhawk Graphics Ltd., after he proposed the idea to unreceptive employers at his advertising agency. Despite the company’s marketing ties, Sullivan considers i-xposure primarily a software designer. Programmers compose the bulk of the company’s staff, which is expected to double this year. That growth apparently has begun already,one employee spotted in a recent visit was programming from a laptop on the floor of a room where the desk space was filled with other workers.
The staff is working on a new version of PID that offers a cleaner look and features that Sullivan insists will put the application on a par with Microsoft Outlook.
“Other people have out-programmed Microsoft,” he said. “Netscape did it with browser software, and (Intuit Inc.) did it with Quicken.” n
