No longer able to ignore the potential that exists in online advertising, Inter/Media Group started up a new business division and did so in a big way. The Encino firm boasts it is one of the few if not the only advertising firm to put a variety of web-based disciplines under one roof. Yet while roaming into the online world with services based on its proprietary technology the company also tries to get its clients to rethink their approach to advertising and rethink how well it works for them and the return of investment it brings back. “We like to be able to know the effectiveness of what we do and have now taken that to the web,” said firm President and COO Robert Yellen. Founded in 1974, Inter/Media Group is made up of divisions focusing on advertising, time buying, production and post-production facilities, and retail brokering, marketing and consulting. Adding the interactive division had been on the books but the “kick in the rear” in Robert Yellen’s words were clients asking for online advertising services. As an agency working in the traditional advertising methods of print, television and radio, entering the online market was new territory and a big commitment in terms of personnel and the capital needed for the technology was “fairly extensive,” Yellen said. Recognizing that what works in the offline world of advertising won’t translate to the online world, Inter/Media needed someone with familiarity of their new market. That’s where Todd Geller comes into the picture. Inter/Media hired Geller as senior vice president of the interactive division because of his experience with both technology and online advertising methods. While at Prodigy, Geller popularized the use of pop-up ads. He later served as president of Longview Media/Internetfuel, one of the top Internet ad agencies in the world, and as media director at Reunion.com, Geller boosted their leads to 500,000 a month. At Inter/Media Interactive, Geller oversees online media buying, search engine marketing and optimization, affiliate marketing, e-mail marketing, web advertising sales and web design. Clients for Inter/Media offline services lean heavily toward businesses seeking an immediate response to their products or services and who are more price sensitive than larger branded companies. Immediate response As head of the interactive division, Geller finds what it takes to get the advertiser an immediate response and what blocks an advertiser from getting a lead or a sale. With clients building brand awareness, a customer may see the brand name online but then what do they do? Do they go to the company website? If they do what did they see at the website? What kind of action did they take? Geller asked. “Analysis is the biggest part of Internet advertising,” Geller said Although Geller said a shift has taken place over the past five years of how advertisers have adapted to the online world they still need to get past the old way of doing things. When at a website for a product or service, a potential customer wants simplicity and not spending time filling out a lengthy form. “That’s what the Internet is all about they want it right then,” Geller said. The interactive division has attracted nearly two dozen clients, some that had already been with Inter/Media and others new to the firm. Among the Valley companies using the online services include The 1928 Company, a jewelry manufacturer based in Burbank, and Bid4spots.com in Encino, a company that sells advertising on terrestrial and online radio stations. Bid4Spots had been doing its own search engine marketing and made the switch to Inter/Media because of the time constraints on its staff, said company founder Dave Newmark. Geller has the right attitude and approach in that he wants the best overall results for an advertiser, Newmark said. “He’s looking at not just the cost-per-lead but the overall return on investment,” Newmark said.
